Questions for Font Creators Part 10: Characters of Interest Apart from Japanese Characters 1 “Korean Hangul”

The question “What kinds of characters are you are interested in or would you like to design apart from Japanese characters (kanji, hiragana, katakana, and the Latin alphabet)?” was asked to staff at the Type Project.

Multiple answers included Hangul characters used in the Korean language. Reasons for interest were given as follows:

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It is completely from the appearance, but I’m interested in the rules for character parts and the geometric forms.

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From the perspective of a non-native, I’m interested in Hangul because of the cute shape of the characters.

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It is interesting that geometric parts are combined like a puzzle to structure each character. Since I started studying the Korean language, I actually started using the characters myself and my interest deepened.

The geometric forms and differences from Japanese character forms seem to interest the designers at the Type Project.

While each kanji used in Japanese is an ideogram that indicates a “meaning,” Hangul is a phonogram, similar to kana and the Latin alphabet, that indicates “sound.” Unlike kana, which has unique shape for each character, one Hangul character is structured by a combination of parts that indicate consonants and vowels in accordance with specific rules.

In some places, even in public transport, there are Korean notations in addition to Japanese and English. Due to the influence of popular Korean dramas and K-pop music, I feel that there are increased chances to see the Korean advertisements and products in the city.
Some of our readers may also be interested in Korean Hangul.

(XYZ)

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