Seeing sound and hearing fonts with LJ Rich
Mixing senses: Synaesthesia, AI and the unexpected music of fonts
Do you hear fonts? Can you taste music?

In this episode of Seeing Senses, BBC technology presenter and world renowned AI music artist LJ Rich joins Sarah for a joyfully curious journey through sound, senses and unexpected connections. From AI for good to the serendipity of symphonies created by mass transit. LJ talks about synaesthesia, sensory pattern recognition and how this can unlock incredible problem-solving.
The episode includes a very special name that font game. This is (probably) a world-first music experiment that you can play along with.

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Listen if you’re curious about:

• How sound becomes colour, texture, emotion and memory
• AI for Good United Nations global summit on AI every year
• How LJ uses AI as a musical collaborator
• Why our brains love metaphors and unexpected juxtapositions
• How patterns inspire creativity in stuck moments

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Key themes & takeaways:

• Interestingness at the edges: Why unconventional thinkers make better models
• Sound is a shape, a colour, a taste: Inside LJ’s 3D multisensory perception
• Unexpected connections: The creative power of linking the seemingly unrelated
• AI as a collaborator: Labelled and transparent
• Music and memory: Composing Rubik’s Cube moves with melodies
• Typography as performance: How fonts feel and sound
• Oral culture & AI training: Why everyday conversations need a place in the dataset
• Multisensory dissonance: When a restaurant’s wallpaper spoils the food
• Permission to feel: A beautiful call to nurture creativity in all its forms

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This episode features music created by LJ Rich. If you would like to see a selection of fonts during the name that font game head over to Substack.

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Guest:

LJ Rich is a world-renowned AI music artist and TV broadcaster. Known for presenting on BBC Click, her one-woman AI-enhanced musical show has gained global recognition. She also MCs and co-curates high-powered events. She is considered a thought leader on how humans, creativity and AI are evolving. LJ makes the invisible layers of tech, sound and emotion feel gloriously human.
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Bonus for multi-sensory thinkers:

Head to Seeing Senses on Substack for updates and extras.
You’ll find sense-hacking experiments and book recommendations from the guests. Become a paid subscriber to support the making of this podcast (with extra episodes and content).

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Host:

Sarah Hyndman is a designer/researcher, author and speaker. You can book her for a talk or workshop about Multi-Sensory Thinking here via Type Tasting. Sarah is the founder of Type Tasting, curator of The Sensologists and author of the bestselling book Why Fonts Matter (Penguin/Virgin).

Seeing Senses. Where there’s more than meets the eye.

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Theme music by AudioKraken.

#Synaesthesia #AIMusic #MultisensoryDesign #SeeingSensesPodcast #MultiSensoryThinking