Adobe Monotype The Science of Fonts
The activation that measured which font your brain actually loves.
MONOTYPE · OCTOBER 2017
Brief
Adobe Max is one of the year's biggest creative gatherings — designers, directors and art directors from around the world under one roof. Standing out in that crowd takes more than a banner or a passive sample; it takes a moment the visitor can take with them.
Monotype's ask was clear: don't show the catalogue like a vitrine, build an activation where visitors could experience the catalogue on themselves. We had to reach the side of designers that doesn't "read" fonts but feels them.
“Picking a typeface isn't logic — it's a quiet "yes" from the inside.”
Insight
There's an unspoken truth in design: choosing a typeface looks like a rational decision, but it's really an emotional one. A designer calls a font "modern," "serious," "warm" — but there is no ruler for that. Something just clicks: "yes, this one."
So our relationship with type lives in a quiet, subconscious place. If we could make it visible — if we could plug into someone's brain and ask "how are you reacting to this font, right now" — Monotype's catalogue would stop being a vitrine and become a mirror that worked differently for every visitor.
The Idea
We built the Type Lab. The visitor stepped in, put on the Emotiv EEG headset, and typed their own name on the touchscreen. The rest, their brain would tell.
Dozens of fonts from Monotype's catalogue appeared on screen, one by one, spelling that name. The headset measured six emotions simultaneously: excitement, interest, focus, calm, stress, engagement. Each typeface got its own emotional profile.
At the end, the screen visualised the visitor's reactions — they could literally see which font moved them how. And finally, the typeface that triggered the strongest bond was chosen: the visitor's name was handed to them, printed in their "own" font.
In one moment, Monotype's catalogue became a personalised memory. The card the visitor walked away with wasn't a brochure — it was the signature of their own brain.
Type Your Name
Visitors typed their own name on the touchscreen as they entered. The whole experience ran with their name, made just for them — not a generic catalogue showcase.
EEG Read the Brain's Response
The Emotiv EEG headset captured six emotions in real time: excitement, interest, focus, calm, stress and engagement. The brain's subconscious response became visible for the first time.
Dozens of Fonts, Live Profiles
Fonts from the Monotype catalogue appeared one by one spelling the visitor's name. Each typeface got its own emotional profile — creatives saw their own reactions to type, live.
A Print in "Your Own" Typeface
The font with the strongest emotional bond was selected, and the visitor's name was printed in it as a takeaway gift. What left the booth wasn't a brochure — it was a personal memory.
Execution
Three days of live operation at the Monotype booth at Adobe Max — a mini research lab running non-stop through every fair hour. Hardware, software, interface and print pipeline were all built from scratch by our team.
Scope
- Software development of the Type Lab interface and live visualisation engine
- Emotiv EEG device integration — processing six emotions as live data
- Font set curation from the Monotype catalogue, prepared for the experience
- On-the-spot personalised print production line
- Booth hardware setup, three days of on-site operations, visitor flow management
Team
- Director & Experience Design: Atilla Baybara
- Technology Development: Utku Olcar
- Operations: Yiğit Sarı
- Client Relations: Şaban Yılmaz
- + On-site team and print operators
Results
- Long queues at the booth across three days — one of the most talked-about activations at Adobe Max
- Hundreds of personalised printed gifts — an object held, photographed and shared by visitors instead of yet another brochure
- Monotype's catalogue lifted out of the "vitrine" format — a tool experienced on the visitor's own self, not passively viewed
- First live measurement of typographic experience via EEG — a rare science + creativity intersection in the design world
- Organic word of mouth across the Adobe Max community — "did you try the Type Lab?" became a fair-floor question
- Client
- Monotype
- Event
- Adobe Max
- Booth
- Monotype
- Duration
- 3 gün canlı operasyon
- Technology
- Emotiv EEG, özel arayüz, baskı üretim hattı
- Production, Technology & Operations
- Harikalar
- Project Lead
- Atilla Baybara
- Technology
- Utku Olcar
- Client Relations
- Şaban Yılmaz
- Operations
- Yiğit Sarı
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