Typography is one of those things most people don’t think much about, yet it is a powerful tool designers use to deliver their message.
The word “empathy” is shown above in a typeface named Helvetica. Helvetica was created in 1957 by Max Miedinger and has been used extensively across the globe. Why? Because it’s considered a neutral typeface, which makes it compatible with many types of content.
Helvetica, by design, conveys no additional meaning.
This week my assignment was to express a word’s definition by creating an artistic expression of the word. Because it is important to me (and I like a challenge), I chose the word empathy.
Before I explain my design, let’s take a look at the definition.
People often confuse empathy with sympathy, but they are vastly different. If I sympathize with someone, I retain my own point of view. When I empathize, I step outside of myself to experience the other person’s point of view.
“You’re experiencing a fraction of their emotions and feelings because you see things from their perspective” (Kramer, 2018).
According to psychologists Daniel Goleman and Paul Ekman, there are three types of empathy: cognitive, emotional, and compassionate (Bariso, 2018).
- Cognitive empathy is the ability to understand how a person feels.
- Emotional empathy happens when you share the feelings of another person.
- Compassionate empathy moves us to take action.
As I said, I like a challenge.
To begin, I wanted to use a typeface with lots of curves to make it feel personal. I also wanted it to look handwritten. When I found the Noteworthy typeface, I felt like I found a winner.
Here’s my first pass.
Empathy requires compassion, a form of love, so the color had to include red.
Since I wanted my letters to appear closer together, I used Adobe Illustrator’s tracking tool to illustrate the emotional connection I wanted to convey (notice how the “t” and “h” are touching each other).
Empathic people are good listeners, so I decided to replace the “a” with an ear. The shape of the “y” said “heart” to me, so the emotional element was taken care of. To incorporate the cognitive aspect, I created a silhouette of myself.
The marriage of the visual elements of thinking, listening, and feeling with the Noteworthy font in black and red resulted in this final product:
When designed strategically, the combination of graphical and typographical elements can help you deliver your message effectively. Just make sure you do your research first.
until nxt time …
References
Bariso, J. (2018, September 19). There are actually 3 types of empathy. Here’s how they differ–and how you can develop them all. Retrieved from: https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/there-are-actually-3-types-of-empathy-heres-how-they-differ-and-how-you-can-develop-them-all.html
Hagen, R., & Golombisky, K. (2017). White space is not your enemy: a beginner’s guide to communicating visually through graphic, web & multimedia design (3rd ed). Boca Raton: CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, CRC Press is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business.
Kramer, B. (2018, August 13.). The critical difference between sympathy and empathy. Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2018/08/13/the-critical-difference-between-sympathy-and-empathy/
Noteworthy font free download – FreeFontsPro.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.freefontspro.com/13692/noteworthy.ttf
Rube, T. (n.d.). How to show empathy. Retrieved from wikiHow website: https://www.wikihow.com/Show-Empathy
The history of Helvetica. (2018, September 6). Retrieved from: http://imagine-express.com/the-history-of-helvetica/
Hi Holly,
First and foremost, I think it’s very important that you distinguished between empathy and sympathy. I tend to think of empathy as getting to the level of the other person that you’re trying to reach (whether it’s down if they’re in a bad period or otherwise). Not necessarily related to design per se, but important.
I think the curves characteristic of the noteworthy typeface go really well with your silhouette so that was a great decision on your part. I also think the emotions conveyed by the color red as your outline adds a nice little contrast to the black, which if left alone can come off as a little cold. The heart adds a lot more warmth too. This looks it could be the logo of a psychologist’s practice or a hotline of some sorts that deals with anxiety/depression. Very nicely done!
-Mohamed Wali