“Joyful” — 3D Typography Inspired by Emotion.

If happiness had a font… it would look like this.

This experimental typography project was born from a long-standing dream: to explore how form, light, and texture can capture emotion. As part of my creative exploration at OCAD University in Toronto, I challenged myself to design a typeface that visually expresses pure joy.

Concept

The word I chose was joyful. The visual metaphor: floating soap bubbles — light, transparent, and playful. The goal was to create a typographic piece that feels uplifting, dreamy, and full of personality.

Process

The journey started with quick sketches in my notebook and continued with digital refinement on the iPad. I then brought the idea into 3D using Adobe Firefly, experimenting with:

• Airy, organic letterforms
• Translucent textures and fluid movement
• Soft lighting to enhance the emotional tone

Result

The final piece feels lightweight and emotionally charged. It's a celebration of curiosity, process, and the simple joy of making something beautiful.

Work in progress

From concept to creation — hand-drawn idea, refined sketch, and digital artwork in progress.

Work in progress creating bubble images in Firefly.

Development of the final typographic design.

I added more colors to the bubbles and improved the readability of the letter J by making the following edits.

Final result.