Sakura-themed fleurons and borders could work.

Also, I can't do much this week as I've got a full itinerary and am on the wrong side of the planet, but if you need help with anything after 3/19 drop me line at jp@dunwichtype.com

why not ampersands again? there can be far more than just 26 or 52 glyphs.
either way, I want to help out & be a part!

How about ornamental initials?

@james
I really like the idea of a cherry blossom motif, provided the fleuron-esque theme doesn’t overlap the Font Aid III: Fleurons of Hope project too much. We’d really like to keep each of the Font Aid themes as distinct as possible, giving the contributors an opportunity to create fresh imagery.

@matt
The ampersands were incredibly successful for last year’s Font Aid project, but we want to push into new visual territory if we can. There is so much Japanese iconography available, even something as simple as the circle. For example, see the work presented on Rene Wanner’s Poster Page and Dribbble.

@anthony
Would you see contributors creating whatever initial they choose, or does it make sense to limit the characters to a specific set, such as … “J”, “A”, “P”, and “N”, for example?

Maybe emoticons/emoji? They’re heavily used by Japanese and recently added to Unicode, too.

(by the way, I was really hoping there would be a Font Aid for this)

@Grant
I think the sakura theme could be pretty distinct as long as contributors are asked to stay away from more traditional

@riccard0
Due to a lack of software/OS support emoticons/emoji could be a problem from a technical standpoint if we use the new unicode values. But they could all just be inserted into other slots.

I thought they simply will be inserted in more common slots (as for the ampersands). More so, since it would be difficult (and maybe even counter-productive) to force each design to target a single different emoticon.
I mentioned the recent adoption by Unicode just because now they’re acknowledged as single glyphs.
Also, since there are still few examples, it would add to the effort a role of inspiration.

@riccardoThe idea of riffing on the style of emoji is an very interesting idea. However, I agree with you that we wouldn’t want to try to assigning each participant a specific Unicode glyph to complete. However, there are enough emoji characters to go around … the variety of submissions could be quite phenomenal.

@james The sakura theme still has me interested as well. It would certainly be a more cohesive set of images. Perhaps if we chose a small set of emoji characters to concentrate on. There are weather, nature, and emotion-related glyphs in the emoji range.

! ! ! ! ! ! ! Maybe a font made all out of exclamation points? That says earthquake to me!!!

Or how about "Lend a Hand" a font that is all made out of hands.
We could use the typographic fist to help people!
http://typophile.com/node/75081
Designers love using hands in their designs,
so it'd be a very useful font.

There are six index symbols in Unicode.
Black left pointing index: U+261A ☚
Black right pointing index: U+261B ☛
White left pointing index: U+261C ☜
White up pointing index: U+261D ☝
White right pointing index: U+261E ☞
White down pointing index: U+261F ☟
(from wikipedia)

I like Chank's idea. It is directed at the cause yet breaks new ground on the kind of glyphs.

If the problem is having some sort of cohesion between submissions, I like the idea of “lending hands” (for example, there are several in the emoji list Grant linked to).
But I would vote against the fist as a reference (not just for the name ;-). As far as I know, in Japan (and several other Asian countries) it’s considered at least impolite to point a finger at someone (and, in general, I think that “pointing fingers” could give the wrong message).

For what it's worth, the international typographic spirit tells me we should make a font(s) of migratory birds and spring blossoms.

First, thanks for this initiative, Grant.

I like the sakura (さくら) theme. In Japan the seasons are distinct and important, so perhaps something seasons related?

Also, though Japan has no official national flower, the chrysanthemum is a popular emblem of things Japanese.

Are there four plants/flowers we could work with to get the four seasons across? I could see cherries for spring, chrysanthemums for summer, and plums for winter. But I'm not sure what works for fall. Would the Japanese maple work for fall?

I too like Chank's idea of hands/hand/lending a hand. Simplified and distinct.

if 'hands' (etc) was the theme, can it be expanded beyond 6 or so glyphs? this is my vote so far, but I don't want to see it limited.

the 'seasons' idea does seem to lend itself to more glyphs. as far as flowers, birds, insects, trees, & so on.

I strongly favour the blossom idea.

It’s Japan! They are so fond of flowers and blossoms, everywhere. And: flowers are a unique symbol for sympathy and hope, people all over the planet like it. It will be a success.
The briefing could ask for glyphs from a single blossom to more elaborate vignettes …

Hand signs always denote certain gestures or expressions. Diffently perceived in various parts of the world. There are culture-sensitive issues involved, that may add pitfalls to the project.

Let us font a passionate bouquet of flowers. Let us all lend one glyph to it, one that surpasses our every-day routines.

I visited Japan 21 years ago, for a longer time. I am so sad about this inexplicable scale of distress. What can a poor fontist do in the face of such a misery?

Does anyone have any contact to Japanese people who are in Japan at the moment? What about Japanese typophiles? What about Ray Larabie, who lives in Japan (as far as I know)?

What about Japanese typophiles?

Ray Larabie reports that he is safe and well on his Twitter feed, as does John from ilovetypography.com, who is also in Japan.

