How to see like a designer: The hidden power of typography and logos | Jessica Hische (Lettering Artist, Author)

**Jessica Hische** (0:00)
Most people are better at understanding the feelings and sensations that typography and logos give us than they give themselves credit for. Because what we are as people are endless absorbers of patterns and information and all this kind of stuff as we move throughout the world. We don't take time to sit and digest it, but it's still coming in and getting logged. And so even as like a non-designer, I think you can look at examples of logos where something's not quite right and be like something's not right here, I just don't know how to name it. But I think a good exercise is just sort of like looking at fonts that are available in the world and asking yourself, what feeling does this give me?

**Lenny Rachitsky** (0:46)
Today my guest is Jessica Hische. Jessica is a design legend and it was such an honor to both have her on this podcast and also to work with her on a refresh of my newsletter and podcast, Logo and Brand, which is launching around the same time as this episode comes out. Jessica is a lettering artist specializing in typographical work for logos, film, books and other commercial applications. Her clients include Wes Anderson, The United States Postal Service, Apple, Nike, Tiffany & Company, The Gap, and Penguin Books. And her work has been featured in design and illustration annals, both in the US and internationally. She's helped create logos for Phil's Coffee, Eventbrite, and Mailchimp, is a best-selling children's book author, and if you live around the Bay Area, you've seen her work all over the city without knowing it. In our conversation, Jessica shares the process that she went through to update my logo and brand for Lenny's Letter and Podcast, what specific elements of a logo and brand impact, how you feel about that brand, why a good enough logo is just fine for a long time for most startups, and when it makes sense to refresh your look. Also, some really clever productivity tips, design advice, and a bunch of really fun stories. Jessica is a master at what she does, and I am excited to spread the Jessica Hische gospel. If you enjoy this podcast, don't forget to subscribe and follow it in your favorite podcasting app or YouTube. It's the best way to avoid missing future episodes, and it helps the podcast tremendously. With that, I bring you Jessica Hische. Jessica, thank you so much for being here. Welcome to the podcast.

**Jessica Hische** (2:19)
Happy to be here.

**Lenny Rachitsky** (2:21)
I thought it'd be good to start with asking you just to describe what it is you do, because you're very atypical of the kinds of guests I have in this podcast, and you also have a very unique skill set.

**Jessica Hische** (2:32)
Yes. Well, I will describe what I am most prominently known for, because I'm a person who just does a lot of things, but the thing that I do the most professionally is custom typography, like bespoke lettering pieces.
That translates to working for all kinds of things. Sometimes it's for film and television. I've done movie titles and things like that, and television credits and stuff. Sometimes it's book covers. Actually, a lot of times it's book covers. Then a big part of my business is doing logos, and logo refreshes, and things like that. Basically, being the person who knows all the things, so you don't have to have that person on staff when it comes to typography.

**Lenny Rachitsky** (3:17)
This episode is brought to you by the Enterprise Ready Conference, a one-day event in San Francisco, bringing together product and engineering leaders shaping the future of enterprise SaaS. The event features a curated list of speakers with direct experience building for the enterprise, including leaders from OpenAI, Vanta, Checker, Dropbox, and Canva. Topics include advanced identity management, compliance, encryption, and logging, essentially at complex features that most enterprise customers require. If you're a founder, exec, product manager, or engineer tasked with the enterprise roadmap, this conference is for you. You'll get detailed insights from industry leaders that have years of experience navigating the same challenges that you face today. And best of all, it's completely free since it's hosted by Work OS. Spots are filling up quickly. Make sure to request an invite at enterpriseready.com. That's enterpriseready.com.
I'm excited to chat with Christina Gilbert, the founder of One Schema, one of our longtime podcast sponsors. Hi Christina.

**Christina Gilbert** (4:21)
Yes. Thank you for having me on Lenny.

**Lenny Rachitsky** (4:23)
What is the latest with One Schema? I know you now work with some of my favorite companies like Ramp, Vanta, Scale, and Watershed. I heard that you just launched a new product to help product teams import CSVs from especially tricky systems like ERPs.