Comments on: Typography in China http://www.atissuejournal.com/2009/05/28/typography-in-china/ by Corporate Design Foundation Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:10:57 +0000 hourly 1 By: J B L http://www.atissuejournal.com/2009/05/28/typography-in-china/comment-page-1/#comment-460 J B L Wed, 10 Jun 2009 02:54:55 +0000 http://www.atissuejournal.com/?p=1256#comment-460 It is important not to mix typographical issues with font-design problems. To my point of view, any good graphic designer should be able to create great typography with limited usage of fonts. See Weingart mixing over and over "Akzidenz Grotesk" and "Times", let's follow Vignelli and "his" Bodoni, or watch at the Swiss, Jeker, playing to the infinite only with "Helvetica". Chinese characters also have the privilege to be used at least in two directions ( horizontal and vertical ). <br>But do the Chinese letter really need to be redesigned for example into a Garamond or a Meta ? By their nature, Chinese characters are stylized ideograms coming originally from a brush stroke and their visual complexity is nice by it's nature, which is a great difference with our less flexible western characters which original design are resulting of the usage of more firm material, such as feather and stone carving. By reading the article we can understand the problems of the quantity of signs within a font, and we can allow us to dream of an Adrian Frutiger or a Zuzana Licko revisiting the next Chinese characters family... or why not, hoping of a upcoming software constructing automatically each sign on demand... that should not be that complicate with the new technologies. It is important not to mix typographical issues with font-design problems. To my point of view, any good graphic designer should be able to create great typography with limited usage of fonts. See Weingart mixing over and over “Akzidenz Grotesk” and “Times”, let's follow Vignelli and “his” Bodoni, or watch at the Swiss, Jeker, playing to the infinite only with “Helvetica”. Chinese characters also have the privilege to be used at least in two directions ( horizontal and vertical ).
But do the Chinese letter really need to be redesigned for example into a Garamond or a Meta ? By their nature, Chinese characters are stylized ideograms coming originally from a brush stroke and their visual complexity is nice by it's nature, which is a great difference with our less flexible western characters which original design are resulting of the usage of more firm material, such as feather and stone carving. By reading the article we can understand the problems of the quantity of signs within a font, and we can allow us to dream of an Adrian Frutiger or a Zuzana Licko revisiting the next Chinese characters family… or why not, hoping of a upcoming software constructing automatically each sign on demand… that should not be that complicate with the new technologies.

]]> By: J B L http://www.atissuejournal.com/2009/05/28/typography-in-china/comment-page-1/#comment-79 J B L Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:54:55 +0000 http://www.atissuejournal.com/?p=1256#comment-79 It is important not to mix typographical issues with font-design problems. To my point of view, any good graphic designer should be able to create great typography with limited usage of fonts. See Weingart mixing over and over "Akzidenz Grotesk" and "Times", let's follow Vignelli and "his" Bodoni, or watch at the Swiss, Jeker, playing to the infinite only with "Helvetica". Chinese characters also have the privilege to be used at least in two directions ( horizontal and vertical ). <br>But do the Chinese letter really need to be redesigned for example into a Garamond or a Meta ? By their nature, Chinese characters are stylized ideograms coming originally from a brush stroke and their visual complexity is nice by it's nature, which is a great difference with our less flexible western characters which original design are resulting of the usage of more firm material, such as feather and stone carving. By reading the article we can understand the problems of the quantity of signs within a font, and we can allow us to dream of an Adrian Frutiger or a Zuzana Licko revisiting the next Chinese characters family... or why not, hoping of a upcoming software constructing automatically each sign on demand... that should not be that complicate with the new technologies. It is important not to mix typographical issues with font-design problems. To my point of view, any good graphic designer should be able to create great typography with limited usage of fonts. See Weingart mixing over and over “Akzidenz Grotesk” and “Times”, let's follow Vignelli and “his” Bodoni, or watch at the Swiss, Jeker, playing to the infinite only with “Helvetica”. Chinese characters also have the privilege to be used at least in two directions ( horizontal and vertical ).
But do the Chinese letter really need to be redesigned for example into a Garamond or a Meta ? By their nature, Chinese characters are stylized ideograms coming originally from a brush stroke and their visual complexity is nice by it's nature, which is a great difference with our less flexible western characters which original design are resulting of the usage of more firm material, such as feather and stone carving. By reading the article we can understand the problems of the quantity of signs within a font, and we can allow us to dream of an Adrian Frutiger or a Zuzana Licko revisiting the next Chinese characters family… or why not, hoping of a upcoming software constructing automatically each sign on demand… that should not be that complicate with the new technologies.