I switch my vote to flowers and birds as well.

I think a font of flowers and birds would sell more than one of hands, and this is a project to raise funds.

Hi Everyone,

as many of my type friends know, I have been greatly influenced by Japan and my time spent there. I have 'adopted' family there and have a very fine thread of connections throughout the country and have spent a lot of sleepless evenings lately trying to connect with everyone there.

I have recoiled from the shock of the emails from friends there and everything I am seeing on tv and online and am finally focused enough to do something. I am setting up a website and method to deliver the most money directly to organizations in Japan. This circumvents international charities and the inefficiencies associated with them. I have been conferring with friends in Japan as to their recommendations of what indigenous organizations there, in Japan, that need help. The first vetted organization is AMDA International (Association of Medical Doctors of Asia) amdainternational.com. I am researching with these same colleagues in Japan on a children's organization that could benefit and we are also in a position to give directly to the prefectures (in the U.S., 'states').

I will be meeting with a bank willing to assist here in the U.S. (to handle wire transfers) and my contacts there in Japan will coordinate with CHUGOKU BANK, TOKYO MITSUBISHI BANK and YUCHO GINKO. My friends and family are primarily located in Takamatsu which is in Kagawa Prefecture on the island of Shikoku (the least negatively impacted island).

The website in process is sogojapan.org which in context, 'sogo' means 'total' or 'whole' or in line with the philosophy of 'sogo-fujo' which sees that humanitarian assistance is not regarded as a single, one-sided occurrence, rather it is seen in a cycle of reciprocating assistance giving a broader perspective of time and scope.

I will be offering a direct line for smaller donations, will be selling a special recut of one of my existing fonts and will try to collaborate with a screenprinting group to print tshirts to sell as well and am waiting to hear back to see if I can get some help with some letterpress options I could put up for sale.

Any monies collected would go through transparent channels and deliver the money DIRECTLY to the Japanese organizations there.

I think I'm still a member of SOTA. I would be happy to help curate this project with anyone and see to it that everyone's time and effort has as much effect as possible for the people of Japan.

oh, and insofar as subject manner to build on the notion of florals, etc.
1. look at daimyo period textile patterns (not as limited to the typical sakura perception of Japan)
2. there is a whole manga sub-culture that can be explored
3. as well as the 'kawaii' cuteness culture in Japan (happy faces, cute big eyes, etc)

Great suggestions all! . . . I'm also in favor of either the Flowers/Birds iconography or the Emoji suggestion . . . .

I agree it is appropriate that the font should be based on iconography rather glyphs per se and FYI it should be noted all previous Font Aid fonts, regardless of glyphs were never limited to one unicode, they were simply slugged in all Latin Type 1 slots accessible to the most number of platforms and if there were more than 230 or so, there were multiple fonts created . . .

Stuart

How about if everyone makes whatever they want. To some people, Space Invaders are an important Japanese cultural icon to some while others may be more inspired by flowers, hands etc.

If emoji are chosen, I would encourage double-encoding them using both the new Unicode codepoints and some more easily accessible, e.g. ANSI characters.

It should also be noted that quite a lot of the emoji characters rely on colour. They were encoded in Unicode for the benefit of mobile telecom companies, providing them with a standard, efficient way to exchange emoji in text messages, but the expectation is that these would be displayed on devices using colour bitmaps, not TT/OT fonts.

B&W versions of emoji here:
http://www.unicode.org/~scherer/emoji4unicode/snapshot/full.html

While a B&W emoji font may not be useful as an actual emoji font, it might be a decent template for dingbats.

I agree with John and Ray completely

Japan is a lot more than what we've suggested so far.

@neil Thanks for the offer of helping curate this — and for instigating the other preparations in support of the cause. I’ll be in contact with you via email or chat.

@everyone Thank you for all the input.

“Japan is a lot more than what we've suggested so far.” — Neil

“How about if everyone makes whatever they want.” — Ray

The number of ideas presented here is extremely encouraging. I don’t want to have this discussion bog down too much, given the time sensitivity of the matter. I believe that Ray and Neil have hit the nail on the head. The contents of the font should be thrown open to include anything relating to Japan — reflecting each contributing designer’s connection to the event, the country, and the culture.

My take on this is that whatever the theme, it should cater to designers who would buy the font not just to contribute to helping Japan, but also to use it. That way we'd be able to raise more money. Keeping that in mind, I like Chank's idea of exclamation mark, or lending a hand. I think a specific theme would raise more funds than people designing anything related to Japan. What do you guys think?

- Sulekha

I still think emoji would be the best in combining a sensible theme, freedom of creative choice and usefulness of the font.
For a different take, keeping it simple: what about a font of @s?
In the first hours after the event, with phones and other means of communication cut off, internet was the only way to keep in touch. Also, it’s what we’re using to make this project happen.

You hear “Emoji” and think “Japan” – well then.

So, everybody throwing in some arbitrary selection of a few “emoji” glyphs? Having 23 smiling cat faces and 14 hamburgers at the end? How will you manage this?
How is this going to be a useful font?

