Font design: A summary of several typical design methods combined with practice

Article Description: Chinese characters have a long history of about 5,000 years, and the formation of fonts has undergone a long period of development and evolution. Font design is an important part of graphic design, but also the most perfect form of composition-with the simplest elements to perform the most abundant effect, while both functional and connotation. Since the German Bauhaus design theory was introduced into China, with the development of movable type and laser photo-typesetting technology

Chinese characters have a long history of about 5,000 years, and the formation of fonts has undergone a long period of development and evolution. Font design is an important part of graphic design, but also the most perfect form of composition-with the simplest elements to perform the most abundant effect, while both functional and connotation. Since the German Bauhaus design theory has been introduced into China, with the development of movable-type and laser-typesetting technology, Chinese fonts have experienced and assumed important historical roles.

I. Methods and inheritance

The basic strokes of Chinese characters include dots, transverse, vertical, skimming, drawing, folding, hooking, and mentioning eight kinds (that is, Yong-word eight methods), the task of the font designer is based on the changing shape. Font design mainly consists of two parts, the first is pen, just like the appearance of human beings, people, words and words between the most distinctive external characteristics. The second is the structure, just like the human skeleton, that determines the overall impression of the font. With these two parts, a font is clear enough to feature. At the same time, they can interact with each other. By incorporating the same set of pen into different structures, you can generate another font of different styles, and instead of having different pen in the same structure, you will get another new word. As a font appearance, pen has a higher degree of identification, often more important.

As the cradle of modern design-Bauhaus theory advocates the design of the functional, rational, as a font designer need to understand two things, one is the design of ideas from where, the second is to apply the design to where. Font design is different from calligraphy, should emphasize practicality, commercial, master method is very important. The target market should be given priority, the cut-in point is very important, not only by interest. Good at observing the market, always keep a keen tentacles in the field of application in order to effectively integrate the design with the market. Targeted design can be targeted, clear thinking, improve work efficiency. The second step to find the corresponding material and source, any inspiration is not a figment of the imagination, it is untenable, there must be relevant visual experience as a accumulation, there are laws and methods can be used for reference and follow. From the plane composition angle, most of the advertising fonts are to be a thing or abstract graphics induction in the design, such as paper-cut body, fat baby body and so on. Font design to grasp the degree of inheritance and innovation, standing on the shoulders of giants progress is the improvement of quality, and the creation of aimless aimlessly can only be disorderly jump, never reach the shoulders of giants. This is a kind of inheritance, take its essence, go to its dross. Song, imitation, black, Kai can continue to expand the new font varieties, lies in the long-term accumulation of the process of mutual promotion and integration, resulting in such as Blue Pavilion Black, Ya song, Boya song, the Northern Wei script and other excellent fonts. Whether Chinese or Western language, calligraphy or art, to extract their advantages for my use, through personal aesthetic understanding of the improvement of development, so that its new glow. The good things should not be dusty by the years, nor should the art be limited by the country. At present, people's aesthetic needs are diverse, common retro wind is the reason for the prosperous. Of course, the inheritance and reference must be after the individual purification and transformation of the product, is in line with the new era of design ideas and popular trends.

In contrast to the design flexibility of the logo font, thousands of word fonts are more stringent to design standards, how to follow the law of simple and unified evolution of a rich and harmonious and distinctive style, is a set of mature fonts must go through the process. The font is different from the graphic design, from the inspiration to the idea of forming a long and complicated production cycle. Designers to develop norms and lead the team often after months or even a year to complete the whole set of fonts, the need for both creativity and practical endurance of hard work, is a difficult and challenging job. I from the design of the first font has been groping experience, although there is no shortcut to say, but you can try different ways or pointcuts, the following combined with the practice of several typical design methods.

1. Calligraphy Rubbing from

Chinese calligraphy is extensive and profound, has a long history, has extremely deep masses foundation and development resources. Calligraphy is the origin of Chinese font evolution, the so-called "model", that is, the regular script is the Song Dynasty and imitation and other later printing fonts and the source. Rubbing from or ancient books are taken from the unique style of the book's font, to be made into a library, a method is written by the book, the manuscript scanned into the computer to fit, such as: Shu body. or copy the original post of the pen parts, follow its structure as authentic as possible to restore, the purpose is to reproduce the history of the real font, such as: Poly Jean imitation. Another method is to absorb the original style of the script to improve, create a new font style, belong to two degrees of creation.

I designed the "Hanging Needle seal Change" to the third, from the Song Three Kingdoms Wu carved "God Prophecy monument." Its book to Qin scribe side, ginseng Zhou Circle, the pen side hard, have the official script Congi, droop such as hanging needle, while keeping seal tighten the loose structure. The sharp gas constitutes this stele unique style, therefore called "hangs the needle to seal the gas", plus has the front edge, resembles the streamer, also calls "the leek leaf seal". If the seal if the scribe, Fangyuan and use, the two organic fusion, breaking the inherent definition of seal, the design of the hanging pin seal is inspired by this. Take the pen side hard but the sharp, structure on the dense under sparse characteristics, slender, like a steel needle hanging under. Seal complex difficult to read, make simplified characters must have a large transformation, not only the original stele style, difficult. Positioning for the seal variant, intended to retain the seal charm, such as drape, symmetry and regularity, and the official script and regular script stroke characteristics in a furnace, is three of the unity of the book, creating a new pose. At the same time enhance the "leek leaf seal" characteristics, the original inscription of the new style of Sho to make the improvement of the soft. The traditional calligraphy and modern forms of vocabulary integration, the pursuit of elegant mellow, opening Lang, grace atmosphere of the artistic beauty, retro but easy to read. Features more distinct, suitable for the classical or fantasy style of advertising, books, video and video games and other words. Calligraphy font has a profound cultural heritage, the need to unify the overall production team level, it is difficult to imagine. The designer is subjected to the high intensity audit and the work pressure of the check change, at the same time the team member continuously pays the effort and the progress, the whole set of fonts can finally complete.

"Heavenly Hair Prophecy Monument"

Hanging needle Change

Application: Video game "Prince of Persia 5: The Sand of Oblivion" 3DM Chinese version system font

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