April 16, 2012 • Nathan Hoernig • Culture, General Design, Marketing, Typography
A common advertising strategy in Japan, handing out tissues with advertisements inside.
How This Article Came About
A few months ago, I was intrigued to hear some people’s opinions about the state of design in Japan. I posted a topic in a community with the question:
Do Japanese graphic designers have the grit to keep up with the western design sense?
I’ll be honest, I was looking for some heated and heartfelt feedback so I deliberately made the question a bit aggressive.
The perspective of that argument was based around the common notion that western design plays more with negative space, white space and simple layouts, while the Japanese style is sometimes considered more of a “what can we put here?” style. The response was outstanding and from that discussion, I realized that there are a lot of things to consider about the way we design for Japanese audiences.
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March 19, 2012 • Nathan Hoernig • General Design, Printing, Typography
The Value of Well-designed Content
One of the most important elements of design is the way its proposed to your customers. Whether that be with graphics or written copy, it’s important that your message is delivered. In your own native language, this may be quite difficult. In a foreign language (such as Japanese), this is nearly impossible.
This article will guide you through some tips about using Japanese text in your marketing and designs. We’ll highlight some important points about typography, formatting text, and creating a pleasing composition with your copy.
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August 29, 2011 • Nathan Hoernig • General Design, Typography
photo credit: ScooterZen on stock.xchng
Why does this matter to you?
Being a designer in Japan and doing a variety of work in the Japanese language, I’m constantly on the lookout for usable Japanese typefaces for my work.
If you’re like me and are trying to find reliable, flexible typefaces for your writing/creative ventures, this list of fonts will be of great value to you. It can be quite a burden to find typefaces that are exactly what you need. I’ve done all the work so why not take advantage of it?
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August 22, 2011 • Nathan Hoernig • Printing, Typography
photo credit: jonwick04 on flickr
What’s in this for you?
If you’re an English-speaking native and you’ve found yourself trying to weave the intricacies of Japanese typography, you may find yourself in over your head. How do you download and use Japanese fonts? What do the font names mean? What problems may I run into using them?
In this article, I’m going to give you a quick yet complete overview of Japanese typography and how to select the typeface that’s best for your project. Read this article before you choose a typeface so you know what you’re getting and avoid issues later.
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