The pictographic additions of the recent Unicode launch (some explanation here) is a rather complex matter, despite being ill-treated by silly terms like “emoji” or “dingbats”.

A collection of 200 birdies or blooms or @s would simply give me a choice to select from a tremendously rich stock if I had to embellish some distinct piece of design.
If I had to do some info graphics I doubt that there is much use for a font where the TRAM is from designer X and the BUS from fellow Y. (But perhaps you think more of smileys and bunnies –?)

This is but my personal view.

I wasn’t labelling the pictographic additions to Unicode in toto as “emoji”. Just saying that emoticons where included in it. And that this subset could have been the theme for the font.
And the problem of different styles for each and every glyph is the same for birds, bunnies, flowers, or smileys.
I meant “useful” as in inspirational about how to tackle the design of these new glyphs (one thing you surely have already faced ;-)

That said, anything is good as long as it’s soon.

P.S.: I think the thread deserves handpicked status on the home page.

“Your personal interpretation of Japan in one glyph” sounds like a decent spec.

P.S. I agree with riccard0 that this should be handpicked.

I think the thread deserves handpicked status on the home page.

I agree with riccard0 that this should be handpicked.

Me too.

I'm down with Mans's "Your personal interpretation of Japan in one glyph" and Grant's "anything relating to Japan".

So how and when can we contribute?

I'd like to know the same. I'm ready to get started on something.

Ditto.

>I'm down with Mans's "Your personal interpretation of Japan in one glyph" and Grant's "anything relating to Japan".

I think there a lot of things that Japan can represent to different people. So this would probably work best.

i agree with Sulekha and Andreas that a less open theme is a good idea -

Something that works almost as a library rather than a random selection of glyphs that vary in their usefulness: It may encourage more people to buy it if it has utility in everyday design work also, much as the 'coming together' ampersand project for Haiti did.

As with all decisions via committee, this could go on for a while.

re: usefulness
It is a charity fundraiser via the typographic community. If the intention is to have ready-made logos for lazy designers, then forget it. 'chindogu' might be a better approach and make the glyphs amazing yet unusable.

If it is to do some good, then post the guidelines and let it start.

“As with all decisions via committee, this could go on for a while.”

Sorry for taking so long to get back to this thread. Let’s nip that little issue in the bud.

First of all, thanks to everyone for the discussion and feedback.

Richard, Chindōgu is exactly the concept I’ve had in my head since posting this, I just wasn’t exactly sure how to communicate it. This typeface should contain a stream of creative, emotive, “amazing” — and yet, potentially unusable — glyphs reflective of each designer.

Font Aid Glyph Submission Guidelines

Create a glyph that is your own personal interpretation of Japan.

* You may submit up to three glyphs
* Glyphs must be supplied as vector files only (not bitmaps)
* Adobe Illustrator .ai or .eps files are preferred
* Fontlab or Fontographer source files will also be accepted
* Glyphs must be black and white only
* Do not use colour, complex textures, or embedded bitmap images
* Remember, simple is often better

Send the following to fontaid@typesociety.org by March 25th, 2011

* Final vector artwork file(s)
* A short description of each of your glyphs (optional)
* Your name (as you like it to appear on the project page)
* Your country

Additional information and updates will be posted to the Font Aid page on the SOTA website.

Thanks again for everyone’s input.

Now, let’s make an awesome typeface.

Arigatō Grant

Domo Arigatō!

I'm in,

.

looks like the train left the station while I was thinking up things to suggest :o)

Thanks Grant.

Here's my first attempt. Maybe I'm taking the challenge too literally, but I liked this from the wikipedia definition:

" they cannot be regarded as 'useless' in an absolute sense, since they do actually solve a problem; however, in practical terms, they cannot positively be called "useful."

So I give you the exclamenthesis, perfect for when you need to put something in parentheses and you REALLY mean it.

Jonathan, I think you need a 180 degree rotated version too, for opening parenthesis à la Spanish opening exclamation.

I was thinking that, but I didn't want hog another glyph. Plus, I thought maybe it would be funnier if the phrase just had the exclamenthesis at the ned. We'll see!

I don't want to make more work for anyone, but I'm wondering if it might be cool/funny/useful to have a little description about each glyph in the book. The Haiti project was self explanatory, since everything was ampersands; but here, with there being a lot more freedom, it would be nice to know what the designer was thinking with each glyph.

@jonathan
Thanks for the great suggestion. We were thinking about the book component of this project. You’re absolutely right … documenting some of the thought process behind each submission would be both interesting and more personal. I have updated the submission guidelines with a request for an optional description for each glyph.

I will posting these guidelines and other information on the SOTA website as soon as I have access to the server again. The airport wifi in Denver is blocking FTP transfers right now.

… I'm wondering if it might be cool/funny/useful to have a little description about each glyph in the book. …; but here, with there being a lot more freedom, it would be nice to know what the designer was thinking with each glyph.

Useful? Cool?? Funny???

In this very hour they are sitting down with nothing left.
And you are fuzzing about a silly bastard glyph, claiming wit for it.
Do you think this will raise funds for the human aid needed?

It’s not my project, but I would consider a revision of the briefing.

