gion
by Mariko Takagi
,
gion
Regular
,
Regular Italic
Light
Bold
Hanzi
Kanji
,
Hiragana
Katakana
............................
、
a typeface design
by Mariko Takagi
Reading, 2014
夢
ゆ
メ
Latin, Japanese
and Chinese
in one font: Gion
Gion is a serif typeface for multi-lingual typesetting in Latin,
Japanese and Chinese*. As a contemporary interpretation
of Modern faces, Gion synthesises historical stylistic features
of Modern faces with characteristics and qualities that
enhance comfortable and continuous reading in longer text.
In other words, it connects elegance with functionality
– form and zweck. Gion has a gentle appearance, pays respect
to the content and leaves the graphic designer enough space
to create a visual tonality in their application.
*) simplified as well as traditional Chinese characters.
iki iki
イキイキSomeone or something that is full of
energy and life.
iso iso
イソイソCan’t wait, based on joy or expectation.
Cheerful and excited.
uto uto
ウトウト
Feeling tired, dozing.
The name Gion
The name Gion has its origin in the Japanese word ‘Giongo’*
for onomatopoeia, also described as mimetic words. Unlike
Western cultures, onomatopoeia in the Japanese context
are not restricted to comics or children’s speech. As well as
samu zamu
サムザムDescription of a cold, wintry and desolate atmosphere.
sounds made by humans, animals, nature, technological
devices (or any other ambient noise) and others, even perceptions of physical and emotional constitutions can be expressed
by ‘Giongo’. Therefore in Japanese, onomatopoeia are inherent
elements of the spoken and written language as they assign
subtle and transitory aspects a voice in the language. They are
phonetic transcriptions of emotions.
teku teku
テクテクWalking a long distance at a steady
pace, step by step.
zuki zuki
ズキズキ
A throbbing pain, either physical or
emotional caused by a broken heart.
The first application of this typeface will be the second
volume of the book project »drawing with sounds«. This is a
bilingual (English–Japanese) artist’s book telling a story with
and through Japanese onomatopoeia representing the mood
and emotions – that is, the sound effects of the story. *) »gi« means mimicking, »on« sound, noise and tone and »go«
stands for word/term.
Apple ... esprit ... tiger ... りんご ... ゴマシオ ... 女の人 ... tomato ... 時々 ...
Kinder ... Romantik ... Künstlerdorf ... formidable ... essential ...
Lokomotive ... Endlosdiskussionsstoff ... fox ... x-mas-cake ... えだまめ ...
Marcel ... loyality ...
雪女 ... なみだ ... daylight ... terminology
Kanji
... 夢国 ... i-scream ... mono-linear ... regular ... regular italic ...
condensed ...
The family
The typeface family provides three weights, and four styles
drop ... period ... double ... レトロ ...
light
Katakana
ロゴタイプ ... please ... exotic ... comma ... ambience ... 笑顔 . 顏 . 颜 ...
onomatopoeia ... Anika ... 愛 ... 今 ... 毬子 ... 小泉八雲 ... monosyllabic ... cliffhanger ... Roswit ... tonality ... Yasunobu ... utopia ...
for Latin: a regular, a bold, a thin and a regular italic. Gion covers the two Japanese syllabic scripts Hiragana and
acapella ... ascenderline ... エリンギ ... gimmick ... 気 .
Katakana and also the Sino-Japanese Kanjis. Furthermore,
traditional and simplified shapes of Chinese characters
(Hanzi) are included. Currently the Japanese and Chinese
characters are in regular weight only.
氣 . 气 ...
绮 . 綺麗 ... identity ... ゆらゆら ... Lafcadio ...
trad. Hanzi
�.
simpl. Hanzi
Hiragana
originality ... 夜 ... Rucola ... Lampedusa ... ありんこ ... 氷 ... りす ...
