Notes from a long rebrand
(LONG READ) TYPE · AUG 02, 2026 · 9 MIN
One typeface, four years.
CONTENTS
01
Why one family
02
What we gave up
03
Forty screens later
04
What we would change
When Lumen asked for a brand that would feel ten years old on day one, we did the least fashionable thing we could think of: one typeface, set in two weights, for everything.
Article
01 Why one family
Banks speak in numbers, warnings and promises. Three registers, usually three typefaces. We wanted a single voice that could whisper a balance and shout a fraud alert without changing clothes.
It forced decisions early. If the type could not carry hierarchy alone, the layout had to. That is how the generous spacing became the brand.
Fig. 03 — The type specimen that became the brand book
“Restraint is not the absence of ideas. It is one idea, held for a long time.”
— From the Lumen brand book, page 4
02 What we gave up
No display face for campaigns. No script for the premium tier. Every time someone asked for “something special”, the answer was a size, not a font.
03 Forty screens later
The product team shipped forty screens in the first year without a single new style. The app rating sits at 4.8. We would like to take credit for all of it; we will settle for the type.
04 What we would change
We would have drawn the numerals sooner. Tabular figures carry most of a bank, and we spent the first year borrowing them.
(NEXT READ)
The case for fewer logo options
(LONG READ) Type
One typeface, four years.
BY NORA VALE · 9 MIN
(LONG READ) Type
One typeface, four years.
BY NORA VALE · 9 MIN
CONTENTS
01
Why one family
02
What we gave up
03
Forty screens later
When Lumen asked for a
brand that would feel ten
years old on day one, we
did the least fashionable
thing: one typeface for
everything.
Article
01 Why one family
Banks speak in numbers, warnings and promises. Three registers, usually three typefaces. We wanted a single voice that could whisper a balance and shout a fraud alert without changing clothes.
It forced decisions early. If the type could not carry hierarchy alone, the layout had to. That is how the generous spacing became the brand.
“Restraint is not the absence of ideas. It is one idea, held for a long time.”
— LUMEN BRAND BOOK, P. 4
(NEXT READ)
The case for fewer logo options
(04) Alternates
(05) Utility