I wonder if an unsealed pool of water for storing spent nuclear fuel rods is an example of chindōgu?

...ingenious everyday gadgets that, on the face of it, seem like an ideal solution to a particular problem. However ... anyone actually attempting to use one of these inventions would find that it causes so many new problems, or such significant social embarrassment, that effectively it has no utility whatsoever.

re: Andreas & cool/funny/useful

Humor is important, and deserves as much celebration in bad times by those who can, in an effort to honor those who can not. Celebrate life if you can... Help in some way if you can... Fun & Funny obviously dose not mean to degrade or insult.

~

"In this very hour they are sitting down with nothing left.
And you are fuzzing about a silly bastard glyph, claiming wit for it.
Do you think this will raise funds for the human aid needed?"

I'm positive that everyone who will be involved in this project is well aware of the horrible conditions in Japan. I would also guess that for many of the people involved, their willingness to help will not end with this project. In an effort to raise funds to help the people of Japan, I don't think it's in poor taste to celebrate something uniquely Japanese in a way that's in the spirit of that thing. So yes, I think we should be concerned with making it useful, cool, and funny if being useful, cool, and funny helps raise more money. I think it will.

I have been receiving some comments outside of Typophile about the whole idea of “usefulness” vs “chindōgu”.

Ultimately, we are attempting to create is something thoughtful, beautiful, and intriguing. If usefulness (or humour) springs out of the images that are created for Font Aid V, all the better. Remember, we are an extremely talented and empathetic community that can (and will) make wonderful things to help others.

Let’s just focus on that.

Thanks for listening.

I think it is more important to move on with the project than to beat on the concept brief as a committee. We have all been the committee rout, "Lay on McDuff!"

I made previous and next buttons. It's Showa-era squareness with a little temple roof curve. Luckily, before submitting it my wife walked by and noticed I'd drawn the wrong kanji (uni5148) for previous.

Humor is important … Celebrate life if you can

Some out here know my sense of humor. I always smile if there is something funny.

I was only wondering if the kind of ‘ideas’ will really be helpful.
Perhaps I’m too sceptic this time.

~ It is my natural tendency to get carried away...

The internet tells me that the Noh mask- "Ko-beshimi is used for sorrowful demons." so this seems appropriate, though I've never visited Japan, and I really know nothing of kabuki... I'm not sure if these abstractions of the mask would be seen as offensive in this context, but it is a connotative association for me.

~ Thoughts?

I love both of these iterations, Brock.

Nice balance of abstraction and subtlety.

Hi folks, here is one of my contributions based on the word "ran" which means "chaos" in japanese (see also the wonderful film "ran" by akira kurosawa) :

IMHO Ray (Typodermic) is onto the right approach here - ability to use the font after the fact will help sales - sales help the people.

@1895, I agree with you, in as much as I wish I hadn't put my nonsense process up here... but, I think personal work can also be of use, and as a document of an attitude or a reaction to this event at this time, from this community, I think the collection itself can be pretty special, 5 years, 10 years down the road...

I would just saying that, after submitting your glyph(s), you already can donate through http://sogojapan.org/ and receive a special cut of Angel Script.

@brockfrench - sorry I didn't mean any disrespect.

.

First draft for my submission: Nō mask effect smileys

Any and all suggestions/critiques welcome :-)

@1985 - I know you didn't. I didn't take it as such.

I can't wait to see how this font turns out. I love the idea of everyone doing their own thing for this project. Buyers might prefer it or they might not: we don't know. Next time around, we'll know. I have a feeling this approach is better because it offers something for everyone. Some customers will buy this font and find themselves doing a project where Japanese themed imagery is needed. Some will have a need for manga word balloons. Some will want a lone @ sign. Having a wider variety of glyphs to choose from should make the font more useful. If we would have stuck to variations of one symbol, a customer might use some of them but it's unlikely that they'd use several. Give the customer a variety of glyphs and the chances of those glyphs being used goes up because situations which require their use will be more frequent. The more frequently glyphs are used, the more exposure they get. People who see designs using those glyphs might ask the designer where they got that arrow, noh mask etc. That can end up spreading the idea of Font Aid even further.

“I can't wait to see how this font turns out.”

Me either.

In additional to the sneak peeks in this thread, there are some gorgeous things being submitted … whether they’re immediately useful or not is a completely subjective matter.

I’m convinced that throwing the doors wide open was the right thing to do.

My FontAid ampersand Haiti poster was featured in the USA Today photo Gallery in today's issue.

http://usat.ly/fyQ9O9 via @USATODAY

“I’m convinced that throwing the doors wide open was the right thing to do.”

Yep, exactly ; here is another submission:

Formed from the first and the last letter of the word "япония",Japan in bulgarian, read "yaponiya".

Here is my third contribution:

My Japanese anti-nuclear flag design was picked up by the CND for their protest against nuclear power in London yesterday.

Way togo, John!!!

