Synaesthesia: Research in response to email

https://daltonmaag.com/work/lush-handwritten

Brand analysis
'Lush is no ordinary cosmetics brand. From the natural, vegetarian ingredients in their products to their high-profile social awareness campaigns, their originality is captured in the informal and characteristic lettering style which has become a central component of their brand image. This handwritten style plays a key role in positioning Lush as a fresh and genuine brand in a competitive market.

As part of a brand refresh, Lush and Method approached Dalton Maag with the brief of translating Lush’s iconic handwritten style into a digital font. The challenge was to capture the energy of the handwritten style and make it function across different media, from print to screen. The typeface also had to express the same branding and typographic qualities on Lush’s new website.'

Handwriting

'It quickly became clear that two size-specific designs would be needed to meet the requirements of the brand. The large size design would invoke moderate-speed writing with a chiseled-nib marker, while the smaller size design would be reminiscent of faster writing with a marker pen, producing a monolinear stroke.

To ensure that the typeface captured the essence of the Lush brand, Dalton Maag’s designers worked closely with the design team at Lush. During a collaborative workshop different styles of handwriting were explored, and then digitized, to arrive at a design that carried the right spirit and energy. Lush Creative Director Katie Tabram provided several versions of each letter from which two or three variants were chosen to be digitized and built into a font. The alternate character designs enable the typeface to have a spontaneous quality that emulates handwriting and intuitive expression, across Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts.'

The goal

'The goal of the project was to create a typeface to carry a dynamic and vibrant representation of the brand without compromising the technical performance of the font in digital media, where compact file sizes are needed for fast website loading. This was achieved by tightly controlling the digitization of each character, and by creating a smart algorithm using OpenType typographic features to recreate the unique rhythm and expression of the Lush lettering style.

Lush Handwritten is no ordinary typeface. It stands as an example of close collaboration between client and maker, designers and craftspeople; it stands as an example for all people who care about the products and the services they provide.'

Video analysis:

• Digital font because the blackboard and chalk handwritten style would need tone used online to ensure that the handcrafted nature of the brand was consistent 
• Commercially viable but still retained the personality and hand made nature
• Client briefed, gave feedback and gave starting point which is unusual, but LUSH new that they wanted to continue the handwritten font
• Inconsistency and diversity was the aim so that it looked realitistic