Brothers Ibrahima and Abdoulaye Barry have announced the launch of ADLaM Display, an evolution of the Pulaar alphabet on which they have worked with Microsoft since 2018. Developed in partnership with McCann NY, the new digital version of ADLaM is now available for use across the Microsoft 365 suite, desktop, and mobile platforms, preserving a beautiful and important culture while promoting literacy across West Africa. This video tells the full story of the language and its development to better establish and preserve it in contemporary society.

The language of the Fulani people of West Africa, known as Pulaar, is spoken by over 40 million people, but for most of history, the language had no alphabet. Determined to preserve their native language since they were children, in 1989 the Barry brothers created an early version of ADLaM in handwritten form. Yet the need remained to digitize the alphabet so it could be used to communicate through technology, such as texts, emails and websites, empowering the Fulani people to conduct business, connect through social media and find information in their own language.

The Fulani brothers jointly remarked, “ADLaM, the acronym, A, D, L, M, Alkule Dandayde Leñol Mulugol, literally means it is the alphabet that will prevent the culture, the people, from disappearing. What we meant by that is not the people, themselves, will disappear, but the fact that ADLaM will allow us to preserve our culture.” 

Though the brothers had developed early versions of the digital typeface, for the Fulani community to fully adopt and embrace it, the alphabet needed to be optimized and made more widely available in digital spaces. As a result, McCann New York partnered with the brothers and collaborated with a group of expert typeface designers to create a revised version of the alphabet that was easier to read and write. Importantly, the new typeface was updated to include new letter forms that take into account how the alphabet has naturally evolved within the Fulani community.  To fight illiteracy, a key goal of the project, McCann and the brothers created educational materials for Guinean schools, including a children’s book designed to teach the ADLaM alphabet and elements of the Fulani culture, in-classroom learning materials, and a learn-to-write book. All materials were also digitized to be used on classroom computers.   

“By the end of the century, 90 percent of the world’s languages could be extinct,” said Shayne Millington, co-chief creative officer, McCann NY. “In a world where one language is lost every three months, the ADLaM project embodies the importance of preserving and securing the future of the world’s multitude of cultures and languages, and as a result, the precious memories, myths, rituals, and deep knowledge that has been passed down over centuries. With the Barry brothers’ knowledge, passion and commitment, Microsoft’s technology and our creative power in developing a visual identity that the Fulanis have embraced as their own, we bridged the old and new worlds ensuring the future of a beautiful culture.” 

Microsoft has now integrated the redesigned alphabet across their global platforms. The revised version of the alphabet is now available to download as the ADLaM Display font and will be deployed natively across the Microsoft 365 suite of programs, desktop and mobile in summer.

“This is just one of the many ways we at Microsoft are committed to helping preserve cultural heritage around the world.” said Kathleen Hall, chief brand officer, Microsoft.

As a result of the collective effort, ADLaM has been successfully embraced by the Fulani and has gained popularity in the community across West Africa and the Fulani diaspora worldwide. The first two ADLaM-focused schools will open during this year in Guinea and for the first time, will allow Fulani children to study a full curriculum in their mother tongue. Additionally, The Mali Government is in the process of recognizing ADLaM as an official alphabet in their constitution, and Guinea’s Minister of Education has taken steps to ensure ADLaM is recognized as Pulaar’s official alphabet.

Credits

Client Microsoft Kathleen Hall, chief brand officer; Carol Phillips Hutchinson, general manager; Steve Simmons, director; Hannah Westing, sr. comms manager; Lori Gross, general manager; Sven Seger, global creative director; Phyllis Murphy, sr. creative director; Steve Foyle, creative director; Karina Reck, Aleksey Federov, Krystofer Glover, directors; Shyla Lindsey, sr. designer; Kaity Butcher, producer; Steve Wiens, strategist; Si Daniels, principal program manager; Andrew Glass, principal product manager. Agency McCann New York  Sean Bryan, co-chief creative officer, North America; Shayne Millington, Pierre Lipton, co-chief creative officers; Cristina Reina, EVP, global executive creative director & head of art, North America; Pete Johnson, EVP, global executive creative director; Matt van Leeuwen, EVP head of design; Mook Phoungbut, design director; Chocho Han, Malik Dupree, designers; Alicia Foor, sr. creative technologist; Mikey Bready, sr. art director; Sarah Wagner, sr. copywriter; Kazuo Kubo, associate creative director, art director; Lucas Ribeiro, associate creative director, copywriter; Guilherme Racz, group creative director, art director; Lucas Casao, group creative director, copywriter; Aaron Kovan, EVP, chief production officer; Stacy Flaum, SVP, executive integrated producer; MJ Soler, Jory Sutton, sr. integrated producers; Travae Davis, jr. producer; Katie Henry, videographer; Colleen Dahlstrom, sr. music producer; Madison Rowe, jr. music producer; Erica Yahr, chief strategy officer; Amadeo Plaza, VP, strategy director; Kyla Jackson, associate strategist. Video and Postproduction Craft NY Video Production Spirit McCann Jean Didi, director; Andrew Zeitner, director/photographer; Khadija Farah, photographer; Sahlima, announcer. Music Human Additional Partners Abdoulaye and Ibrahima Barry, ADLaM co-creators; Mark Jamra, Neil Patel, typeface designers; Andrew Fotit, typeface designer; Duncan Clarke, textile expert. Music Human 

MySHOOT Profiles