There’s a glyph I’m toying with from time to time:

I know question marks were done in Font Aid II, but I’m putting my focus on that character for this project. The incidents in Japan raise so many questions about that nation’s future, and about what the rest of us will do regarding preparedness, nuclear power, etc. The glyph that I submit to SOTA will be all black, as the specs suggest; I’m just showing a red circle to make the connection to Japan (overly) obvious.

Mine is inspired by the famous Hokusai block print of the wave. The curves need more work than the one day I've given them but here is the basic idea. One in BW and the other in color.

After another days work, I think this is a better solution. Still using the Hokusai wave idea but with an anguished Kabuki or perhaps Noh mask profile subtly emerging from the top part of the wave

Nice stuff being done! I'm diggin' the developmental work too.

Nice use of the wave pattern Dez, lots of possibilities.

The second glyph combines two vital traditions of Japanese art: the calligraphy of Zen Buddhist painting and the playfulness of contemporary manga comics. The form of the circle, called ensō, is a common, polyvalent symbol appearing in calligraphy. Usually painted in one stroke, the painted ensō is a particular and imperfect expression of the absolute and perfect. This happy ensō has a face inspired by manga in the supercute "chibi" style.

Thanks to my daughter for editing suggestions and to SoTA for organizing the project.

@john I don’t there’s any reason why you shouldn’t create a question mark, ampersand, fleuron, or what have you for this project. If the imagery fits, so be it.

Thanks again to everyone for showing your creative process and submitting your work.

We’ve received over 150 glyphs from 80 contributors.

Keep ’em coming.

I guess it is deadline time. Here are my last efforts:

Here is my threefold contribution, as a sum up:

I'm amazed by all contributions around here. The Font Aid V will be a great edition. How infortunate such catastrophe have to happen in order for us to work as a team...

I designed a flower from four (identical) heart shapes. It stands for all the love and growth, care and help I wish for Japan and its people. Of course the submission had to be in black and white. I added the gradient later.

I tried to wrap my head around the concept for this project. The ampersands were much easier. I'm not certain that these are appropriate. The mask is based on a mask I made for my brother during his semipro wrestling days. They billed him as the shadow something or ninja something, I can't remember. I just remember looking at a lot of Japanese masks and helmet designs. Good, bad or indifferent, this will be the submission for the Fontry. I hope it helps.

1) Magic ball - Things that Japanese made and do are magical. Magical philosophy of living.
2) Japan gate - Famous torii stylized with sun and mountain.
3) Clock - Same stylization of sun and mountain, in another context - respect for time in everyday life.

:)

@Grant.

Was an email confirmation of receipt of entries sent out? I just want verification that they arrived?

Ditto!

made my submissions. just in time. whew

[double post]
is there an expected release date for the typeface? (I know its a bit early yet)

I hope my submission is not too late.

I made two glyphs representing a paper crane, one a silhouette and the other an outline. The two are combined in the picture above.

Ugh, I type like a third-grader sometimes.

My contribution to this outstanding initiative: »The Chrysanthemum«

@chris, @riccardo, et al.

I just wanted to let everyone know that your submissions have been received.

We didn’t send out automated responses this year, as I wanted to make sure that I touched base with all participants as the submissions came in. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), our inbox was hit with an overwhelming amount of mail — and I’m still catching up.

I should be finished reviewing all of the files and starting the process of compiling the final OpenType font sometime tomorrow.

We’ll also be sending out an email update to participants this coming week. And as always, the latest information will appear on the SOTA website and via our Twitter account.

@matt Depending on how complicated the work will be to compile the hundreds of individual glyphs into a single file, I’m anticipating that the final font will be available through various distributors by the end of next week.

Fingers crossed.

From Tokyo - Safe here but it has been quite an unsettling and tragic couple of weeks for the people and the country!
I illustrated a friend's poem on the events:
http://www.ufufuo.net/writinginministry/It-tai.pdf
I just saw this thread ...I assure you that the Japanese press and ordinary people are really heart warmed by all the support commiseration they are getting from abroad. I like Dezcome's designs of Hokusai's tsunami - perhaps the red sun somehow transformed into a red tear (as in the Typophile logo?) might be appropriate?
Yes John this accident will become a rallying cry against nuclear power..hope that the world really learns to conserve energy and turn to safe sources.

Thanks for another great initiative. I thought I'd have to skip this but idea struck literally at the last moment...

Based on the kanji for Beauty, 美.

hhp

Nice one Hrant!

There’s a sneak peek of some glyphs over at http://www.typesociety.org/fontaid/ now.

Hrants post actually struck me.... its always the simple ones that work

Thank you. A problem though is that it needs
those colors (especially the blue) to work best.

hhp

The colors are not really needed, Hrant, it works just fine for me in black.

I would say, it works best in black and white.

@ hrant

Very good. With regard to the colors I think, it works best, if either the blue or the red is replaced with white. And not in a square, but with the proportions of the flag. The combination of blue and red is clearer, but it is ugly and extremely aggressive. Much more aggressive than the total contrast of blue and orange in my opinion.

