To convey an intention or tone of voice in a message is important to keep the message unambiguous. But emojis or emoticons are often considered inappropriate in a semi-formal situation, especially concerning a texting conversation between a supervisor and his/her subordinates. The present project strives to explore alternative ways to express emotion in a text other than with icons, e.g., emojis or emoticons, while still controlling the level of formality.

The present experiment focuses on the fields of typography and future-oriented technology. It is divided into two parts. The first part explores the visual factors which could trigger an emotional expression. The second part is based on those factors but focuses more in-depth on the field of typography and how it could be applied to the technology of the future. The result was to maintain a bond with the default typeface of the text message, in this study is SF San Francisco, nonetheless be distinctive enough to provoke a reader’s curiosity to interpret the emotion in the text. The result showed that cursive and angular contours affect our emotional perception and that users can, with the variable OpenType 1.8 font format, control the level of emotional intensity.