Chinese font design came into being with the emergence and development of printing. In ancient times, Chinese font design had a glorious historical period and entered a golden age during the Song Dynasty. With the invention of Bi Sheng's "movable type printing", the carving knife used for carving had a profound impact on the shape of Chinese characters. Yu Bingnan mentioned in the book "Fine Art Calligraphy": "After the invention of printing, a kind of printing font with horizontal lightness and straight weight, square and well-proportioned structure, and eye-catching reading was produced. Later generations called it Song typeface." After Song typeface was introduced to Japan in the Ming Dynasty , is very popular, so the Japanese have always called Song typeface "Ming Dynasty type", and this is the ancestor of Song typeface, the most popular Chinese character printing style in modern times.
In the late Qing Dynasty, typesetting and printing technology was introduced to China, and font design entered the era of typesetting. The font design of this period must not only contain the aesthetic inertia of traditional culture, but also meet the technological requirements of type printing. Font design has reached a turning point. China's printing and publishing industry began to research and launch new fonts. In 1909, a set of regular script printing fonts was born, which has a strong charm of Chinese calligraphy. In 1916, Qiantang people, Ding Fuzhi and others carved "Fake Song Style" for the Commercial Press. This brand-new font has the charm of Song Style and Regular Style, and its main style is tall and straight. Subsequently, modern-style boldface characters created based on the isoline fonts in Latin fonts were also introduced to China. By the 1930s and 1940s, the most popular modern printing fonts such as imitation Song Dynasty, black body, and regular script appeared successively.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the State Publishing Administration established typeface factories and printing technology research institutes in Beijing and Shanghai respectively, selected and recruited corresponding professionals (about dozens of people), and formed a Professional font design team. In 1961, Beijing took the lead in completing the first set of fonts "611 Style" (that is, Laoshu Song Style, which is used for typesetting the text of books and has been abandoned for many years). In January 1964, the font design office of Beijing Xinhua Type Mold Factory designed the main text font "641" (i.e. Song Dynasty) for "People's Daily". When designing this set of fonts, they referred to Japan's "Xiuying style". This set of fonts is still in use today.
Type printing is a sign that printing has entered the era of mechanization and industrialization. However, in this era, printing font design has never been able to transcend the constraints of manual labor and cannot escape from engraving, casting, picking, and typesetting. Due to the constraints of a series of complicated pre-press processes, each designer can design up to 3 to 4 Chinese characters a day, and the design process is very slow.
In 1975, Professor Wang Xuan of Peking University presided over the development of a Chinese character laser phototypesetting system, which was known as the "748 Project" in history. In 1987, Founder's Chinese character laser phototypesetting system began to be fully used in the Economic Daily. China's publishing and printing industry said goodbye to "lead and fire" and ushered in "light and electricity". Type mold factories, typeface molds, and typefaces gradually withdrew from the stage of history. (1) Shape the pen shape
The pen shape is an ever-changing variable element of the font. Whatever the style and tone of the pen shape, the font composed of it will inevitably be comprehensively reflected in the style of the pen shape. To create a new type of font, shaping the pen shape is the first key.
Brush shape is the basic image that constitutes the strokes in words. In the creation of strokes, we must be good at summarizing, daring to imagine, and being creative. As shown in Figure 3, it is also the word "creative". We slightly process the strokes of each group of fonts, and the effect is different.
(2) Transformation structure
Structure is the rule of font composition. What rules are used to form fonts, and what are the characteristics of fonts in font composition? It all depends on structure. to solve. In font composition, transformation structure is the main method to reflect the creative expression of fonts. Transformation structure is to create various new structures through creative changes and conversions based on the existing structural rules of fonts. Changing the font structure can strengthen exploration from the following aspects: dare to break, be good at discovery, multiple structures, and unified expression. As shown in Figure 4, after we change the position and shape structure of the text, the text shows another effect.
(3) Reorganizing the strokes
The strokes of the font are like human language vocabulary, with a very rich composition, which shows various vitalities in a distinctive image style. The Chinese fonts such as Song font, Hei font, official script, Wei stele, regular script, amber, etc., and the Latin fonts such as ancient Roman, modern Roman, modern free, Carolinian lowercase, etc. are fully revealed from the middle part of the strokes of various fonts. Personality characteristics of pen shape.
Among the strokes of existing fonts, if we arbitrarily draw a straight line between two fonts, and use these two strokes as the basis, through the process of reorganization, can another stroke-style font be formed. Based on this principle, we will examine the strokes of various fonts. Based on them, more stroke-style fonts will be produced.
