Collection of Research on Chinese Typography

These three pocket books are a curated selection from The Type’s ongoing series of Chinese design research projects, covering topics that range from the history and evolution of Chinese typeface design, to traditional and contemporary Chinese typographic practice, to cross-cultural design discourse within a Chinese context. Originally produced in English and handed out to attendees at an international type conference by our team, the booklets sparked genuine interest from both Eastern and Western designers alike — so we decided to put together a bilingual Chinese-English edition, published as independent art books and made available to anyone who’d find them useful.

Shanghai Type: a slice of modern Chinese type history

The development of Chinese type design since the foundation of the People’s Republic in 1949 cast significant influence to its contemporary developments. Yet it has remained as much a mystery to the outside world as to local designers. Thanks to the research throughout the Shanghai Type project, we attempt to illustrate a slice of the history of how modern Chinese type design began as a groundbreaking state-initiated endeavour, and then gradually faded in the age of market and commercialisation.

Transcultural Type Design: a dialogue from China

Among the Chinese-speaking designers, discourse around transcultural typography is still in its infancy. This small volume is the record of the first of a series of open discussions moderated by us, to address this global trend as well as the debate and strategies that come along in the Chinese context.

Kǒngquè: restoring the mindset of Chinese typesetting

The convention and wisdom of Chinese typography that was developed over centuries has failed to be inherited by designers today. This is caused partially by the Latin-orientated computer softwares and the negligence in the Chinese design education. Kǒngquè project aims to fill this gap by revisiting the typographic traditions in China in the modern context and restoring a mindset of native Chinese typography.