The colors *are* pretty ugly... And I guess it's "aggressive" too. But ugly and aggressive *do* describe [the effects of] a tsunami! :-/ However making the background a flag shape (in this case 3:2) is a very good idea. Anyway, what I submitted is of course a colorless, borderless glyph, so people will do with it what they like. That said, here's something hopefully more refined:

BTW, isn't *Yellow* the opposite of Blue?

hhp

BTW, isn't *Yellow* the opposite of Blue?

When dealing with pigments (subtractive), orange and blue are complementary. When dealing with screens (additive), yellow and blue are complementary.

Isn't *Yellow* the opposite of Blue?

No. Only in Photoshop. (Before I had posted my previous message, I had replaced the colors in Photoshop and I wondered, why it had inverted blue to yellow.)

Red, blue and yellow are the main colors. Although the rgb model (red, green [but not yellow] and blue) works different on the screen, the complementary contrasts are these:

Red/Green
Blue/Orange
Yellow/Violet
Black/White

And yes, when I wrote, that the combination of blue and red is extremely aggressive, I also thought, that a Tsunami is extremely aggressive. But nevertheless it is also beautiful, if you have a look on it from a safe distance. It brings the death, but it is not ugly. In contradiction to that the combination of pure blue and pure red on screen is ugly in most cases, especially if the relation of the areas is so balanced. In case of your image I think, that the color harmony should have priority.

I also dislike the combination of pure blue and pure yellow on screen. Red/blue (neither complementary in the pigment-, nor in the rgb-model), red and its rgb-complementary color (turquoise?) and green/violet are likewise ugly in my opinion.

With the darker blue it works much better.

I wouldn't say "only in Photoshop" - in fact to me the Subtractive system is far less
"natural" than the Additive. So I'm going with Yellow being the opposite of Blue.

hhp

I think, we both are wrong. But I have not yet made out, where my error in reasoning is.

According to http://colorschemedesigner.com/ the complementary color of #0000ff is #ffbf00. How would you call #ffbf00? On my screen it looks like a very decent orange. If I had mixed orange, it had looked more red. (Photoshop inverts #0000ff to #ffff00.)

> Photoshop inverts #0000ff to #ffff00.

In the RGB/Additive system; and those are pure Blue and Yellow. But converting to CMYK all kinds of things can happen, depending. BTW whenever you speak of 3×2 hex color codes you're necessarily talking about RGB (although those numbers could have come from a CMYK conversion).

hhp

I am not sure. If I am in the RGB modus of Photoshop and invert the blue, it shouldn’t be yellow. But maybe this is dependent from my preferences. Somehow I cannot imagine, that Photoshop makes these basic things wrong. I mean, the complementary color of the pure blue is not yellow. If I compare #ffff00 and #fffb00 directly, I recognize a big difference, at least if am not staring to long on blue.

But in actual emitted light, it's true!
Red + Green + Blue = White; Red + Green = Yellow; White - Blue = Yellow; etc.

hhp

But in actual emitted light, it's true!

Sure, but I think, that human beings have evolved in an environment, in which they primary have seen light, that was reflected from pigments. But wait, I think, this is no valid argument, because indirect light likewise adds up. Light with different frequency always adds up and the reflection properties of different pigments always subtract. And the color of (the light reflected from) pigments is partly dependent from the color of the light, that irradiates them. “In the night all cats are black.” This doesn’t mean only, that they look black, but that they are black in the night. So the color of a pigment is a loose property, while their physical properties are very own. That’s a very interesting theme. But we are off topic. We should discuss that in another thread.

When I typed in #0000ff at http://colorschemedesigner.com/ last night, I did not recognize, that this adjusts the color scheme. It is a great tool, but it was twisted after my input. If you load one of the presets, namely the default preset, you really can find color pairs, that are percepted as complementary. But Hrant, I think color is an extremely complicated theme. In the end it is more a question of perception than one of mathematics.

> I think color is an extremely complicated theme.

Indeed - thank god for fonts! (Hey, wait, fonts are extremely complicated too... :-)

hhp

If a Rose smells as sweet as a Rose by any other name, does not a color look as it does even other some other name, number or classification system? Color is one of those creatures that, as Albers so well described, relies on its environment (light and the other colors around it) to "be" what it is. ;-) You can add the perceptive proclivities of the viewer to that as well.

Hrant's form works quite well in the absence of color and does not change its meaning too radically when color is added. With all the many possible settings of monitors and human perceptions, I have no idea what Hrant, Arno, or anyone else is actually seeing.

@ Chris

I think, that I see, what was intended by Hrant:

1. The symbolized rising sun (from the Japanese flag).
2. The sea, which has flooded Japan. There is the shape of Japan coast in the disc. (Well, Hrant, you also could have cutted the disc with the shape of the North coast, since the Tsunami came from the South [or East].)

The Japanese flag is very memorable. If I would see a rectangle with a black disc in it, I would not directly associate Japan, but simply a black disc in a white rectangle. So I can comprehend, why Hrant insists in the red. Why should the flag be suddenly black? Because the Japanese are in teariness? I even don’t know, whether black is the color of distress in Japan. But case it is, there seems to be much more hope than distress in Japan.

So with regard to the reduction to the basics, Hrant’s idea is perfect.

Thanks for the continued compliments.