(4) Changing the stroke shape
The stroke shape of a font cannot be changed relative to a certain specified font. The Song style is composed of a set of Song style strokes, and the Heng style is composed of a set of Hei style. However, compared to creative individuals, they can be transformed according to different creative sources. Through various transformation techniques, unique new glyphs can often be brought about. There are many ways to transform strokes, such as mutation, irrational rotation, superposition, excessive transformation, and mutual contrast.
(5) Image superposition in structure
We know that since the creation of fonts, they have always used graphic symbols to display various image meanings, such as the original hieroglyphics. In people's memory and recognition, a slight change in a font will make a big difference in people's senses. Therefore, making full use of images in the font structure to change the original structural style can change the essence of the font composition. Characteristics form a breakthrough personality. Either use an abstract linear shape to change the structure of a partial stroke, or use a concise metaphorical image to borrow a certain side stroke, or use a personalized image to overlay a certain stroke, or use a certain image to form an interdependent image with a certain stroke. New font structure styles can be created through different methods of image superposition. The methods include image overlay, interdependent image lending, and image lending.
(6) Change the relationship between black and white areas
The black and white areas are an important factor in reflecting the creativity of fonts, and they are also an important factor in testing the performance of fonts. The entity composed of font strokes is called the black area, and the virtual part dependent on the strokes is called the white area. The boundary between the black and white areas is mainly reflected in the boundary between the real strokes and the virtual non-strokes. The formation and changes of many font styles, just slightly shifting this dividing line, will form completely different font creative styles. Although the relationship between changing the black area is relative to the change in the stroke thickness of the font, such as expanding or shrinking the area of ??the white area, this change will bring a completely different feeling to the font. In specific changes, it is usually defined based on the area of ????black and white areas, starting from the two major areas of black and white, and will express the novel personality of the font from different aspects.
(7) Break through the shape of fonts
The shape of fonts has evolved over a long period of time and has formed a standardized shape, either square, round, or triangular. However, with the development of human culture, After a certain point, standardized font shapes appear rather rigid. Breaking through the overly rigid font shapes will inevitably become one of the dominant directions of expression in many modern media. Regardless of Chinese characters or Latin fonts, on the basis of following the overall shape specifications of the font, one or two strokes can be selectively broken out of the shape, or extended outwards, connected, or contracted to be dependent on other strokes. Secondly, The fonts can be changed into various inorganic forms according to the needs of the specific theme. To break through the expression of font appearance, we must consciously jump out of the original limitations and change the trend of the overall image of the font from a flexible and changeable perspective, so that the style of the overall image of the font can show different inner vitality and visual impact.
(8) Redesign of structure
Although the structure of fonts has formed various standardized individual characteristics in its long-term development, they are all characterized by stylized radicals, The arrangement of strokes constitutes the qualitative composition rules of fonts. However, with the development of various comprehensive factors in society, people require the personalized development of various visual media forms. The structure of fonts must comply with the requirements of the times and be based on the rules of structural composition. The redesign of the structure is based on the traditional font structure, making a breakthrough in breaking the original font structure specifications. According to the new aesthetics of the visual image, some radicals break through the composition rules of the original structure and are added to the original structure. Create a new structure in the structural arrangement. In the era of hot typesetting, skilled technical workers would devote themselves wholeheartedly to typesetting work. With the development of desktop publishing systems, everyone can be a "typesetting worker", and the art of typesetting has gradually declined. Typesetting is an art and cannot be left entirely to computers.
First, let’s understand the development of Western fonts. Old-school fonts often have serifs, reflecting the characteristics of traditional type design. Letters in old-style fonts often have slanted axes, a characteristic trace of the chisel-like tool used to carve the font.
Transitional fonts also have serifs, but the contrast between thick and thin lines in the letters is not as dramatic as in older fonts, and their axes tend to be vertical. The font itself looks cleaner and has a hand-drawn character. Modern font design tends to be clear and concise. In order to cater to modern characteristics, font design is simplified, serifs are gradually removed, and lines no longer have thickness, and are clean and neat, with more characteristics of mechanical drawing. The development of electronic computers has made all font designs possible. Among digital fonts, some clearly inherit the old-fashioned font style, while others embody a unique modern cultural flavor. The image below compares the four fonts. Pay attention to the axes marked by the old-fashioned font and the transitional font.