The four styles in Latin share elemental features,
in the drop-shaped endings and the asymmetric bracketless
sufficient ... Typographie ... efficiency-oriented ... descenders
serifs and the axis*, that demonstrate the cohesion of the
family. These features are even applied to the Japanese
... semantic ... condensed ... diacritics ...
and Chinese character set in an appropriate way. The four
styles share the visual tonality of a subtle genteelness
systematic ...
Bold
contextualise ... elaborate ... 永 ... 息 ... 気の毒な若い男 ... コツコツ ...
and elegance.
At the same time, peculiarities of each style contribute
to the family and suggest an individual area of application
within the context of a graphic artwork.
つぎつぎ ... Giraffenhalsmassage ... empathy ... やれやれ ... reflective ...
elegance ... ending ... grazil ... luminescent ... 高木 ...
Regular
*) In case of the Italic, it is sloped by 10 per cent.
gion.
Regular Italic
»Man muß
die Dinge so
einfach
wie möglich
machen.
Aber nicht
einfacher.«
1
2
3
The regular
Gion is specifically designed for application as a text typeface.
Design details that contribute to the easily distinguishable
letter shapes in small sizes become visible features of the
design in bigger sizes. The asymmetric serifs without brackets, along with
the long ascenders that go beyond the uppercase height
by setting a minimum for the leading, emphasise the horizon-
4
tal to support the reader in keeping the line easily. The
thin strokes (hair lines) are strong enough for setting text in
small sizes, even in 7 pt.
The subtle transition between thick and thin, com-
5
bined with a vertical stress in the strokes, creates an even text
colour. The drops are another feature of the typeface.
Gion Regular sets the tone for the typeface family.
6
7
2.a
By Albert Einstein (1879–1955)
QR
8
9
1.
The drop is one key
5.
Top serifs are flat
feature, shown in: a, b, f,
at the top and show a
j, r, s, y and J.
triangular shape.
2.
6.
The outline of the
Straight endstroke,
asymmetric serif shows
with a bracket.
the movement of being
7.
written in one continuous
shows a similar behaviour
line and creates a triangle
to the bottom serifs. (2.a.)
on the one side. (2.a)
8.
3.
upper-case Q is inspired
The axes of the
The horizontal stroke
The tail of the
counters are vertical.
by Scotch Roman.
4.
9.
The cut of the out-
stroke is 30 degrees.
The R shows a
kicked-up endstroke.
There are still
faint glimmers
of civilization
left in this
barbaric
slaughterhouse
that was once
known as
humanity...
1
2
3
The Regular Italic
5
The regular italic is not simply a slanted version of the regular.
The letter shapes of both lower and upper cases differ from
the uprights.
joins of the of the thin and thick do not only visually c
onnect
the letters and enhance the line formation of the text, but
introduce a sense of speed without haste to the appearance
of the text. Overall, the colour of the text is lighter than the
regular.
1.
Deep joins.
5.
2.
Kicked-up outstrokes.
turned inwards.
lower cases don’t have
3.
10
The right top serif is
The tail of the lower-
6.
bottom serifs. The ending
The cut of the out-
9.
The stems of the
case f visualises a fluent
stroke is 30 degrees.
of the stroke is slightly
movement.
7.
angled.
4.
shape and size to match
10. The descender of
gular at the top and
the dynamic of the letter
the lower-case p ends
the lower side is parallel
shape.
with a serif that shows an
to the baseline. This
8.
upward dynamic in
shows a reversed stroke
stems is 10 degrees, with
the angle of 10 degrees.
behaviour to that of the
optical corrections.
11. Upper cases are
serifs of the Regular.
6
7
The long and kicked-up out-strokes and the deep
Top serifs are trian-
4
The drops vary in
The angle of the
designed individually.
p TEZSGQRX
8
9
11
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Bold
Through
thick
and thin.
The stroke contrast increases strongly in the bold face, while
the strength of the hair line from the regular is maintained.
1
The main stroke expands in both directions, outwards as well
as inwards, so that the counters of the round letters become
upright slim ovals and the outer shapes expand to be more
2
circular. The shapes become darker and heavier without getting plump. The bold is designed for titling and/or for application in bigger sizes.
