Talk about OS X self-classic font "Li song" Design history

Now the font design can be easily done on the computer, but in the first Mac just on sale, the Chinese font design is not easy, the restrictions are particularly many, but well-known font designer Koring only on their own to make "Li song" Body, and later this became the Apple computer with one of the Chinese fonts. A lot of interesting stories happened in this process, so take a look.

In the vector, Li Song's "One"

Li Song began in 1989 and is one of the world's earliest PostScript Chinese vector fonts. Now the "Li Song pro" "in Mac and the Li song family of Hua Kang are based on the 1989-Year-old first-time Li Song [A]. For today's editors, Li Song is just a kind of inner-text-body. And in the era of high-resolution screens and printing, it's too thin. But Li Song has its important historical position. Koring in the development process, also personally involved in the "desktop publishing" (Desktop Publishing) the early history.

The 1980 's was a dramatic period of change for the publishing world. Originally still in hand-made manuscript designers and the United States staff, suddenly to start familiar with the emerging computer tools. And if the change goes back to the more upstream font industry, the feeling is increasingly intense. In a very short period of time, photographic typesetting, the emergence of a rather popular way of making manuscripts, compressed the market of type. But the two are still basically coexisting and useful. However, in the middle of the 1980 's, the rise of the table-type publication, the first step to make type and typesetting into history.

　　Small history: The Revolution of desktop publishing

The Mac produced by Apple is the corner of the desktop publishing revolution

Now to make a printed copy, the process is very simple. In general, you can organize your artwork in Word, Pages, InDesign, and all kinds of "WYSIWYG" (what you are what you). There are hundreds of types of fonts on the menu that can be applied directly. Want to change the font, one key can be completely changed, but also on the screen any browsing effect. Then press "Print", run out of the printer, is a complete work.

Back in the early 1980, these things could not be done. If you need fonts, you should buy type, or you can print the text you want. Then cut the clip paste, the picture and text affixed to the final paper, stamping for the finished product. To write a file, you can only handwriting, or use a typewriter.

However, a series of major changes will lay the groundwork. 1984, the MAC was sold and was the first personal computer with a graphical interface. The first digital laser printer to read the PostScript language, Apple Laserwriterprinter, was published in 1985. In the same year, Pagemaker also listed, so that "WYSIWYG" design process to achieve the initial realization, and later become the most popular graphics and text editing software. Around these inventions, the system now known as desktop publishing has been flat in the past few years.

However, if there is no font, these inventions are only a gun without bullets. Therefore, the first generation of digital fonts, along with these inventions are also born.

A brief history of the 1980-year desktop publishing related to Li Song

　　The style of revolution with desktop publishing

In the beginning, the so-called "digital font" refers to the lattice word, the more points, the more refined the look. But no matter how fine, the edges of the dot-matrix word still look jagged. The smoothing curve font we are accustomed to today is called a "vector word" or "outer frame word", which is described in Bezier curves.

In the 1980 's, only bitmap fonts were available on the screen, because the CPU's performance did not support vector display. Vector words must be operating through an add-in, like today's display adapters. After the output of a device such as LaserWriter, a fine vector font can appear on paper. In other words, if you are the designer at the time, see the dot matrix Word on the screen, the output, the paper is the vector word. Compared to dot-matrix word "The small print will be tilted off, the characters will have sawtooth"[b],postscript vector font scaling, the curve is very smooth. Also, the format does not run off between different devices, and already has some of the current PDF features.

Some designers have found that if the full use of computer choreography, the benefits than ever before: The graphical interface of the MAC, with Pagemaker, such as editing software, operating with the physical process more and more like, very intuitive. And LaserWriter can also print a fine vector text. As a result, the process of "desktop publishing", which is made entirely of digital archives and output manuscripts, will become more rapid, more convenient, cheaper and better quality than ever before. C

Looking at this wave of waves is going crazy, Koring is also eager to start contact with these cutting-edge technology, all day staring at an expensive small screen depicting text. With Mac [D] paired with Fontographer, he built the Li song.

Fontographer interface on an earlier MAC computer

　　The birth of Liz Song

While in the office of Mona's Hong Kong branch (Monotype HK), Koring began to practise every day. Working in the company during the day, returning home without much rest, busy groping for the new outfit-and saving it: his monthly salary is 8000 dollars, already a manager-level salary. However, at that time Mac a price of 40,000 Hong Kong dollars, a set of Fontographer also want hundreds of dollars. The price is much more than before, but it is still very expensive. But anyway young, not married, no burden, also determined to buy.

A whole year has come and technology is maturing. Mona at the time, but also to sell Lasercomp laser printer as the main business, Hong Kong branch companies to support the development of the text in the building. Mona Black, Mona Song, is his work during this period. These glyphs are, of course, lattice characters. Although the business is flourishing, Mona seems to have no plans to upgrade the technology in the short term.

"I'm a risk taker!" Remembering that time, Koering the footnote. Big companies are safe, but stability is not what he pursues, and new technology often represents new opportunities. So he simply left Mona and co-founded his first font design company with a friend: TTL (Type Technology Limited), as a separate business under the company of Friends.

In the 1989, PostScript was a fairly mature typesetting language. The Hong Kong letter is preparing to make a significant update to the digital editing system, entrust the TTL of the parent company to build, typesetting software and font-through package. But there is no PostScript of the vector Chinese font, Li Song has the opportunity to carry out life.

