Campaign typeface for annual Terry Fox Run created from handwritten letters

No Fixed Address (NFA) has delivered a type-driven campaign for the cancer research charity Terry Fox Foundation. Handwritten letters sent from the public will be used as the anchoring design for the annual Terry Fox Run campaign. The run is among the largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research globally, now in its 43rd year.

The story behind the Dear Terry campaign begins with Terry Fox, the Canadian athlete and activist who embarked on a cross-country run to raise funds for cancer research in April 1980 – he hoped to raise one dollar from every person in Canada. During and after his Marathon of Hope – Fox had to halt the run due to cancer – he was sent thousands of letters from schools, offices and members of the public who expressed their support for Fox’s mission.

No Fixed Address has created a custom font from these letters, “replicating the average handwriting” from messages sent to Fox and his family, a release explains. This year’s Terry Fox Run campaign will be adorned with this typeface and real letters sent to Fox decades ago. The agency has also created a platform where audiences can upload their own hand-drawn letters and messages today. The campaign will close in July, when newly received Dear Terry notes will be overlaid alongside older messages.

The Terry Fox Foundation hopes that modernising the practice of writing to Terry will engage future generations and create a groundswell around the cause. The campaign coincides with the opening of this year’s Terry Fox Run and will appear across billboards, public city bus interior overhead boards and social. This year’s Terry Fox Run T-shirt also features letters sent to Fox; it is designed by NFA in collaboration with the Fox family and Ryan Reynolds, a partner of the Foundation.