Reading Between the Letters at the Kennedy Center

Written in stone. Spaced on purpose.

When Trump’s name was added to the Kennedy Center under a blue tarp, the story was not just process or policy. It was design.

Public architecture speaks before we read it. Typography shapes how legitimacy and legacy are framed. Same classical Roman lettering. Different spacing.

Kennedy’s inscription is tightly tracked, cohesive, institutional. Trump’s is more widely spaced. The letters breathe. The name occupies more space.

That choice matters.

In civic design, sameness signals inheritance.

Spacing creates distinction.

Typography is never neutral.

And in public architecture, it quietly instructs.