【Hotspots of Art Narratives】

　　Recently, Chen Nan's book History of Chinese Character Design won the "2022 New York TDC68 Communication Design Award" by Chen Nan, a long-term professor at the Academy of Arts and Design of Tsinghua University.

　　As a monograph that systematically studies the history of Chinese character design, "History of Chinese Character Design" separates Chinese characters from the pure fields of fine arts and philology, and forms a relatively complete research system in the dimension of design. The reader group has an important reference value.

What is the unique charm of Chinese character design?

How to do Chinese character design?

In this issue of "Art Talk Hotspots", we interviewed Professor Chen Nan to hear his research, exploration and experience on Chinese character design.

　　Reporter: Could you briefly introduce the creative background, prominent features and concept of book design of the book History of Chinese Character Design.

　　Chen Nan: Chinese characters are an important carrier of Chinese culture.

In recent years, the research and practice of Chinese character design in the academic field are very rich, but most of them focus on a specific historical period and the exegesis and textual research of specific characters, calligraphy, and single characters, or common in calligraphy art, layout design, and practical font design. , artistic word and logo design and other fields.

At present, there are few research results on Chinese character design thinking and methodology, and it is even rarer to incorporate science, technology and communication media into the research and practice of Chinese character design history. The main line of Chinese character design history system.

We have the responsibility to conduct more in-depth theoretical research on Chinese traditional culture, revitalize it and apply it to today's design practice.

"History of Chinese Character Design" came into being under the needs of such times.

　　"History of Chinese Character Design" is a monograph that systematically explains the history of Chinese character design from the dimension of design.

The book begins with the development of Chinese character design, combined with the macro perspectives of design, communication and aesthetics, through research and analysis, to explore the thinking and methods hidden behind the aesthetic and information dissemination functions of Chinese character art.

One of the highlights of the book's binding design is that the seven Chinese characters in the title are presented in seven script styles: oracle bone script, bronze script, official script, cursive script, regular script, Song script, and black script, to express the development of Chinese character fonts. It also lists its English literal translation and Chinese pinyin writing, which contrasts with the English translation of the book title, alluding to the characteristics of Chinese characters as a phonetic script.

　　Reporter: You have introduced a lot of interesting Chinese character design thinking and methodology in this book. Please combine your own design practice to talk about the basic methods and creative ideas of Chinese character design?

　　Chen Nan: Practical font library design is an important part of Chinese character design.

The practical font library includes standard printing fonts such as Song, Kai, and Hei, as well as engraved fonts derived from ancient calligraphy and inscriptions, as well as art fonts of different styles.

These fonts are widely used in printing and publishing, commercial promotion and Internet platforms. While bringing convenience and aesthetic enjoyment to people's daily life, they also greatly enhance the communication effect and artistic expression of Chinese characters themselves.

　　Designing a practical font library is a "pain and pleasure" process.

Each set of fonts contains more than 6,000 Chinese characters. In the design, we should not only pay attention to the presentation effect of each word, but also consider the overall relationship when the characters are randomly arranged into paragraphs.

In 1999, I started to design the Oracle Bone Font Library, which is a set of ancient text fonts with modern design aesthetics built on a fixed geometric grid. After repeated design adjustments, it was finally officially released online in 2017.

As a cultural communication symbol, the design of Chinese characters should not only focus on the beauty of the form, but also analyze the cultural connotation behind the form in combination with social background, human environment and other factors.

　　It is also an important branch of Chinese character design. Graphic creative Chinese character design needs to balance the relationship between character recognition and artistic creativity, and is often used in advertising posters, film and television packaging, brand logos and other fields.

As a graphic creative element, Chinese characters are allowed to be designed and processed such as stroke addition and subtraction, graphic reconstruction, etc. At the same time, attention should be paid to whether the characters can be correctly recognized.

For example, the logo of the well-known brand "Beijing Gift" launched by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism is a creative graphic reconstructed from the Chinese character "京" and the English "Beijing"; "The strokes are orderly and decoratively designed.

　　In the new era, in the face of higher-speed and massive information dissemination and new communication and interaction methods, how to inherit the context of Chinese character design and explore innovative design methods is a new topic for contemporary designers.

　　Reporter: In recent years, many art colleges have set up courses related to Chinese character design. What do you think are the characteristics and shortcomings of the current Chinese character design courses in colleges and universities?

What aspects should font designers focus on developing?

　　Chen Nan: China is a big country in design education. In addition to professional art schools, many comprehensive universities also set up art and design related majors.

Among them, the visual communication design major has developed rapidly under the influence of scientific and technological progress and media innovation, and many new research directions and topics have emerged. Design is an important basic skill.

　　In the 1950s, the design predecessors of the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts established a complete and effective font design teaching system in China, including basic font design training of standard fonts and fine art fonts, as well as logo design, advertising design, packaging design, books. Font design in professional practice such as design is still the main font design teaching mode in many colleges and universities to this day.

In recent years, there have been many experimental explorations in the teaching innovation of Chinese character design, such as pure artistic creation with Chinese characters as symbolic elements, and experimental creation integrated with the latest technology.

　　Of course, there are some deficiencies in teaching that need to be improved.

First, the theoretical study of the history of Chinese character design should be strengthened.

The lack of theoretical knowledge will lead to the exhaustion of designer's creative inspiration and the confusion of form selection, and the phenomenon of random deformation regardless of the relationship between the principle of word formation and the inheritance of Chinese characters.

Innovation cannot be at the expense of cultural heritage.

Second, the combination of theoretical study and practical training should be emphasized.

You can't learn to swim while standing on the shore. You should appropriately increase your daily calligraphy experience and actively participate in specific design work.

Third, we must balance the relationship between inheritance and innovation.

Ignoring the tradition will make the design of Chinese characters lose the soul of culture and the vitality of innovation. The design of Chinese characters should be based on tradition, but it should not stick to the rules.

Fourth, Chinese character design education also cannot ignore international exchanges.

While vigorously promoting Chinese character culture, we must also draw nutrients and inspiration from the character designs of other countries.

　　Reporter: At present, with the revival of traditional Chinese culture, Chinese character art is more and more favored by designers at home and abroad, setting off a "national boom", and many outstanding new-generation font designers have emerged.

How do you see this phenomenon?

What are the new development directions of Chinese character design in the future?

　　Chen Nan: In recent years, with China's economic development and cultural prosperity, national cultural confidence has been continuously enhanced.

I think it is a great good thing that the "national tide" is popular among the youth groups.

I remember that when I first used a computer more than 20 years ago, there were only dozens of fonts available in China. At that time, many designers liked to enlarge the English and even Pinyin letters when designing logos and posters, and try to shrink the Chinese characters as much as possible.

Today, so many young people talk about, love and design Chinese characters, which is a manifestation of the country's prosperity and national rejuvenation, and once again confirms the strong vitality of traditional Chinese culture.

　　I believe that the design of Chinese characters in the future will pay more attention to the relationship between art form and technological development.

From Chinese character expression packs based on social network communication, to Chinese character custom design and interactive works combined with artificial intelligence technology, to Chinese character art installations using technological means such as video, audio and holographic technology, the innovative development of science and technology will bring infinite possibilities for Chinese character design. possibility.

At the same time, the design of Chinese characters in the future may pay more attention to the dissemination of culture, the communication and interaction with the public, and strive to allow everyone to participate in the design of Chinese characters, which also brings new challenges to professional designers.

　　(Reporter Li Na interviewed and arranged)