3
The Light
Unlike the other styles in this typeface family, the light represents a monolinear face with the contradiction of keeping
The cold
does
not bother
me anymore.
4
5
the emphasised dark drops. The letters of the light are mainly
an adaptation of the skeleton of the regular with slight modi
fications to the width; to balance the size of the counter,
the letters are slightly condensed. The construction of the
asymmetric serifs (one side triangular, the other flat) becomes
visible when the light is shown at a bigger scale. The spotty dark drops (mainly featured in the lower
cases) cheer up the sharpness of the rather vertical and strict
structure of the light strokes and create a light-hearted text
impression. This style is suitable for display application, and it
works in both small and big font sizes.
6
4.a
fgz
QSR
6
7
_ Bold _
_ Light _
1.
4.
Top serifs of the bold
The construction
are flat at the top and
of the serifs becomes
show a triangular shape,
especially visible in the
like the serifs of the regu-
light weight. (4.a)
lar. However, the top left
5.
anchor is slightly moved
outstroke is 30 degrees.
to the right to reduce the
6.
amount of black.
the eye-catching details in
2.
the context of the mono-
The cut of the
The cut of the
The drops become
outstroke is 30 degrees.
linear strokes.
3.
7.
The inner bottom
serif is shortened.
Lettershapes are
condensed.
めら
*) めら
She is alone. She has been following them the
whole day long, two men – one old,
the other young – through their journey across the Winter Wonderland.
During the whole day the old man
kept talking animatedly. Sharing the
story of his life. It was the story of a
long fulfilled life with challenges, a lot
of joy and something that he describes
as ‘love’. The young man listened to
the stories carefully. Three of them arrived at a tavern on
the dot of sunset. At this time, she
noticed a shift in the eyes of the two
men. While the eyes of the young man
caught the fire of d
esire*, the eyes
of the old man calmed down in satis
faction. She observed this change with
great interest and curiosity from a
safe distance. The old man only kept
one last story in his mind.
ドン。彼は顔に夕立のように雪がかかるので眼がさめ
た。小屋の戸は無理押しに開かれていた。そして雪明か
りで、部屋のうちに女、――全く白装束の女、――を
見た。その女は茂作の上に屈んで、彼に彼女の息をふき
かけていた、――そして彼女の息はあかるい白い煙のよ
うであった。ヒュウ。ほとんど同時に巳之吉の方へ振り
Japanese
A common contemporary Japanese text contains four different
scripts: Kanji (Sino-Japanese characters), the two Japanese
syllabic writings Hiragana and Katakana, and Latin letters. In
向いて、彼の上に屈んだ。彼は叫ぼうとしたが何の音も
発する事ができなかった。白衣の女は、彼の上に段々
低く屈んで、しまいに彼女の顔はほとんど彼にふれる
ようになった、そして彼は――彼女の眼は恐ろしかっ
たが――彼女が大層綺麗である事を見た。 ‘The snow
Japanese contemporary typefaces, Latin letters are part of the
woman.’ しばらく彼女は彼を見続けていた、――それ
basic character set. However, the embedded Latin faces are not
から彼女は微笑した、そしてささやいた、――『私は今
always designed with the same devotion or even skill as the
ひとりの人のように、あなたをしようかと思った。しか
Japanese characters. The design quality often diverges widely
し、あなたを気の毒だと思わずにはいられない、――あ
between the Japanese character set and the Latin within one
type family. It became almost a common practice among Japa-
なたは若いのだから。……あなたは美少年ね、巳之吉さ
nese graphic designers to choose a separate typeface to typeset
ん、もう私はあなたを害しはしません。しかし、もし
passages or words in Latin letters.