With the emergence of various desktop design systems, designing with fonts of different specifications no longer requires professional training. The specialized vocabulary and technical knowledge of typeface processing in the era of hot typography are often overlooked and, unfortunately, are the most basic training required to ensure design success. Being able to get the best design effect is not due to mastering the latest fashion trends, but the most basic and traditional training in font design.
The size and x-height of the point. The size of type is measured in points. The point size of any font is the distance from the top of the ascender to the bottom of the descender. The distance from the top to the bottom of the letter x is called x-height, which is the part where the line of sight is most focused. It’s not just the size that affects readability, it also has an important relationship with the design of the font.
Add empty lead. The term dates back to the days when lettering was cast in metal and strips of polished lead were used to separate each line of type. Therefore, adding blank lead is the space between each line of the font.
Letter spacing and line length. Although the computer automatically determines the spacing between letters in a word, experienced designers will specifically design the spacing between the letters of the text or title, including expanding or compressing the small space before and after each letter. Regarding line length, the limit of line length that the brain and eyes can tolerate before they feel tired and distracted from the material they are reading, has been measured to be 39 to 45 letters per line.
Alignment format for font typesetting. For languages ??in the world with ltr (left to right, left to right) writing/reading order, left alignment may be the most comfortable format. Readers can easily find the beginning of the first line along the vertical line on the left, and the white space on the right can also make the paragraph appear more natural. Right alignment and center alignment can only be applied to a small number of fonts, because the irregular beginning of each line will increase the time, effort and difficulty of reading. Justified is suitable for making full use of the layout, such as newspapers, but sometimes it will make the spacing between letters uneven. There is also free format, which requires more time and effort on the part of the reader, but does give designers endless possibilities.
Mixed fonts. Using a connected font (perhaps a typeface) can help avoid visual clutter. Don’t mix too many different fonts at once. Consider changing the font size, weight, or glyph, but don’t change all three at once. Old-school fonts can often be mixed with sub-modern (transitional) fonts. This is because sub-modern fonts are designed to combine the style of old-style fonts with the simplicity of modern fonts. This means that the fonts are not different but can coordinate with each other. Different fonts in the same design should have their own sizes and spacing to blend in with each other. From a graphic design perspective, Chinese characters are undoubtedly the greatest and most successful design in the history of human society. It uses the simplest design elements and the richest and most complex design methods to design constant and simple "products" one after another, making these products extremely rich in connotation, extremely perfect in structure, and so widely used. The impact is so profound. At the same time, these designed "unit products" have infinite connection methods, open and incremental isomorphic capabilities, and infinite affinity and adaptability to different conditions that are changing with development.
Although many philologists, linguists and other experts are constantly studying "Chinese characters", to put it bluntly, Chinese characters are actually just a "graphic design product" of the Chinese nation. It is said to be a "product" because it is a work that can be used and circulated, and it even has a bit of a "commodity nature" of "a word worth a thousand dollars"; moreover, it is indeed used by the most people in the world
People have used it for the longest time and have a standard product catalog: dictionaries of all kinds.
Moreover, it is a product only for human use. There are cat and dog food for sale in the world, but there are no dictionaries or bookstores for dogs and cats. It is said to be "graphic design" because it is designed from man-made components such as stipples that are only used for graphic design, through the structural principles and methods of graphic design, and according to a certain conscious concept of human society. Moreover, it has an ever-increasing array of specialized design tools, from knives to pens, from color to ink, and a series of unique tools. People have also invented and created proprietary "carriers" and "product processors" for it. It is the greatest invention of mankind: paper and printing. They are actually the cornerstone of the development of all civilizations and the original information processing and encoding method. Like all graphic designs, it can also serve as an intermediary and testing standard for ideas and entities. Just like using design drawings to check a building or an object, you can also use products that are "based on this" to check words and deeds that are "unfounded". More importantly, Chinese characters, like all graphic designs, are for people to "see". They are a kind of graphic graphics that can be used only after "recognition". The only special thing is that in addition to similar functions to other graphic designs, Chinese characters have the characteristics of an "ultimate product" and can be used as the ultimate product to complete everything from logos, records, objects, lyricism, aesthetics, etc. It has many direct cultural functions and even formed a second-order art category such as "calligraphy". Therefore, we can look at Chinese characters this way: Chinese characters are graphic designs composed of stipple paintings that record human ideas. They are visual information symbols for writing or similar processing. Many things unique to the Chinese nation related to Chinese characters can also be viewed in this way: for example, dictionaries are Chinese character libraries, sentences are Chinese character logical formulas, calligraphy is a writing art style based on Chinese characters, etc.
