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Although the thesis is about creating a typeface, it is not merely reflecting traditional Korean typeface. Rather, it is following a new movement among Korean leading typographers to break the traditional way of creating a typeface. There are 28 characters in Korean, and the characters are combined to form a syllabus. Traditionally. the combination of the characters for a syllabus always have to fit in a square box, and this rule requires designing for each combination of characters foreach syllabus. Therefore, this rule requires designig more than a thousand characters. Hence, typographers in Korea decided to break the rule, and encourage other designers to design typefaces outside of the square, thus requiring only 72 characters to design. This recent approach also provides visual rhythm and flow whereas the traditional Korean typeface is locked in a square and has a rigid visual effect.
The purpose of this thesis is not merely creating an interesting shapes for Korean characters. It is rather designing a useful typeface, which will give more options for font to designers in Korea, who have had very few choices of decent fonts that can be widely used. It is not designing a unique typeface, but it is rather designing a neutral font like Univers or Helvetica of English typefaces, which can be broadly used in many types of designs. The typeface serving this purpose should look good in a big size, and it also needs to be readable in a small text size.
The thesis is not a self-study of Korean typography. Although designing a Korean typeface is a challenge and involves exploration on Korean typography, it does not stop at the stage of creating a font. Because the goal of this thesis is providing the typeface to Korean designers, who have very few choices of typefaces to work with, I am creating a website to distribute the typeface that I design.
However, the thesis is not about creating a website. The website will be designed mainly for distributing a font and will function as a vehicle for the designers to access the useful font. The website will be kept in a very simple user-friendly format with one or two pages, introducing about the typeface.
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October 2, 2008 at 12:51 pm
The new direction for your thesis is strong, compelling, focused, and relevant. I believe you mean the word “syllable” not “syllabus.” You have done a good job explaining the situation with the Korean alphabet and the movement to take a new approach. I know that English is not your first language, and you are doing a good job making yourself understood here. Keep your sentences simple and direct. A sentence such as “Because the goal of this thesis is providing the typeface to Korean designers, who have very few choices of typefaces to work with, I am creating a website to distribute the typeface that I design” becomes more interesting when it is shorter and more active: “This thesis will provide a typeface to Korean designers, who have very few choices… I will create a website to distribute the typeface.”
October 13, 2008 at 12:18 am
Jennifer Cole Phillips
Be careful when you say your interest is not to design a unique typeface, but rather a neutral one such as Univers or Helvetica. Although these faces are not ornamental, they certainly are unique in their ability to serve in so many contexts. That’s design excellence. If you can achieve a neutrality and design excellence in this new font format I think your thesis will be a huge success and could garner much publicity.