]]> By: Charles http://www.atissuejournal.com/2009/05/28/typography-in-china/comment-page-1/#comment-75 Charles Sat, 06 Jun 2009 06:55:40 +0000 http://www.atissuejournal.com/?p=1256#comment-75 Very interesting article. I have been studying Chinese for about a year now and--as an outsider--I've always wondered about the various fonts for Chinese. I have had various writing assignments and I always felt that their typefaces were more so trying to emulate handwritten Chinese and calligraphy rather than make something that was more design-oriented. Granted, there are typefaces that are design-oriented and seem to be the Chinese equivalent of Helvetica, but it seems like most are just trying to emulate handwriting and calligraphy. I sincerely hope the Chinese come up with even more great typefaces that do their language justice, because writing and reading Chinese characters is quite a treat!<br><br>P.S. Love the website Ana (<a href="http://hanzillion.com" rel="nofollow">hanzillion.com</a>). Maybe the future of Chinese typography is "personal" typography rather than adhering to pre-made fonts made by foundries. Very interesting article. I have been studying Chinese for about a year now and–as an outsider–I've always wondered about the various fonts for Chinese. I have had various writing assignments and I always felt that their typefaces were more so trying to emulate handwritten Chinese and calligraphy rather than make something that was more design-oriented. Granted, there are typefaces that are design-oriented and seem to be the Chinese equivalent of Helvetica, but it seems like most are just trying to emulate handwriting and calligraphy. I sincerely hope the Chinese come up with even more great typefaces that do their language justice, because writing and reading Chinese characters is quite a treat!

P.S. Love the website Ana (hanzillion.com). Maybe the future of Chinese typography is “personal” typography rather than adhering to pre-made fonts made by foundries.

]]> By: takayo http://www.atissuejournal.com/2009/05/28/typography-in-china/comment-page-1/#comment-65 takayo Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:48:08 +0000 http://www.atissuejournal.com/?p=1256#comment-65 As a native speaker of Japanese, it was interesting to compare Chinese and Japanese typographic environments. <br><br>It seems like the Chinese input system is similar to Japanese. But in Japanese, there are three writing system; Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. So conversion from the alfa system to correct Japanese seems more complicated. Keyboards in Japan are based on alfa system, but some keys are in different places, because of needs for more keys to select different systems. <br><br>Regarding typefaces, there are two basic groups in Japanese as well. Serif and San serif. But in addition to these, there are many typefaces. Some fonts are available only for Kana and Hiragana, because there are only 50 plus letters. There are more than 3000 characters in Kanji, just like Chinese, it is labor intensive to complete a set.<br><br>There are more and more English words in Japanese, in ads and magazines...but I often see strange word spacing or punctuation. Seems like there is a space for improvement in this area.<br><br>On a side note, I just came back from Japan and noticed Aflac in Japan uses the same goose, but the feeling of the ad is so different. Very soft, funny but completely different kind of humor. It will be interesting to compare marketing of the same product or company in different countries?<br><br>t<br><br><br><br><br><br>takayo As a native speaker of Japanese, it was interesting to compare Chinese and Japanese typographic environments.

It seems like the Chinese input system is similar to Japanese. But in Japanese, there are three writing system; Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. So conversion from the alfa system to correct Japanese seems more complicated. Keyboards in Japan are based on alfa system, but some keys are in different places, because of needs for more keys to select different systems.

Regarding typefaces, there are two basic groups in Japanese as well. Serif and San serif. But in addition to these, there are many typefaces. Some fonts are available only for Kana and Hiragana, because there are only 50 plus letters. There are more than 3000 characters in Kanji, just like Chinese, it is labor intensive to complete a set.