　　The design of Li Song

Compare Li song with other Ming body's horizontal pen

The first-generation Li song was designed for newspaper typographical needs. Its preset application range is the small print of 8-10 pt. Also, note the poor paper quality of the newspaper and the low resolution of the printer. At that time the laser printer, the highest can print only the DPI document. The font in this environment, to pursue is the highest possible clarity.

　　The pursuit of clarity

Therefore, in the framework of Li Song's central palace compared to the outside Zhang, so that the small size of the white space to maintain a comfortable to read. Along with a slightly outside of the central Palace, the center of gravity is naturally relatively low, increasing the comfort of reading for a long time. E

Compare the typesetting effect of Li Song (left) and type (right)

While strokes depict, also try to solve the environmental restrictions. From the age of the type, some of the calligraphy of the horizontal painting pen will play a "trumpet" shape. Japan's photographic typesetting era of "the Hong Kong-Fine Ming Dynasty" has such a design, from the type of the digital font engraved "Dragon Ming" pen can also see similar shape. In the age of the type, the pen is prominent, helping to offset the wear of the metal, so that the text has been printed several times to retain the obvious pen shape. And the pen can make the outline of the text more prominent, so easy to identify. If from the historical point of view, because the Ming body is slowly evolved from the regular script, so the Ming body of the pen shape, often with regular script pen "back to the front" idea, looks more humane atmosphere.

The meaning of pen script

Koring The Trumpet pen type in the design of Li Song. But Li song pen of the trumpet is the most exaggerated, this is his repeated experiments, think the most suitable for the design of the environment at that time. Another in order to improve the definition of the design, is the tip of the pen end of the tangent, so that the small print when the end is sharp, clean, will not remain unclean dots, but not too sharp. Many digital bodies are using this design at the moment.

Truncated pen-and-ink rotary Collection

　　There are no precedents to refer to

The tools that Koring use to implement these design concepts are fontographer. It is the first font design software that can be depicted with Bezier curves. Fontographer in 1986, compared to the previous design software, the fontographer price of a huge reduction, the general designer can afford. Font design in some countries, and therefore began to become popular.

But there is a problem: Fontographer is theoretically a tool for the design of the European text, and the set values of various specifications are Owen's, and Chinese is a very different language. How do you use Owen's tools to build Chinese? There is no previous experience to refer to.

"But what does that have to do with it?" he said, "If you let an alien see it, he won't know what language it's designed for, but it can depict things." He began to try to set the specification of the text in Fontographer and spent a whole year experimenting. In particular, the ratio of the literal box, but also after many adjustments to get the results. After each adjustment, we must print out the results to be accurate--and then to the copy shop to have laser output, each output will cost five Hong Kong dollars, a set of words developed, the cost is not small.

Now there are a lot of literal characters of 92%, which is the best ratio he made in Li Song, and later became the standard when incumbent, a Taiwanese director of Chinese Kang. Not only that, he is a traditional Chinese character-formation thickness by feeling the habit of using the software to control the unit value. All the way to later letters in the Blackbody family, or with such a strict standard design font.

The specs of Li Song

　　Liz: the creation of font naming

Li Song also has a seemingly unimportant, but actually very innovative place: naming. The naming of Chinese fonts is often quite boring, all seem to be similar to "a company-ming body, the song body", so although the production side can be slightly known, as well as the classification and characteristics of fonts, but the image of a little inflexible, can not give people additional association. The adjective "Li" in front of the font allows inanimate computer software to have character-general characters.

"Li" In addition to expressing the beauty of the body, but also with a pair of concepts: Li Song and Li-Black, one is the text, the other is the title font, together into a pair of "beautiful people." In the word life, Koring mentions that "Li" actually comes from the name of the second daughter. So named, may also be able to see the designer's own landmark works of the feelings of the bets.

　　Comments

[A] Li Song, in addition to vector fonts, in order to match the time has not followed the footsteps of the printer, screen, but also has a 24x24 version of the lattice word. After joining the Koring in 1992, the TTL parent company closed down due to poor business and sold the Li song copyright to Hua Kang. Li Song was designed only Big5, not Big5 Hkscs and Unicode, and now the Mac built font "Li Song pro", after the Hua Kang Company in 2003 to add the word after the sale of Apple products. " However, the Li song Pro and the Li Song family, which was later repaired by Hua Kang Company, some pen type and the idea have no longer inherited Koring original design.

[B] Reference: Ftp://ftp.isu.edu.tw/pub/Windows/Chinese/txt/soft/font1

[C] It should be noted here that table-type publishing does not immediately replace the manual sedan. LaserWriter in the sale of the year on the price of more than 6,000 dollars, the average person still can not afford, most of the company line number to buy. In the early 90 's, the manual Seihan and digital output is parallel, from the laser printer output text, or to be affixed to the final paper stamping, digital output of the manuscript, to the Windows 95 after the more mature.

[D] According to Koring, the Fontographer model was tested for Mac Plus in 1986, while the formal input to the Li song model was the 1990-listed Mac IIfx.

[E] Here the so-called outer Zhang, is relative to the age of the type of Chinese, the palace slightly outside Zhang, rather than many of today's so-called "universal design" of the UD font as exaggerated outside Zhang. And "The Middle palace tightens--the high center of gravity", "Middle Palace low--center of gravity Low" is a relatively natural collocation, if the opposite is slightly awkward.