あなたが今夜見た事を誰かに――あなたの母さんにで
Gion forms a bridge between the different scripts,
which are not only different in complexity and shapes, but
also in what they visually express. も――云ったら、私に分ります、そして私、あなたを殺
します。……覚えていらっしゃい、私の云う事を』そう
云って、向き直って、彼女は戸口から出て行った。その
時、彼は自分の動ける事を知って、飛び起きて、外を
見た。しかし、女はどこにも見えなかった。そして、雪
は小屋の中へ烈しく吹きつけていた。サラサラ。巳之吉
は戸をしめて、それに木の棒をいくつか立てかけてそれ
を支えた。彼は風が戸を吹きとばしたのかと思ってみ
た、――彼はただ夢を見ていたかもしれないと思った。
それで入口の雪あかりの閃きを、白い女の形と思い違い
したのかもしれないと思った。しかもそれもたしかでは
なかった。彼は茂作を呼んでみた。そして、老人が返事
をしなかったので驚いた。彼は暗がりへ手をやって茂作
の顔にさわってみた。そして、それが氷である事が分っ
た。茂作は固くなって死んでいた。
�
綺麗
绮
1
Kanji and Hanzi
As well as the Sino-Japanese characters (Kanji), Gion also
2
3
4
provides traditional and simplified Chinese characters (Hanzi)
to allow typesetting in Chinese. The design of Kanji and Hanzi is a complex task. As
well as the coverage of a huge character set (for typefaces in
common use, a minimum of 10,000 characters), the variation
of stroke numbers within one character (between 1 and 64
strokes) is a key aspect that needs to be taken into account
while designing the characters.
The Kanji/Hanzi of Gion stylistically refer to the
classification Mincho (in Chinese Sonti). At the same time,
5
绮
綺
�麗
stroke contrast, fundamental shapes of top-serifs and the
presence of the drops, as some features of the Latin design, are
conveyed to match the tonality between the scripts within
one family. The three characters
1.
outline (similar to the
is applied to connect the
aligned at the left
recurring element in
The long dot, as one
drop in the Latin) of the
different radicals to one
(one on top of the other),
Kanji/Hanzi. The position,
thick.
character.
show the same character
the complexity of the
2.
5.
in the three scripts:
entire character and the
the right end of horizontal
and thin strokes (vertical
traditional Hanzi,
surrounding strokes, and
strokes.
and horizontal) is adjust-
Sino-Japanese Kanji and
the size, shape, propor-
3.
ed to optical alignment. In
simplified Hanzi (from top
tion and direction will
ending shows a similar
complex characters, the
to bottom). The second
change depending on the
behaviour to the detail in
stroke weight is reduced.
character on the right
element it represents. The
the Latin italic.
stays the same in all three
consistent characteristic
4.
scripts.
throughout the variants is
occur wherever the space
the straight cut of the thin
distribution requires it.
instroke and the flattened
Sometimes the overlap
Triangular serifs at
The shape of the stem
Overlaps of strokes
The strength of thick
ないしょだよ
1
2
ひみつだよ
Hiragana
The Japanese syllabary Hiragana is used for native Japanese
words, grammatical particles and suffixes, among others.
すこしだけ
3
4
The significant characteristics of Hiragana are their round
shapes and the limited number of strokes of maximum four
per character. In common Mincho typefaces (often classified
as an equivalent to the Latin Didone style), Hiragana is still
represented with a strong coherence to hand writing and
calligraphic shapes. Unlike this, the Hiragana characters of
Gion demonstrate a visual affinity to the rather geometric
skeleton of the Latin Modern faces. The outlines and strokes
of the Hiragana are clarified and adjusted to a vertical stress.
Stroke strength and modulation are linked to the lower cases
of the Latin regular.
1.
The long dot, as one
the counter shapes in the
5.
Latin regular.
to the stem.
Japanese character set,
3.
6.
refers to the shape of the
stems refer to the shapes
shows a similar weight
drop in the Latin.
of the terminals in the
distribution to the equiva-
2.
Latin regular.
lent in the Latin regular.
Instrokes of the
very relevant detail of
4.
