Chinese Typography & Chinese Type Designers (Typography Book)

CLASS
Typography I

PROFESSOR
Kelcey Gray

PROJECT DURATION
4 Weeks

LAYOUT PROCESS

Layouts & Copy

Another requirement for the project was the use of some sort of grid for the layout of the text and images we used for the book. The introduction section of the book was designed first to present information about how designers go about created typefaces for the Chinese language. For the images, I used diagrams displaying different kinds of Chinese fonts as well as the process of how these fonts are built up. In the following three sections of the book, I tailored each spread to reflect a different Chinese font (Ku Mincho, Ming Romantic, and Mechanical Mincho, respectively). In doing so, I had more creative freedom to place the informational text alongside examples of these beautiful Chinese typefaces.

FINAL REFLECTION

In Conclusion

When first assigned, this project seemed easier said than done. Although I came up with the concept rather quickly, as well as the page layouts, I struggled a lot with the amount of information I wanted to include. The body copy came from different sources, mostly from the AIGA Eye on Design website (due to my project time constraints and other final projects at the time, I could not write it myself). There was an immense amount of information I wanted to include in this tiny book, but didn’t want to overwhelm the reader or make the text too small to read. In the end, I am satisfied with how the book came out, but would have loved to write the body copy myself given more time and research. Through the project, I felt like I could connect with my heritage in a way that I could understand as a Chinese (but non-Chinese-speaking) designer. My research also made me hugely respect Chinese type designers as their typefaces can take years and years of working on large teams to complete.