Fettle is a typeface in which the design and typographic details of the letterforms are inspired by trimming and cleaning tools used in ceramics. As a display and text typeface, it is intended to complement ceramic-related photographs and content both in print and on the web. The letterforms represent the tools that are used to shape ceramic work, and concurrently, they are the tools that shape the message about that ceramic work.
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KACHI-BUWA explores the synesthetic potential of a Japanese onomatopoeic variable font. Onomatopoeias speak their meanings through both sound and form, breaking linguistic barriers and granting a strictly iconic form of communication.
INDEX—
Typeface
Newspaper
Zines
Website & Video
Process Books
Book & Poster
Film & Animation
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
2019-2020
2020
2020
2020
2019-2020
2019
2020
KATAKANA VARIABLE FONT
Typeface Process
(12 images)
The project's central artifact is a variable font. KACHI-BUWA bridges sound, meaning, form and culture by bringing together three consideration.
✷ I/III
KATAKANA VARIABLE FONT
Typeface Process
(12 images)
The project's central artifact is a variable font. KACHI-BUWA bridges sound, meaning, form and culture by bringing together three considerations:
- The nature of the expressions, which binds sound with meaning.
- The“Kiki-Bouba”effect. This effect is a cognitive mechanism that demonstrates the non-arbitrary relationship between sound and form. Indeed, one would instinctively map the fictitious words "kiki" on a spiky shape and "bouba" on a bulbous shape.
- Culture. Katakana is one of three scripts in the Japanese writing system and is largely used for loanwords from foreign languages, onomatopoeic rendition and emphasis.The visual character of this font also draws from the traditional textual-visual hybrid quality of onomatopoeias highly present in Japanese graphic novels (manga).
Formally, these considerations translate into parametric variables: a KIKI-BOUBA axis and a CONTRAST axis. They expand the spectrum of communication potential and create a near-infinite range of possible typographic variations. The current typeface includes 46 regular Katakana, 12 small Katakana and 3 diacritics, generating a total of 84 distinct glyphs. Without the use of the variable font tool, the typeface consists of 504 unique glyphs.
✷ II/VII
TYPE SPECIMEN
Newspaper Photos
(4 images)
Information about the KACHI-BUWA typeface is primarily relayed and circulated through a reproduced designed artifact─a newspaper. The medium of newspaper print is chosen for its reproduced effectiveness, vernacular nature, and large format potential, all valuable factors for the project.
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