> you also could have cutted the disc with the shape of the North coast

The original idea (which I had waking up one morning - sleep is an amazing thing) was to use the Western coast. But besides making less sense it simply wasn't taking a big enough piece out of the disk/sun. Plus it seemed less like Japan - which brings me to this point: I think using anything less than the full length of the country would have made it almost impossible to see that it's an actual coastal shape; even the way it is, I'm having to tell [most] people. And as I've said before/elsewhere, I'm not a fan of the overly-subtle arrow in the FedEx logo! :-)

Speaking of black/white: in India white is the color of a funeral.

hhp

Arno, that is exactly what I saw as well. By presenting the glyph as Hrant has, with no further forms, he has allowed much more flexibility in use for the glyph. The rising sun was on many thousands of early Japanese artworks even before it became a flag. Japan is one of the few countries that has used a minimalist approach to things to such a degree that you can even say it has become a national trait. Think of the Haiku and the tatami mat and the elegant uses of minimal spaces in architecture seen there. It seems that the Japanese ask more of their readers than we westerners do. Where many westerners would see an empty space as something that must be filled, the Japanese see it as something to cherish and behold. Perhaps being an Island Nation with no room for outward expansion, they revere unadorned space as something great and difficult to attain.

As for personal differences, I would immediately think of Japan with a black disk in a white rectangle. I also see the Fedex arrow as so blatant and heavy handed as to seem like a cheap parlor trick. Such is the difference of both human perception and the effect of our own culture and direct experience. None of us is wrong in what we see yet each of us is most exactly accurate in what we see for ourselves. If not mistaken, I think that Tibet thinks of Red as a funeral color. By leaving the glyph unadorned as Hrant has, the person who uses it to speak to an intended audience he is familiar with, has the opportunity to direct properly to that audience even if it confounds the rest of us. If you think of the absolute sense of the metric system compared to the English system of measure, you can not argue with the logic. Good luck getting US Citizens to adopt it tough ;-)

Also, I see no need to specify the exact coast where the damage was most felt. It is a symbolic gesture not a literal one. Here we say "It is raining cats and dogs" although this has never happened. We still get the message even though it can never be close to literal.

>We still get the message even though it can never be close to literal.

...which I think is irrelevant? In fact, I would go so far as to say, the farther one goes from a simple literal message, especially over time, cross-culture, and under such tragic circumstances, the less likely one is to have the faintest idea what impact complex symbolic messages might have on the intended audience.

"...the less likely one is to have the faintest idea what impact complex symbolic messages might have on the intended audience."

That is what visual communication professionals throughout the World are for. The glyph Hrant created was like any other glyph in any off-the-shelf font. The user of the font decides on what to use and how to use it. The @ sign was never originally intended to stand for today's most common use of it. Any of the ascii emoticon combinations popular today online are valid fabrications of users yet bear no resemblance to what their individual parts were designed for. Type designers are the makers of visual tools which can be used or combined with others for use in any way the user sees fit. I would bet that every single normal alphabetical glyph from A to Z started as something far different in meaning than we use today. "A" no-longer means bulls head. This is just the ingenuity of humankind putting tools to work. That is not to say that users will always choose well and that every use will be perfectly understood by everyone. If someone is too lazy to go down to their basement to get a tack hammer and uses their conveniently located cell phone to pound in a tack, the phone maker is not at fault if the fragile device breaks. The user may well be satisfied with his choice of tool and the fact that the tack is indeed driven as desired no-matter what the rest of the world may think. Sure there can be consequences when unintended damage is done in the process but that does not mean a tool should never have an unintended use. If there were a mother who happened to be wearing a very expensive silk blouse and uses it as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding of her injured child, would she not be willing to ignore the damage to her blouse in favor of the health of her child?

Yes, the type designer surely has not the faintest idea of what impact individual uses of the glyph might have, but that does not mean a cell phone, silk blouse, tack hammer or automobile should not be created. Even if the proper tool was selected for brain surgery, it would be a horrible mistake to see it used by someone not highly skilled and capable.

After reading this, I see I have written the classic example of an over-reaction to a harmless comment.--Sorry, David! :-)

Any update?

I second the question.

i made something in fontstruct..
It's for japan! Ganbatte Kudasai!

:)

it's named "Pray for Japan"

Pray For Japan

(someone help me? i donno how to post some pics)

i donno how to post some pics

omg, thanks riccad0. Nice to met u here and in fs :)

Will this project see release?

An update from SOTA:

It’s been quite a while since you heard from us about the Font Aid V: Made For Japan typeface. We’re sorry about that.

Rest assured, we haven’t forgotten about you. Things have been progressing — slower than we had hoped — but we definitely wanted to let you know what was going on.

The process of integrating the hundreds of glyphs that were submitted has been a massive task. We underestimated both the number of people interested in participating, as well as the sheer amount of work required to get the “Made For Japan” font assembled. There are currently three people working feverishly to put the finishing touches on the typeface, which we hope to have available in early June through several font distributors.

We apologize that there hasn’t been more regular communication about the status of the Font Aid V project. We promise that will change very soon.

