Wise Sans refined — Expressive by Default
In October 2023, we are releasing the updated version of Wise Sans, our big bold font. We will see headlines with more expressive character in our product and web. This update will only benefit the Wise user experience you know and love.
We also extended our font to Greek and Cyrillic. This means that Wise Sans can be used in Greek, Russian, Ukrainian and many more languages.
Making our typography unmistakably Wise everywhere by design.
We made an update to our font because Wise’s brand expression in product and web pages needed to be consistent with our marketing materials.
In March 2023, we made a drastic change in how we present ourselves to the world. Our new expression is energetic, straight talking and bold. It’s different. Not to be disruptive, but because we believe in a different way of doing things. With this change, we introduced Wise Sans, our brand typeface was a big part of our new visual identity. It’s a font shaped by the world we serve. Full of international character and energy.
The font came with glyphs — letters that hold special uniqueness, which add flair and even more expression. They work beautifully in large, short headlines. But there was one problem. When those glyphs were used in a longer phrase or sentence, it became too expressive and undermined the readability.
This meant that we always needed a skilled designer to control the usage of them. So we have not been using these characters in our product nor on the web, because it requires fine control of how much to use.
Think of it like good spices on your food. It adds interesting complexity when the right amount is used. But if there is too much it ruins the whole dish.
So we needed a font that is distinctively Wise but also can be used everywhere from marketing materials, to product and web pages.
More expressions, consistency and languages.
More expressions in our default alphabet set
We needed a set of letters that feel unmistakably Wise, without compromising the readability when used. There are 3 things that we need to consider: 1) Which letters to be the expressive letters 2) How expressive they are 3) How they come together as a set when used.
We chose specific letters to carry unique elements. To come to this decision, we had to go through several iterations of the letter design, and tested them in real-world contexts such as campaigns, website and product interfaces. We made sure that they were a group of beautiful letters, but also a beautiful group of letters that functioned well.
Refinement of various characters
Numbers and some characters have been improved for better visual balance and consistency
Expansion of Greek and Cyrillic alphabets
The whole new sets of characters have been added with consideration of how we add the Wise personality in the letter design. We received feedback with Greek, Ukrainian and Russian native designers for nuanced pointers. The typeface is now more world wide than before.
What does this mean for our customer experience?
The Wise experience is now more expressive than ever. From the utility perspective, there is no change. Wise product experience is as good as before.
Appreciations
This exciting update was made possible by some of the most talented folks. Big thanks to everybody involved.
Mario Feliciano — type designer who created Parafina which became the foundation of Wise Sans.
NaN — type design practice led by Luke Prowse, who made this refinement possible.
Ragged Edge — the design partner who helped us with our rebrand. They came back and pulled another amazing piece of work with us.
Wise Design — cameron worboys Nicole Godley Arthur Petrillo Ness Grixti Edwin Tan, Charlie Degrussa Henrique Gusso
