Tag Archives: crossmodal

Immerse yourself in the emotional impact of fonts, an experience for all the senses

Join me to explore Mood 1 from the Adobe MAX immersive installation.

Put your headphones on and play this while you look at the photos*
Click here to play the sound.

How does it make you feel? What smells and flavours would you pair with this mood?

**

I first came across this weird looking type style in Rob Roy Kelly’s book of American Wood Type 1828–1900. It’s a crazy mashup of three styles: a gothic (sans serif) + tuscan (fancy bifurcated serifs) + Italienne (reverse contrast).

This is Cottonwood, designed by Barbara Lind, Joy Redick, and Kim Buker Chansler. From Adobe Originals.

These photos are from the large-scale multisensory installation I created at the last in-person Adobe MAX at the L.A. Convention Centre in Los Angeles.

Visitors were immersed in the mood of different typefaces through all of their senses. At each station they were invited to put on headphones, to smell a scent in a jar or by flipping the pages of a book, to eat a small taster and to feel a texture. Each set of stimuli was designed to bring a mood to life in the participant’s imagination. There was curiosity and intrigue as the first visitors arrived and they were soon returning with groups of friends saying “you have to try this”.

“The experience that Type Tasting designed for the Adobe Fonts booth at Adobe MAX was such a fun, intriguing way for people to explore how their reactions to fonts relate to other sensations” Dan Rhatigan, Adobe Fonts

Sound designer Rob Taliesin Owen created bespoke sounds and a bespoke scent was created by 4160 Tuesdays. The installation was produced and run with the wonderful Adobe Fonts team.

“Font ‘tasting’, it was awesome! You could smell, hear and taste the fonts”, “F!ing genius!”.

*If the link doesn’t work listen to Suite Punta Del Este by Astor Piazzolla.

“F!ing genius!” Visitors experienced the emotional impact of fonts with an immersive, multisensory installation in L.A.


I’ve been creating immersive and multisensory installations for a number of years now. They’ve been on hold during Covid but plans are now underway for the future. This is the large-scale multisensory installation I created at Adobe MAX at the L.A. Convention Centre in Los Angeles.

Visitors were immersed in the mood of different typefaces through all of their senses. At each station they were invited to put on headphones, to smell a scent in a jar or by flipping the pages of a book, to eat a small taster and to feel a texture. Each set of stimuli was designed to bring a mood to life in the participant’s imagination. There was curiosity and intrigue as the first visitors arrived and they were soon returning with groups of friends saying “you have to try this”.

“The experience that Type Tasting designed for the Adobe Fonts booth at Adobe MAX was such a fun, intriguing way for people to explore how their reactions to fonts relate to other sensations” Dan Rhatigan, Adobe Fonts

Sound designer Rob Taliesin Owen created bespoke sounds and a bespoke scent was created by 4160 Tuesdays. The installation was produced and run with the wonderful Adobe Fonts team.

“Font ‘tasting’, it was awesome! You could smell, hear and taste the fonts”

  • Type Tasting installation at Adobe MAX in Los Angeles

Typographic synaesthesia experience session

Typographic synaesthesia experience session

A fantastical multisensory online event designed to stimulate all your senses

As featured in Design Week’s Picks of the Month.

Take part in a fun session with games and find out about some of Sarah’s research as you discover first-hand how the appearance of the words you read interacts with all of your senses.

Suitable for all, no experience needed and you can join this virtual session from anywhere in the world.

This is not just a font, it’s also an idea, a smell, a song, a memory, a feeling, a personality, a warning, a taste…

Discover for yourself how the different shapes and styles of the typefaces that you read every day trigger responses in your brain that link to all of your senses.

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Introduction to multisensory typography

LUNCH & LEARN / BREAKFAST

Introduction to multisensory typography

Learn the science of designing for all the senses to make your branding more memorable

A multisensory discovery session designed to stimulate all your senses. Ideal for designers and students of all levels who want to learn more about the science of communicating more effectively by harnessing all the senses.

As featured in Design Week’s Picks of the Month

Learn how typography interacts with all your senses and how it can even alter what you experience. Sarah will talk about some of her research and you’ll take part in multisensory demonstrations.

Multisensory

This is not just a font, it’s also an idea, a smell, a song, a memory, a feeling, a personality, a warning, a taste…

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Pop Up Type Tasting Typography Lab

Pop Up Type Tasting Typography Lab
Stoke Newington Literary Festival
2nd & 3rd June, 11am to 8pm, free.
Venue – Locations around the Town Hall

*** NEWS ***
One of the experiments we ran at this event has now been published: The role of typeface curvilinearity on taste expectations and perception by Carlos Velasco, Sarah Hyndman (Type Tasting), Charles Spence (University of Oxford), International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science, January 2018.
***

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Experience ‘Pride, Prejudice & Perceptions’ at the British Academy


Pride, Prejudice & Perceptions is an interactive sensory exploration of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice, created by AVM Curiosities & Type Tasting for the British Academy’s Literature Week.

Taking inspiration from the typography found in three editions of this classic novel, Pride, Prejudice & Perceptions uses type, sound, sight and scent to serve one story three ways.

