A brand voice is not only articulated with the words used, but also with the visual aspects of how the words appear in communications. Typography plays a key role in bringing the brand voice to life.

“Type is a beautiful group of letters, not a group of beautiful letters.”

- Matthew Carter

Purposeful design decisions, matched with clear intent marks the success of a font design. When the components; letters, punctuation, numbers, spacing etc., work together in harmony, reading is effortless and enjoyable.

Sun Life New Display

The Sun Life Display font design is rooted in time-honoured aesthetics, taking inspiration from classical serif type designs from the early 19th century. Originally developed for use within books, it is still common today to read a book using one of these font designs. The familiarity of these letterforms establishes a feeling of warmth with readers.

A primary feature of Sun Life Display's design is the contrast of stroke weight within the letterforms. Commonly, a font with high contrast can appear sharp and austere – Bodoni is often used by fashion brands for this intent. Lower contrast can appear functional, but also mechanical. The Sun Life Display forms were designed with a balance of contrast. Enough to elevate the style for a sophisticated look, while maintaining function and approachability.

The x-height was designed to be generous but not too large, portraying enough sophistication without losing a contemporary touch. A balanced size contrast between the lowercase, ascenders, and capitals makes it easy for readers to distinguish each individual form, and ultimately each word. This design feature creates comfortable reading experience.

The serifs have enough weight to guide the eye horizontally from one letter to the next. They are also bracketed, making a smooth visual transition from the vertical stroke to the horizontal serif. The contrast axis was shifted to vertical. Visible in the lowercase e and the top shoulder of the n. Classical serif styles commonly have an angular contrast axis - derived from handwriting with broad nib pen. Shifting the contrast axis creates smooth rounded forms that look contemporary.

To bring the design elements together, the letterspacing was kept snug. The closeness of the words makes them feel warm and approachable. Then, when typesetting the right message in this font, the Brand Voice communicates optimism.

Sun Life New Text

The Text family is designed as a compliment to the Display with functional usage in mind. To create a common thread with the Display font, the Text family is inspired by early sans-serif fonts (Avenir and Futura) which were also designed for body copy use in books.

The primary intent of these fonts was use at smaller text sizes. The design was optimized for legibility and readability on screen and in print. The stroke weight is thick enough for a comfortable read, and the contrast is kept low for functional use. The x-height is slightly larger than the Display family, an adjustment that improves legibility at smaller sizes.

To increase legibility, the letterforms are designed with open apertures. The a, c and s are good examples, where the top/bottom strokes carry the eye to the next letter by remaining mostly horizontal. The breathing room within the letters makes them comfortable to read.

Although Sun Life Text fonts were designed for body copy use, when used slightly larger, the design details confident and sophisticated look.

As part of Sun Life's new visual identity, Sun Life Display and Sun Life Text fonts were custom built and crafted to bring the Brand Voice to life. Together they capture optimism, with a sophisticated style that evokes the feeling of warmth. The design intent of the fonts though, is what really connects with Sun Life's Purpose. Each design decision considers how the words will be read, putting clients at the centre of our focus.