Hiragana. The shape
outstroke is 30 degrees
of the counter refers to
5
くるって
recurring element in the
The loop is another
ぼくは
The cut of the
The hook stays close
The curved stroke
いるよ。
6
スキナ
コトヲ、
1
2
Katakana
The second syllabary of the Japanese writing system is Katakana, which is assigned to non-Chinese loanwords. As Katakana
3
characters were originally radicals of Chinese characters,
they share the same elements and stroke behaviour with Kanji
(Hanzi), with the only difference being the reduced complexity
スキナ
トキニ。
– fewer than four strokes create one character.
In Gion, the simplicity of the stroke and the vertical
stress of the modulation support the coherence between the
shapes of Japanese Katakana and the upper cases of the Latin,
without latinising the Japanese script or ‘japonising’ the Latin
letters. Parallel to the Latin, the Katakana characters convey
4
an open, clear and gentle impression. 1.
5
6.a
6.b
へり
ヘリ
Triangular serif
4.
The ending of the
aligned to the serifs of
downstroke to the left is
Kanji.
cut vertically.
2.
5.
Instrokes of the
The cut of the out-
stems refer to the shapes
stroke is 30 degrees.
of the terminals in the
6.
Latin regular.
shapes similar to ‘he’ and
3.
‘ri’ in Hiragana (6.a)
The shape of the stem
Characters with
ending shows a similar
and Katakana (6.b) are
behaviour to the detail in
visually distinguished.
the Latin italic.
The act of balancing between the two:
“lonelyness” vs. “being on one’s own”.
Lafcadio Hearn:
{雪女}
The Snow Woman.
An ancient Japanese ghost story that does not lose its fascination.
A pact as cold as ice and a love that leads to loneliness.
Die Weisse Frau beugte sich tiefer
その女は茂作の上に屈んで、彼に彼女の息
über ihn, imer tiefer, bis ihr Gesicht
をふきかけていた、――そして彼女の息
ihn fast berührte. Da sah er, dass sie
はあかるい白い煙のようであった。ほとん
wunderschön war, obwohl ihre Augen
ど同時に巳之吉の方へ振り向いて、彼の上
ihm angst machten. Ein Weilchen
に屈んだ。彼は叫ぼうとしたが何の音も発
betrachtete sie ihn, dann lächelte sie
する事ができなかった。白衣の女は、彼の
und flüsterte: „Ich hatte im Sinn, mit
上に段々低く屈んで、しまいに彼女の顔は
dir wie mit dem anderen Mann zu
ほとんど彼にふれるようになった、そして
verfahren, aber ich habe Mitleid mit
彼は――彼女の眼は恐ろしかったが――彼
dir, weil du so jung bist. Du bist ein
女が大層綺麗である事を見た。しばらく彼
hübscher Bursche, Minokichi, und ich
女は彼を見続けていた、――それから彼女
werde dir nichts zuleide tun. Erzählst
は微笑した、そしてささやいた、――『私
du aber irgend jemandem, und wär’s
は今ひとりの人のように、あなたをしよう
auch deine Mutter, was du heute
かと思った。しかし、あなたを気の毒だと
nacht gesehen hast, dann werde ich es
思わずにはいられない、――あなたは若
erfahren und dich umbringen! Vergiss
いのだから。……あなたは美少年ね、巳之
das ja nicht!“
吉さん、もう私はあなたを害しはしませ
38
}
mingle-mangle language versions
39
Characterset and Languages
The weights, styles and set of characters, listed below represent the
current status at this time, July 2014. It is intended to continue this design
あいうえおかきくけこさしすせそたちつてとなにぬねの
はひふへほまみむめもやゆよらりるれろわんをゐゑ
が ぎぐげござじずぜぞば びぶべぼだぢづでど
ぱ ぴ ぷ ぺ ぽ ぁぃぅぇぉっゃゅょ
{Hiragana}
project by extending the character set of Latin, Hanzi and Kanji on the
one hand and introducing more styles (stencil, black display, light and
bold italic) to the Latin in the near future.