Thanks again to everyone who participated and helped us spread the word.

Anything new on a release date, yet?

SOTA says “very soon”:
http://twitter.com/#!/typesociety/status/108044395982495744

A sneak peek at the glyphs:
http://twitter.com/#!/positype/status/84710589913509888

Thanks for the update, Riccardo!

So, wassup?

hhp

News from SOTA:

We are pleased to announce that the Made For Japan typeface is finally ready! The font will be available through MyFonts, Fonts.com, Ascender Fonts, Linotype, and Veer within the next several days.

Praise be to Grant and company for getting this suckah on the road!

I can't think of any other event that makes me giddy to spend money!

hhp

A colleague has just asked me a good question: anyone have any idea how much was actually raised by previous iterations of this project (say, for Haiti via Font Aid IV)?

A good question indeed. More so since it is still on sale:
http://new.myfonts.com/foundry/Font_Aid/

Of course. For “was”, read “has thus far been” :^)

Still no sighting of the new Japan version there. Sometimes it takes a while for MyFonts to post it.

Hooray! It's out. I'm making a purchase at Veer.

Great!
Shame the eventual timing coincides with the start of Movember though. Now there's a thought - a font of moustachioed faces...

Hmm: I've placed my purchase at Veer but it says "download unavailable". Anybody else getting that?

Yes, I am getting the same message, dtw. I am trying to be patient, on the assumption that the download link will work soon.

Here are the numbers. I did a presentation on this at Typecon last summer.

Font Aid 1 raised $2000 for UNICEF

Font Aid 2 raised $5000 for victims of 9.11

Font Aid 3 had 3 components. The font itself raised $10,000. An additional $10,000 was raised through a project called Building Letters and another $12,000 was raised from font vendors donating the proceeds from their top selling fonts on MyFonts for 1 month. The money went to help victims of the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.

Font Aid 4 raised $13,500 for victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

Can't wait to see Font Aid 5 top these numbers!

I just purchased the font from Veer and installed it. I'm blow away by the quality of the submissions. The level of effort that went into this is very evident. Congrats to Grant and his team for getting this completed!

Thanks for the stats Michelle; and clearly the folks at Veer have fixed whatever the problem was that John and I were experiencing yesterday, as it's now downloading OK. :^)

I'll ditto dtw's thanks to Michelle for the info about funds raised. Also, my download from Veer worked fine this morning. I've got it installed and I'm enjoying the examination of all those glyphs.

Thank you Michelle!

Transparent is the new black.

hhp

Are there plans for a booklet similar to the ampersand version?Or at least a pdf of one to include with purchase?

I very well hope so!

“Praise be to Grant and company for getting this suckah on the road!”

And what a road it’s been. Oof.

“Still no sighting of the new Japan version there. Sometimes it takes a while for MyFonts to post it.”

I’m waiting to hear back from MyFonts this week, as well as Ascender/Linotype/Fonts.com … soon, I hope.

“I’ve placed my purchase at Veer but it says ‘download unavailable’. Anybody else getting that?”

There was an initial glitch with the product data when Veer loaded the font into their system. It was corrected swiftly by the goodly Veer crew. Please let me know if you see any other issues and we’ll get them fixed right away.

“Here are the numbers.”

Thanks for posting these, Michelle. I‘m thinking we should add this information to the Font Aid background page on the SOTA site.

“Are there plans for a booklet similar to the ampersand version?”

I’d love to do something like this, but I’m swamped. I have been chatting with a designer about doing a poster featuring the entire glyph set, but we’ll have to see. I’m certainly open to suggestions.

Thanks to everyone for being so patient while this project dragged out.

Perhaps a fabric with the entire glyph set or even a quilt? Possibly a poster printed on rice paper?

Please let me know if you see any other issues and we’ll get them fixed right away.

I've noticed on the Veer site that some glyphs seem to have zero advance width. (Type HHHTHHH or HHHSHHH to see examples.) Dunno if it's an error in the font or in the website's type tester.

Bummer, I was really hoping to use it for an article in Ray Gun. ;-)

hhp

S and T have no right side bearing. The left sidebearing of U is 964 units--I assume that is not intensional. I opened the font in FontLab to check.

I can understand how typing "STU" in succession would work as combination of 3 glyphs to create a crowd scene but why not do it with either kerning or contextual alternates? I assume most people who use this font will be rather surprised to find overlaps and huge spaces when they just type one of the 3 glyphs?

Now available on MyFonts too:
http://new.myfonts.com/fonts/fontaid-v/made-for-japan/

Chris: well spotted. In fact, two of the three characters have got cutout areas by their elbows to allow overlap. So perhaps the whole crowd should have been one big glyph?

“So perhaps the whole crowd should have been one big glyph?”

That series of glyphs were originally a single glyph, but it had to split up due to the number of nodes. There may have been a different way to approach splitting up the image, but this was the solution that Delve Withrington came up with. If it proves to be an issue for people, we could go back and release an updated font file.

Thank you Michelle,
I just came on this knowledgeable discussion and i want to share some point here. I have purchased the font from Veer and i have been installed it as well, it's working fine for me.