There are more and more English words in Japanese, in ads and magazines…but I often see strange word spacing or punctuation. Seems like there is a space for improvement in this area.

On a side note, I just came back from Japan and noticed Aflac in Japan uses the same goose, but the feeling of the ad is so different. Very soft, funny but completely different kind of humor. It will be interesting to compare marketing of the same product or company in different countries?

t

takayo

]]> By: ana http://www.atissuejournal.com/2009/05/28/typography-in-china/comment-page-1/#comment-64 ana Mon, 01 Jun 2009 05:28:48 +0000 http://www.atissuejournal.com/?p=1256#comment-64 I have a blog where I post pictures of characters shot in China, <a href="http://hanzillion.com" rel="nofollow">http://hanzillion.com</a>. Many of the characters there are probably hand-drawn or created for specific reasons (a shop sign, publicity, etc.) and not part of a typeset, but I find them fascinating. It's also a great way to learn chinese :) I have a blog where I post pictures of characters shot in China, http://hanzillion.com. Many of the characters there are probably hand-drawn or created for specific reasons (a shop sign, publicity, etc.) and not part of a typeset, but I find them fascinating. It's also a great way to learn chinese :)

]]> By: Delphine Hirasuna http://www.atissuejournal.com/2009/05/28/typography-in-china/comment-page-1/#comment-61 Delphine Hirasuna Sat, 30 May 2009 13:26:27 +0000 http://www.atissuejournal.com/?p=1256#comment-61 Hi Nancy - Thanks for commenting. Hope you are well.<br><br>d. Hi Nancy – Thanks for commenting. Hope you are well.

d.

]]> By: Nancy Coleman http://www.atissuejournal.com/2009/05/28/typography-in-china/comment-page-1/#comment-60 Nancy Coleman Sat, 30 May 2009 02:50:05 +0000 http://www.atissuejournal.com/?p=1256#comment-60 This article is particularly interesting to me, as I just returned from 10 days in China, where one of our interpreters is an award-winning calligrapher. I learned a lot from her about the various styles of calligraphy, piquing my interest to know more about this amazing script. I found myself taking shot after shot of signage and posters, seeing them as graphic art rather than advertising -- not just because I can't read them, but because the characters are so visually compelling. I look forward to taking lessons in calligraphy to be able to paint the characters, though I am sure it will be a painstaking process. So, thanks for the enlightening and timely article. And BTW, congratulations on continuing with @Issue by bringing its publication to the electronic world-- I have been reading the printed version and loving it for decades. (Delphine, you worked on several projects with my company, Ideas For Advertising & Design way long ago, and I have always appreciated your work.) This article is particularly interesting to me, as I just returned from 10 days in China, where one of our interpreters is an award-winning calligrapher. I learned a lot from her about the various styles of calligraphy, piquing my interest to know more about this amazing script. I found myself taking shot after shot of signage and posters, seeing them as graphic art rather than advertising — not just because I can't read them, but because the characters are so visually compelling. I look forward to taking lessons in calligraphy to be able to paint the characters, though I am sure it will be a painstaking process. So, thanks for the enlightening and timely article. And BTW, congratulations on continuing with @Issue by bringing its publication to the electronic world– I have been reading the printed version and loving it for decades. (Delphine, you worked on several projects with my company, Ideas For Advertising & Design way long ago, and I have always appreciated your work.)

]]> By: delphine http://www.atissuejournal.com/2009/05/28/typography-in-china/comment-page-1/#comment-59 delphine Sat, 30 May 2009 00:28:35 +0000 http://www.atissuejournal.com/?p=1256#comment-59 We'd like to know too. We'll try to find out, but if anyone knows, please comment. -- Delphine, the editor We'd like to know too. We'll try to find out, but if anyone knows, please comment. — Delphine, the editor

]]> By: Mindy http://www.atissuejournal.com/2009/05/28/typography-in-china/comment-page-1/#comment-52 Mindy Thu, 28 May 2009 21:53:05 +0000 http://www.atissuejournal.com/?p=1256#comment-52 Very interesting. Would love to now more about Hebrew and Arabic typography, too. Very interesting. Would love to now more about Hebrew and Arabic typography, too.

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