Experimental Chinese Typeface Design

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实验中文字体设计

行宋混合字体

Hybrid of Running Script and Song

Inspired by the history of structure changing of Chinese characters

Typeface Design: Zihao XIE

Display Design: Zihao XIE

Printing Design: Zihao XIE

Supervisor: Qin DU

Advisor: Qin DU

Published in 2018

This is an experimental design, mixing Running Script and Song into one typeface, to explore how handwriting features and standardization could coexist under the context of modern design.

Hybrid refers to the fusion of two or more font forms in one set of fonts, and the use of design techniques to achieve a new visual effect of balance or contrast, harmony or conflicts.

The Morphology of the characters originated from the interaction between the body and gestures. According to pragmatic requirements, it was divided into two concepts: complexity from orthodoxy and simplicity from the standard of daily life. The two inherit from each other under political influences.

The printing type pertains to complexity while the Script to simplicity. The integration of the two runs through every ancient and modern Chinese character evolution. Popular form of characters is the body based on the affection of gestures from Li, Cursive, Regular and Running Script, while the Popular form and script work together on the Morphology of Chinese Characters.

As Script, Running and Cursive have different emphasises on artistic and practical aspects. The Cursive Script is divided into Zhang, Jin
and Wild. It often changes the Morphology of Chinese characters in pursuit of beauty or convenience.

The Running Script, also known as Semi-cursive Script, takes the advantages of the Cursive Script and Regular Script. It takes both artistry and practicality into account, ensures the legibility of the text and reconciles “complexity and simplicity”. Both of Running and Cursive have long-lasting impacts on Morphology of Chinese Characters.

湖心亭看雪 - 张岱

大雪三日，湖中人鸟声俱绝。

是日更定矣，余拏一小舟，独往湖心亭看雪。

雾凇沆砀，天与云与山与水，上下一白。

湖上影子，惟长堤一痕、湖心亭一点、与余舟一芥、舟中人两三粒而已。

Watching Snow at Hu Xin Pavilion
Zhang Dai

The lake being snowed for several days, tweets and voices are both gone. At dawn of that day, I paddled a little dinghy, heading to the Hu Xin pavilion alone. A vagueness comes over everything, as though proving color and contour alike dispensable. A line of dike, a dot of pavilion, a reed of dinghy and grains of people, are all that can be seen.