Designer Isabelle Tan's 'Voice Print' Transforms Speech Patterns into Typographic Musical Scores

Designer Isabelle Tan has created 'Voice Print,' an experimental book that converts spoken language into visual typographic scores. The project focuses on speech disfluencies—such as repetitions, hesitations, and prolongations—treating them as meaningful elements of personal identity rather than errors. Using a constrained set of design rules, Tan translates vocal patterns into a notation system that maps sound and temporal qualities onto the page, drawing parallels between stuttering and melismatic singing. The book's layouts employ rhythmic typography that flows across pages, enabling readers to perceive the 'harmonic sequences' within sentences and understand how timing and variation shape communication. Inspired by artist and musician JJJJerome Ellis, who explores stuttering as a site of identity, 'Voice Print' reframes disfluency as a source of structural rhythm and individual expression. The project shifts emphasis from linguistic correctness to expressive communication, highlighting how irregularities contribute to dialogue. The book features translucent paper spreads showing typographic scores and includes essays that extend the visual system. Published via designboom's reader submissions, the work proposes a new method for reading speech where typography, sound, and identity converge into a shared visual and linguistic experience.