Glyph
Project Overview
Role
Project Lead, UX, Visual Design
Client
Undergrad
Time
3 Weeks
Glyph is a typography identification tool. Glyph uses neural networks to match text in photos to fonts.


My team's goal was to prototype a typography tool that designers would want to incorporate into their process and hobbyists would use to discover fonts. I pitched Glyph and coordinated its design over a 3 week period in 4-week goal-oriented design course.
Our Users
Primary
Name
Arron
Age
32
Occupation
Visual Designer
“I’m typically working with multiple clients and trying to find the perfect typeface for a project can be-time consuming. Any program that can speed up my process and keep me organized is welcome."
Secondary
Name
Karen
Age
22
Occupation
Marketing Student
“I work with many visual designers in my program and hand-lettering has always been a hobby of mine. It would be cool to learn more about fonts and styles.”
The Competition
What The Font?
The only app we found with features similar to ours was What The Font. It supports the feature of being able to search for fonts with an image; however, it lacks any other features. Building an app that supports our 3 pillars and user goals guided Glyph’s feature list.
Talk With An Expert
I interviewed the head of Graphic Communications at a University to gain their insight on designing a typography tool. They proposed ideas that directly affected our project such as image processing that would make the searches more accurate and receiving a “finders fee” from license holders if users purchased fonts through our service.
This mapping breaks down the steps required for a user to search for a font.
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Flowcharts like this help the team to solidify the flow of in-app tasks.
User Flow
Low-Fi
Prototype
Sketches and feature lists were used to align the team. These low fidelity wireframes helped us to move quickly and draft layouts that would support our users top tasks. The exact layouts would be defined in prototyping software
Brand Concept
Typography can be a sterile and intimidating topic, but the fact is: anyone who has typed a paper has used typography. My main focus when creating Glyph's visual identity was to welcome the beginner.
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I created the logo mark to be both maze-like and similar to a fingerprint, representing Glyph's search through font libraries and its goal of identification.
Color
#A299C0
#00CCFF
#170062
Icons
Discover
Photo
Favorite
Profile
Screen Design
Sketches and feature lists were used to align the team on product vision. Low fidelity wireframes helped us to move quickly and draft layouts that would support our users top tasks. The exact layouts would be defined in prototyping software
Wire Flow
Building off the sketches and visual identity, I designed all the screens necessary to complete tasks within Glyph. We used these screens to create a flow that would guide our users' interactions. This wire flow served as our primary document when creating the interactive prototype.
Usability Testing
Usability testing was conducted in 3 separate focus groups. Participants completed a survey beforehand which informed the interview questions. Participants also used the Glyph prototype before group interviews began.
Findings
When asked to describe Glyph in one word, participants chose "useful," which helped us to understand Glyph as a tool over an educational device.
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Major changes made from user feedback included: trending fonts, a more prominent profile tab, launching onto the camera tab, a change in monetization strategy, and more refined search result accuracy, to name a few.
This prototype represents Glyph after conducting usability testing. It was created using Axure RP.
Reflection
My time working on Glyph taught me time management and tight deadlines. Creating and adhering to achievable daily goals is how my team was able to go from preliminary research to an initial prototype in the span of one week. Personally, I learned about maximizing the members' strengths and creating and delivering engaging presentations.