TYPE DESIGN INFORMATION PAGE last updated on Tue May 14 18:07:13 EDT 2024

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ABOUT

Hisashi Iwai

Hisashi Iwai is a type designer and educator. He earned his BA and MA from Tokyo Zokei University and Aichi University of the Arts, respectively. In 2007, Iwai joined Jiyukobo Ltd., where he was involved in numerous font-development projects, including the Yu Type Library and OEM fonts. He is a visiting lecturer at Bunsei Art University and Kyoto Seika University.

Codesigner with Toshinobu Nagata of the Japanese typeface Ashitano Maru Gothic, which won an award at ProtoType in 2016.

His project Fides won the Type Design Prize in Tokyo TDC Annual Awards, 2019.

Speaker at ATypI 2019 in Tokyo on the topic of kana.

Award winner at 25 TDC in 2022 for Uwabami. He writes: Japanese texts have always been written in a vertical direction since their beginning. Uwabami follows the tradition and is designed exclusively for vertical typesetting. Each character included in Uwabami conforms to the size/proportion of the historical form of Kana and is placed in a proportional body. By designing beyond the space of the body, the neighboring characters may be overlayed by chance, which adds a distinct personality to the composition. Uwabami's character set mainly utilizes Hentaigana, kana that are marginally used today. While this renders the characters almost indecipherable to most modern people, this striking feature helps achieve a unique, archaic flair. Some characters have alternate forms that automatically switch depending on the previous characters. Uwabami is also equipped with abundant ligatures for aesthetic enhancement. These factors diversify character shapes and lead to a richer typesetting experience.

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