Dry goods | After reading this article, do you still dare to say that you don’t understand bold characters?

Author: Ruby Transfer from: justfont

HeiTi can be said to be the most "everyday" font. In a day's life, it is often seen in app buttons on mobile phone screens, web articles, book titles, magazine content, etc. This font, which is so familiar to everyone, seems plain but not simple. In fact, it has quite a lot of modeling details, which is worth appreciating and savoring.

This article will be divided into two parts. First, it will lead you to know the black body, learn to recognize the style, and understand the difference between it and Owen sans serif. Secondly, I will tell you how to appreciate the structure and modeling details of different black bodies, and understand the differences in style and use. I hope that after reading this article, in the face of about 50 kinds of black fonts in the Chinese and Japanese market, everyone can choose the most suitable font!

Know black body

What is a blackbody?

Now let's meet Blackbody! For the general public, it can be described as follows: "Writing with a pencil or pen, the thin lines are the skeleton of the text. And the black body is to grow flesh from the skeleton, thicken the thin lines until all strokes become thick and thin Consistent." The vernacular version is: "It looks like a character written with a flat-headed fluorescent pen or a watercolor pen, and the strokes are consistent in thickness. Keep all stroke shapes consistent with the visual thickness, and the starting and ending strokes are cut flat font styles." By the way, change "cut flat" to "close round", which is a round body!

From the bone to the flesh, keep the thickness of the lines consistent, start and finish the pen and cut it flat, it is a black body.

Have you discovered the important characteristics of the black body? It is "consistent in thickness". This is related to writing tools. Most Chinese fonts use a brush to define the shape of the strokes. The different strengths of handwriting will naturally make the thickness of the strokes vary. The black body is based on the flat-tip pen, so there is almost no change in thickness.

The choice of writing tools, such as brushes or flat-tip pens, will have an impact on the characteristics of strokes!

Chinese bold ≠ Owen sans serif

This is reminiscent of the Owen letter design. Yes, the design of the black body is influenced by the western sans serif (sans serif), which is a very modern and concise font. However, it should be noted that many people say that "Chinese black body is a sans-serif body, and Ming body is a serif body." This analogy is actually not appropriate. To be correct, "serif" is a proper noun for European fonts, and Chinese fonts do not have a direct corresponding name. It is the shape created at the beginning of the pen with a flat-tip pen and brush handling skills when writing Owen calligraphy. In Chinese calligraphy using a brush, the special shape at the beginning of the brush can be called "the shape of the brush". Therefore, stop referring to Chinese boldface and Owen sans-serif as interchangeable, this is wrong.

Shaping details - the key to the style and use of black body!

Next, try to appreciate different styles of black body! First of all, I saw the word "Yong" in three sets of boldface. A is "Adobe Traditional Black" (Adobe software will be included), B is "Lanting Black", and C is "Toppan Bunkyu Gothic (Toppan Wenjiu Black)". Look carefully, then I will ask two questions!

A: "Adobe Traditional Black Body", B: "Lanting Black", C: "Toppan Bunkyu Gothic (Toppan Wenjiu Black Body)" Are they very different?

Question 1: Which font has the most different "skeleton"?

The answer is A. Its biggest difference lies in the separation of the last two strokes - the stroke at the top right and the last stroke. In addition, many strokes of A are deliberately elongated, such as the top dot and the second horizontal stroke. The reason for this design is to let the skeleton of the characters fill the space, which is the so-called big character cavity

Among the three sets of boldfaces, "Adobe Fantastic Blackbody" (A) has the most special skeleton. It adopts a large-character cavity design, deliberately elongates the strokes, and separates the last two strokes.

Replacing the word "Yong" with the character "Dong", it is more obvious that A is a big-character cavity. After covering the cavity range of "Tian" with different colors, the difference in size can be eliminated immediately: A>B>C.

After color registration, the difference in cavity size can be clearly seen: A>B>C.

The accent will affect the perception. The strokes of A with a large accent almost fill the entire text. The square structure brings a sense of stability, but it is also a bit dull; while the C with a small accent, "East" The outline of "has changed, and the narrowed "field" in the middle is more like a human waist, giving people a graceful and vivid impression, which makes people focus their eyes and look energetic. When observing any font, you can start by paying attention to the skeleton, outline, and cavity!

Question 2: Which font has the greatest difference in "stroke shape"?

The answer is C. C stands out at the turning point and the beginning of the stroke. As mentioned earlier, the Chinese black body has "serif details" similar to "serif". The so-called stuttering details can be explained by the font of "游ゴシック", which is a set of quite beautiful and practical black fonts, which are built-in on both Mac and Windows 8.0 and above:

"游ゴシック", a beautiful and practical black body, built-in for Mac and Windows 8.0 and above!

You ゴシック has the most natural brush shape, add a dotted line at the beginning of the brush, and you will find that the outline looks like a brush. I believe it must be familiar to those who have learned calligraphy. As long as you press down a little when you start the pen, you will have such a shape. Many people often have stereotypes of modern, digital, stiff, and impersonal, but in fact, some strokes of black body are also integrated with calligraphy strokes, with soft and graceful shape details!

The starting point of "You ゴシック" incorporates the rhyme of brush calligraphy and soft and graceful modeling details.

Appreciation of the details of the black body shape: "starting the pen"

In addition to Yugothic, there are two other sets of boldfaces listed. The picture below is from left to right, in order: "Yougothic", "Otsuka Gothic", and "MS Gothic". The Otsuka black body in the middle starts with a spike shape, like an Owen serif written with a flat-tip pen, and the MS black body on the right is rounded.

Observing the black body, you can pay attention to the beginning of the pen, like the Otsuka black body in the middle, the starting pen is in the shape of a spike, and the MS black body on the right is rounded.