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Pride, Prejudice & Perceptions at the British Academy

Pride, Prejudice & Perceptions

AVM Curiosities & Type Tasting present
Pride, Prejudice & Perceptions
British Academy Literature Week 2017: Adaptations and Transformations
15th–19th May, 9am to 6pm. Free, drop in, suitable for all.

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Wine & Type Tasting evening

Wine & Type Tasting evening

By Sarah Hyndman

Do you Judge a Wine by its Label?
Wine & Type Tasting, 8th December, 7:30pm to 9:30pm (sold out)
A sellout success at the London Design Festival this year

“Frankly brilliant idea of combining a type workshop with a wine tasting” It’s Nice That

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Wine and Type Tasting event photos

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By Sarah Hyndman

Do You Judge a Wine by its Label?
Would you like us to host a wine & type tasting for your Christmas do? Find out more.

We had a fantastic Wine and Type Tasting event at Laithwaite’s Arch with Bankside Design District for the London Design Festival. Here is a glimpse of the evening, all the photos are by David Owens. There will be a second tasting on Tuesday 27th September and a Christmas one is planned on 8th December. Find out more here. 

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“Surprising and very interesting” Richard, “Fascinating” Cherry, “Illuminating” Piers, “Intriguing” Clare, “Very different but rewarding” Lee, “Fun and informative” Sara, “Really interesting! Surprisingly scientific” Rachael, “It was fabulous, surprising and delicious!” Syd.

“More than an excuse for weeknight drinking, wine was a clever example of the influence of typeface … don’t worry; you don’t need to be a typography nerd” Digital Arts

“It was certainly an eye-opener to realise that so much of what we taste is influenced by our other senses” SEEN London

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Wine and Type Tasting with Sarah Hyndman   Wine and Type Tasting with Sarah Hyndman   Wine and Type Tasting with Sarah Hyndman

 

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Type Tasting at the London Design Festival

London Design Festival 2016

Exciting and innovative Type Tasting events are planned for the London Design Festival with Bankside Design District. ‘Do You Judge a Wine by its Label?’ is an enlightening and enjoyable tasting evening that combines wine, design and science. Discover what the label tells you about a wine, and how it can even influence how it tastes (along with jolly nice Laithwaite’s wine). ‘What’s Your Type?’ workshops are bursting with fun games and demonstrations that teach you the personalities of typefaces and how to choose a font in three easy steps (no experience necessary). This will be hosted by Bedales in Borough Market.

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Do you judge a wine by its label? London Design Festival. Do you judge a wine by its label? London Design Festival.

TASTE
Do you judge a wine by its label?
Wine and type tasting evening, £30
Thursday 22nd September, 7.30pm – 9.30pm SOLD OUT
Tuesday 27th September, 7.30pm – 9.30pm BOOK NOW
Laithwaite’s, Arch 219-221, Stoney St, London SE1 9AA

A unique and enlightening wine/type tasting experience. Come on a journey of discovery through a selection of superb wines as you explore what the design of the label tells you about what you drink. How much does a bottle cost? If it looks expensive will you enjoy it more? What does the type tell you about its provenance? Try your hand at wine and font pairing as you identify the key flavours. Ultimately is the label just there to inform you, or can it transform your tasting experience?

The wine and type tasting evening has been created by innovative type expert Sarah Hyndman, founder of Type Tasting, and will be co-hosted by Grant Hedley the wine tasting expert (tough job) with Laithwaite’s. The event will be held in the beautiful Laithwaite’s Arch store. This family owned, independent wine merchant has been finding some of the most exciting and enjoyable wines in the world for the last 50 years.

“Frankly brilliant idea of combining a type workshop with a wine tasting” It’s Nice That

Book quickly, tickets are selling fast www.bit.ly/LDFWineType

Reviews from the preview evening:
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What's Your Type?

LEARN
What’s your type?

Would you like to learn a simple 3-step process for choosing a font?
And to have access to the latest Type Tasting research results?

Wednesday 21st September, £15
Workshops last an hour; start times are 12pm, 2pm, 5pm, 7pm and 9pm.
Bedales Borough Market, 5 Bedale St, London SE1 9AL.
(No experience is needed, booking is necessary as numbers are limited).
BOOK NOW

Type Tasting is involved in extensive research quantifying how we respond to different typefaces. This workshop is based on results, not opinions; you will learn how to use this knowledge to make confident font choices.

• LEARN an easy 3-step process for choosing a font.
• FIND OUT why different fonts are suitable for different occasions.
• CREATE a font profile analysis chart to refer to when choosing fonts.
• UNDERSTAND how a font can look cheap, expensive, calm, angry and can even alter your experiences.

Find out more…

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Also from Type Tasting during the London Design Festival

tatemodern timemachine

DISCOVER
Tate Modern: Talk and book signing
Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th September
Date to be announced

CREATE
V&A: Typographic Time Machine #TimeType
Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th September
Drop in and get creative at the V&A during the London Design Festival’s Graphics Weekend, sponsored by Monotype

Brochure cover
DISCOVER / CREATE / LEARN / TASTE
Download the programme of Type Tasting events at the London Design Festival.

(Photos from Type Tasting at the V&A for LDF 2015 by David Owens)