In a decentralized, multi-chain ecosystem where diversity is a feature, not a bug. This project focused on a shared typographic asset, designed to strengthen ecosystem brand equity while remaining open, free, and permissionless.
Role: Project Lead
Year: 2022
The Challenge
The core challenge was balancing brand alignment with decentralization. Many developers lacked resources to hire brand agencies or even designers, risking fragmented design quality. The ecosystem needed a way to guide design decisions that elevated trust, association, and reputation, without imposing control or limiting creative freedom.
Strategy
Typography became the connective tissue across a diverse ecosystem. A high-quality, neutral-yet-distinct tool that teams could adapt and build upon. The font style was heavily influenced by the brand token and its geometric style while offering a friendly and approachable expression as tone of voice.
System Thinking
We designed a flexible typographic system grounded in accessibility and openness.
Scaling from Marketing-level to product-level use
A wide weight range enabling expressive hierarchy
Extensive language and glyph support for global adoption
Free distribution to work digitally, globally, and over time
Applications
The font comes to life across the ecosystem—from protocol documentation and developer tools to product interfaces and brand communications.
Impact
Unbounded became the world’s first free, open-source, on-chain funded font. Six months after launch, it was added to Google Fonts, dramatically lowering adoption friction. The project gained coverage from major design publications, positioning Polkadot as a credible cultural contributor to the global design and front-end community.
Born from a collaboration between Parity Technologies, Koto, and NaN. A meeting of minds that brought design and technology together.