Sheba Hope Reef is a giant piece of living typography and proof we can rebuild coral at speed and scale; in turn helping to reverse the tide of marine ecosystem decline. Built to showcase Sheba’s unique reef star building system, Hope is located off the remote fishing island of Bontusua in Indonesia’s Coral Triangle – an area on the front line in the fight against coral extinction. In 2019, working alongside the island community, Sheba’s team of marine biologists laid 900 hexagonal reef stars containing 15,000 pieces of embryonic coral, creating four huge characters the size of two Olympic swimming pools. Once built, the challenge was getting Hope seen, so we partnered with Google, making Hope viewable from space on Google Earth as a historical landmass, plus diveable with Streetview. Diving deeper to educate viewers about coral, we extended the typography of the reef, creating a scientifically accurate digital growing font, inspired by our Reef Star system and endorsed by marine biologists. Every coral, sponge and fish species used was native to the restored reef.

The font was technically built from the ground up as a fully procedural, naturally growing coral system in Houdini, with the intention to be as authentic and realistic as possible. Art directable growth patterns made each letter unique but readable in many different scenarios, which enabled the creation of endless assets in the highest fidelity possible. Launched on World’s Oceans Day, the Hope font brought the story of Hope Reef to life in a global digital outdoor campaign and as an educational tool in social. Our digital outdoor sites visually grew evocative headlines in coral in real time, even becoming phosphorescent at night. Hope reflected the actual reef’s growth over three years. From bare reef stars to beautiful thriving marine eco system.