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz äöü ß
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
���������� . ����������
!¡ ?¿”’,./:;`[\](){}‹›«» _-–—―‘’‚“”„•… �*�
@#%& ɞƪⱨƣƫʈꝓʐ
ÀàÁáÂâÃãÄäÅåĂăĆćČčÇçĎÈèÉéÊêËëĖėĚěÌÍÎÏÑñŃńŇ
ňÒòÓóÔôÕõÖöŐőŔŕŘřŚśŞşŠšŢţŤŮůŰűÙùÚúÛûÜü
ŴŵẀẁẂẃẄẅŶŷŸÿÝýỲỳŹźŻżŽž
アイウエオカキクケコサシスセソタチツテトナニヌネノ
ハヒフヘホマミムメモヤユヨラリルレロワンヲ
ガギグゲゴザジズゼゾ バビブベボ ダヂヅデドパ ピ プ ペ
ポァィゥェォッャュョ
{Katakana}
三上中之事云人今低何作入全八出分力動口叫吉同向吹呼
固国夕外夜夢大女子害小少屈屋層巳年形彼微思恐息愛戸
手押振支方日明時暗書木束東棒死段殺母毒毬気氷永泉烈
無煙理男発白直眼知私立笑続綺美老自若茂行衣袋装見覚
語誰警起返違部酬開雪雲音顔風飛驚高麗�々
{Kanji, Sino-Japanese}
{Regular}
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz äöü ß
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
{Regular Italic}
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz äöü ß
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
{Bold}
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz äöü ß
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
{Light}
上中之事雲人低何作入八出分力動口吉同向吹呼固�夕
三
夜夢大女子小少屈屋�巳年形彼微思息愛手押振支方日明
時暗書木束東棒死段殺母毬氣冰永泉烈無理男發白眼知私
笑�美老自若茂行袋装見覺���酬閃開顏風飛驚*
{Hanzi, traditional Chinese}
三上中之事云人何作入全八出分力口吉同向吹呼固国夕夜
大女子小少屈屋层巳年形彼微思恐息手押振支日明木束棒
死段母毬气冰永烈理男发白眼知私笑绮美老自若茂行衣袋
装觉语谁�起酬雪颜风飞惊丽鹰 {Hanzi, simplified Chinese}
*) The grey indicates those characters which are identical in the Japanese character set.
Credits
Illustration of the ‘snow woman’: Anika Takagi, Cologne, Germany
Photograph of the ‘man at the window’: Dirk Vogel, Dortmund, Germany
Sample text for...
Hiragana
song lyrics from UA, かなしみ Johnny
Japanese
http://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000258/files/50326_35772.html,
2014. 05. 14 (Japanese)
Application sample, article
Hearn, Lafcadio (1973) Yuki-Onna. In: Kwaidan – und andere Geschichten
und Bilder aus Japan. Elisabeth Schnack (translation from English),
Manesse Verlag, Zurich. Pp 80–87 (German)
Application sample, visual novel
text by Mariko Takagi
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Gerry Leonidas, Fiona Ross, Gerard Unger, Michael Twyman,
James Mosley, and all the visiting lecturers and the staff of the department.
Special thanks to Yoshihide Okazawa, Sammy Or and Akira Kobayashi,
who gave me very valuable feedback during the design process of the Japanese
and Chinese characters.
My deep gratitude goes to Marcel, Anika, Roswit and Yasunobu Takagi.
This specimen was submitted as partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the Master of Arts in Typeface
Design, The University of Reading, 2014.
All rights reserved by Mariko Takagi, 2014.
www.mikan.de
。
.
.
.
.
な
Mariko Takagi acts as an intermediary between the Western
and Japanese cultures in general – and between Latin letters
and Japanese/Chinese characters in particular. Typography is
her tool and at the same time her form of expression.
Having lived and worked as a half-Japanese and half-German
in Germany and Hong Kong, she started to write, design
and publish books about Japanese culture. As an author and
designer, she provides her readers with an insight into this
‘strange’ and foreign culture to overcome stereotypic ideas.
Gion is Mariko’s first excursion into the field of typeface design. With this initial project, she is exploring the possibilities
of joining the fundamentally different writing systems in one
font design.
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