Becoming requires being. Ex nihilo nihil fit, and all that. Michelle Obama, as someone who lived through the titular becoming of her book, Becoming, knows it. Before she became a public figure, a stateswoman, the respected and admired wife of a US president, she was Michelle Obama.
This is the message she hopes to impress on younger readers in the adaptation of Becoming for younger readers. She grew up in South Side Chicago. Her grandfather listened to records. Her mom cleaned the house. Frost settled on the windshield of their car. There’s a reference to the American Dream in there: humble origins don't exclude lofty outcomes.
To visually represent these big horizons, publishers Penguin Random House selected BLKBK’s font Earth Rich for the subtitles of the Young Readers edition. Like its name suggests, this font is both earthy and rich, grown from the ground up. Created with a distressed brush, it carries the character of someone who’s done just that. Its controlled brush strokes suggest perseverance; its imperfections suggest humility. It’s become what it is, just like the rest of us.