The design idea of ??Chinese characters is both sublime and simple. It is actually composed of only two elements: "pointillism"; in the so-called "Eight Methods of Yongzi", different stroke patterns can be regarded as different positions of pointillism. with style. As early as the Song Dynasty, some scholars put forward the theory of "one painting composition" that Dian is also a kind of painting. However, the structural methods of Chinese characters are extremely rich, inexhaustible and there are rules to be found. The history of Chinese character development choices over thousands of years has proven this. More importantly, the design ideas of Chinese characters reveal the logical essence of graphic design and develop its logical approach to the most extensive and perfect connection with human activities. For example: the character "车" is one of the oldest Chinese characters. It is actually the oldest vehicle shape pattern designed with a pointillism structure. The basic structure of the round spokes of the wheel, axle and shaft is used. The pointillist's concise and perfect record of ideas formed the character "车". However, it does not need to make any changes in the so-called gender, number, case, etc., but it eternally completes all logical expressions about "cars": it can not only remember everything such as horse-drawn carriages, ox-carts, wheelbarrows, bicycles, trains, etc. , cars, trams, motorcycles, lunar rover, photon car, solar car, etc., ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, and even the ideal "car" in the future; it can also express something that has the formal and dynamic characteristics of a car in some aspects, such as waterwheels and windmills. , spinning wheel, lathe, etc.; it can even express all the people, things, and principles that are directly or indirectly related to "car", such as; traffic, lathe, lathe tool, busy traffic, car turning around, driving watch, Station, middle husband, wheel battle, car crack, car book and so on. In addition, "car" can also be used as a design element of Chinese characters to design many new characters that follow the design rules of Chinese characters, such as: bang, rolling, rail, wheel, xuan, shaft, sedan, turn, chop, soft, light, axis , compare, chariot, Ji, Zhi, etc. The various words and phrases that resulted from this are simply countless and difficult to enumerate. They not only have modern car names like "car", but also special terms like "track", and ubiquitous words like "assisted", "transformed", "dignified", "rash", and even "vigorous", Common sayings like "No matter how big the station is, you can't live there". Perhaps it is not difficult to find that in any situation at home and abroad, ancient and modern, and even in conceivable future situations. As long as there are Chinese people, there will always be "design products" related to "cars" being used.
In fact, every Chinese character is such a "product". They jointly build Chinese civilization, extend and carry forward Chinese culture. In fact, the first Chinese characters were directly called "文", and the first dictionary after the unification of Chinese characters was called "Shuowen". This dictionary also clearly summarized the structural rules and rules of Chinese characters. , and clearly pointed out the principle of "turning paintings into texts". The words "civilization" and "culture" summarize the special function of Chinese characters of "knowing nothing and being ignorant".
In the course of five thousand years of development, Chinese characters have become the most complete "visual two-dimensional information recording system." Some people who do not understand this reason and do not understand this meaning violate these rules and want to carry out "Chinese character reform" that "takes the world's most unique pinyinization path" and set up a character reform committee. In essence, they want to cancel Chinese characters. Due to the information characteristics of the visual plane structure, they do not understand the unified and unified composition rules of the various writing methods of Chinese characters, so they "transform" Chinese characters by reducing the strokes of Chinese characters, and even "standardize" Chinese characters by using typos and typos. As a result, traditional and simplified Chinese characters appeared. Since traditional Chinese characters can replace simplified characters, but simplified characters do not have the function of replacing traditional Chinese characters (at least before the introduction of simplified characters, all Chinese dictionary books were preserved in traditional Chinese characters). Therefore, this In fact, thousands more commonly used Chinese characters were created after a few fewer strokes per character, resulting in confusion and complexity of the Chinese character system. Just look at the thicker and thicker dictionaries (must include both traditional and simplified Chinese characters). ), it is not difficult to understand the seriousness of this mistake. This has brought many difficult tasks to the standardization of Chinese characters, and is not conducive to the two-way opening up reform and cultural exchanges in time and space. Otherwise, today, when open reform is the basic national policy, why should the "Character Reform Committee" that advertises reform be renamed the "Character Work Committee"? The "Chinese Character Reform" with simplification as the guide and elimination as the purpose is precisely that The product of administrative orders under the bourgeois democratic revolution and national cultural emptiness. It's wrong, just correct it. The tolerance of the Chinese character system does have a lot of "writing work" waiting for the "writing work committee" to work.