In addition to the shape of the pen, there is another subtle difference in the beginning of the pen. Going back to the three sets of fonts A, B, and C, if you zoom in, you will find that A and B are both square, but the shape of C starts from wide and gradually narrows. Because it looks like a trumpet, it is called "bell mouth". In the era of lead printing, this was used to make the printed characters stable and clear. However, in the modern era of computer screen display and high-resolution output, the bell mouth becomes a modeling detail, and the curvature and strength of the lines change, adding beauty and charm to the font.

Among the three sets of boldfaces, "Toppan Bunkyu Gothic" (C) has the most special stroke shape, such as the "flare mouth" design at the beginning of the pen.

Appreciation of the details of the black body shape: "turning" and "finishing"

In addition to starting the pen, you can also pay attention to the turning point and ending. The characteristics of different black bodies can be clearly seen from the turning point. Like the horizontal stroke "フ", the handling of the three is very different, A is a cut corner, B is a right angle, and C is very similar to the return front of a brush.

When observing the black body, you can also pay attention to the turning point: A is a cut corner, B is a right angle, and C is similar to the return of a brush.

The handling of turning will affect the sense of speed. Like A, there is a sense of fast pen movement; C is to lift the pen carefully, return to the front, and then turn again, and the slow speed also has the most writing feeling; B is like a building block. The combination is a rigid design that removes human taste. In addition, the shape design of the turning point will also allow the viewer to inadvertently try to figure out the writing trajectory of the characters. The following is an attempt to draw the trajectory of the pen in different boldfaces. By observing the details, it will be found that it affects the font style: such as "light vs steady ", "Mechanical vs. Humanities" or "Classic vs. Modern" is the key!

The turning will affect the sense of speed. Try to draw the trajectory of the pen in different black bodies, and you will find that it is the key to affecting the style of the font!

Example: How to analyze black body in detail?

The following is a summary and review of two sets of boldfaces, so that everyone can learn how to analyze boldfaces and make judgments when choosing them. When analyzing, you can first fix the character size and put it into the character body box, which will help us effectively judge the overall outline of the character. For example, the black body on the left fills the box more than the right one, so we know that its cavity should be larger. The cavity on the right is smaller.

When analyzing a boldface, you can first fix the font size and put it into the font box. The overall outline of the character can help to estimate the size of the cavity, for example, the cavity on the left should be larger.

The first step in observing a black body is to look at the skeleton, outline, and cavity size, and then try to feel the influence of the cavity. Fonts with large cavity are more modern and design, and the typesetting effect is solid and firm, even a little stiff and lacking in personality. However, because the distance between each stroke is large, the font size will not affect the clarity. It can be used as large as signboards and station indicators, as small as enterprise standard characters and logotype. Characters with small accents have a more rhythmic outline, and the outward and inward structure not only makes it look more cohesive, but is also similar to the aesthetics of traditional Chinese calligraphy. The effect after typesetting is more rhythmic. Also more breathable.

Try arranging two kinds of boldfaces. Is the "MRT City Hall Station" on the top clearer, and is it a familiar MRT station indicator?

Then enter the second step of observing the black body, pay attention to the details of the beginning, turning and ending of each stroke. Take the picture below as an example. It can be seen that the shape on the left is simple, the starting stroke is smooth, the ending has no hooks, and the turning point is not deliberately created. On the other hand, the strokes on the right are full of changes, with pauses and flares at the beginning, upward curves at the end, and a sense of movement at the turning points.

Pay attention to the beginning, turning and ending, which is the second step in observing the black body. The shape on the left is simple and straight, while the one on the right is full of details and changes.

Stroke detail design will affect the typography effect. Words with few details are stiff and modern, suitable for presenting "information" and used in technology-related occasions. Characters rich in details are softer and have a classical charm, suitable for literature or occasions where you want to create a special atmosphere.

Try arranging two kinds of black bodies. Does the "Defense Against the Dark Arts" below make people more integrated into the magical atmosphere?

Small supplement: How do you call the "Heibo" style in Japan? What to look for in the Japanese font menu?

In Japan, the "Black Body" style is called "corner ゴシック". The Japanese word "corner" is pronounced kaku, which means square. And "ゴシック" is the word Gothic, so Japan uses the square Gothic style to refer to the Chinese black body. Occasionally in the menu, Japanese characters are displayed in Roman pinyin: kaku gothic, which is the bold style of Chinese. Here is a supplement to the Japanese way of calling "round body", which is the same Gothic style, but the prefix is ​​replaced with the word "丸". Maru is pronounced maru in Japanese, which means round, so "丸ゴシック" is the circle in Chinese. body! The romanization is maru gothic.

The Japanese love abbreviations, so you must pay special attention when looking for Japanese bold and round fonts in the menu. There are three ways to omit "corner ゴシック". The first one is to leave only "ゴシック", such as the "Otsuka ゴシック" that comes with Adobe. The second is to leave "角ゴ", such as "ヒラギノ角ゴ", which is a complete set of Japanese black fonts that Mac users are familiar with. There are ten different thicknesses in total, which can meet various typesetting needs. The third method of ellipsis is the most exaggerated. Only "ゴ" is kept. The font "新ゴ" that is commonly seen on signs or posters of Japanese subway stations can be translated into new black in Chinese.

While looking for Japanese characters in bold (角ゴシック) and round (丸ゴシック), pay attention to abbreviations. For example, there are three ellipsis methods in black body, and one in round body.

The round body is much simpler. There are only complete "丸ゴシック" or "丸ゴ" with the second half omitted, and there is no other way to omit it. I believe that after reading this supplement, everyone will be able to find the Japanese bold and round fonts!