Introducing Indeed Sans in the product
Visual Systems: I led the team to ensure the successful product deployment of our custom typeface, delivering both brand consistency and measurable business outcomes through the adoption of the design system. This project underscored how strategic design choices can deliver both aesthetic and financial benefits.
Challenge
After the successful rollout of Indeed’s first-ever Brand Identity, Indeed Sans had yet to be fully integrated into the digital product experience. This presented an opportunity to align product and marketing visual design, enhance user experience, and reinforce Indeed’s unique brand identity across all touchpoints.
Objectives
One: Brand distinctiveness
Create a memorable and on-brand user experience across all product surfaces.
Two: Purposeful alignment
Harmonize product and marketing visual design for a cohesive brand experience.
Three: Performance optimization
Leverage the variable font technology of Indeed Sans to improve page load times and system performance.
Four: Enhanced UX design
Empower UX designers with a broader range of font styles, enabling more expressive and user-centric designs.
Execution
Typeface features
Indeed Sans, a variable font supporting 136 languages, was designed for flexibility and legibility. With five weights and two styles, it promised better performance and a cohesive brand experience.
Performance testing
We swapped Noto Sans for Indeed Sans in quantitative tests, focusing on page load times and CPU usage. Result: No performance dip, and site speed slightly improved.
Visual analysis
We conducted a heuristic analysis, ensuring the typeface change wouldn’t disrupt the interface. Indeed Sans reduced line length, improved legibility, and maintained visual harmony.
Results & impact
With strong results and a seamless transition, Indeed Sans became the core product typeface, boosting brand expression, user engagement, and revenue.
Impact on business
User testing showed a 2.4% increase in positive outcomes, with a 1.7% lift in revenue and a 2.7% increase in job seeker applications. This translated to an estimated $346k lift in daily revenue.
Impact on design
The successful integration of Indeed Sans strengthened the alignment between product and marketing design and broadened access to more sizes and weights in the design system.
Impact on brand
Today, Indeed Sans stands as the core product typeface, uplifting the Indeed visual layer with a distinctive and ownable branded expression across all touchpoints around the globe.
Contribution
Creative leadership: Define and drive the integration of the custom typeface (Indeed Sans) into the product experience, aligning it with the brand’s identity and ensuring it enhances both UX and performance.
Cross-functional collaboration: Work closely with product, design systems, and brand teams to ensure seamless implementation and alignment across all touchpoints.
Strategic oversight: Guide the team in developing and executing quantitative performance tests, visual heuristics, and user testing to validate the impact of the new typeface on product experience and revenue.
Problem solving: Address challenges related to performance, accessibility, and visual impact, ensuring the typeface enhances rather than disrupts the user experience.
Impact measurement: Analyze data from testing phases to assess the typeface’s effect on key metrics, including engagement and revenue, and use insights to guide decision-making.
Documentation and guidance: Oversee the creation of comprehensive guidelines for using the new typeface within the design system, ensuring consistency and ease of use for design teams.