Stephen Donohue

Independent work · Private practice

They are not bad words.

Client
Dr Aziza Sesay, GP and health educator (Talks with Dr Sesay)
Year
2026
My role
Lettering, visual style and merchandise
Team
Me, working directly with Dr Sesay
Disciplines
Hand lettering, posters, merchandise
Dr Aziza Sesay in the black tee, front and back: They are not bad words! on the front and vagina, vulva, clitoris on the back, both lettered in pink.
Dr Sesay in the tee, front and back.

The brief

Dr Aziza Sesay is a GP and health educator. Her message is simple: vulva, vagina and clitoris are not bad words.

Sales of her merchandise help fund menstrual health workshops in Sierra Leone. The earlier artwork didn’t have the graphic punch the message needed.

The centre

The words are the message. Said loudly and without embarrassment, they stop being shocking.

The idea

Hand lettering with the confidence of a placard: bold, slightly uneven, impossible to whisper. Black and white for everyday, yellow and pink when it needs to be seen across a room, and a red exclamation mark.

Three decisions

Lettering, not a typeface.

A font would have made it look like an instruction. Drawn letters sound like a person talking, which is how Dr Sesay talks about it.

They are not bad words! lettered in white on black, with a red exclamation mark.
The line.
Vagina, vulva, clitoris lettered in black on white inside an oval.
The words themselves.

Loud enough for a wall.

Posters put the two pieces together in yellow and pink. Each piece also works alone in black, white, pink or red, so it fits whatever it’s printed on.

Framed A3 poster: They are not bad words! above vagina, vulva, clitoris on a pink panel, on yellow.
A3 poster.
The two lettering pieces in pink, black and red, on white and on black.
Colourways.

Things people carry.

We worked together on what else it could do. Tote bags and posters joined the tees, giving people more to buy at events and raising more for the workshops.

The back of a white tee printed in black: vagina, vulva, clitoris.
The back of the tee.
Two white tote bags printed with the lettering in black.
Tote bags.
Dr Sesay in the Capital radio studio wearing the tee, beside the BBC Radio 1Xtra promo for 1Xtra Talks with Richie Brave, where she wears it too.
On air at Capital, and on the promo for BBC Radio 1Xtra.

Who did what

I worked directly with Dr Sesay. Together we found the new style, then I advised on how far it could go: posters and tote bags alongside the tees.

What happened next

Dr Sesay has worn the tee on national radio, at Capital and on BBC Radio 1Xtra’s 1Xtra Talks with Richie Brave in September 2026, so the lettering travels further than any poster.

The tees are on sale through Talks with Dr Sesay. Posters and totes are sold in person at her events. Proceeds help fund menstrual health workshops in Sierra Leone.