Part 0. Designer Introduction
Q. Hello, designer Noh Eun-yu, please introduce yourself briefly!
Hello. I'm font designer Noh Eun-yu. I run the font design studio 'NohType' and teach typography at a university.
Q. You're active in a wide range of areas, from font design to font education. Was there any particular reason you started font design initially?
When I first entered university, I took a class called 'Typography' and became interested in the work of meticulously and seriously crafting letters. As I joined a club called the 'Korean Font Research Society', I gradually became immersed in the charm of fonts.
The Korean Font Research Society is a club formed by students of the Visual Design Department at Hongik University. Students gathered to study fonts, create fonts using Fontographer, and hold exhibitions of their work. We also interacted with similar typography clubs from other universities. When I joined, it happened to be the club's 10th anniversary, so we held an exhibition together with the alumni members. That's when I first met senior designers like Lee Yong-hee, Park Woo-hyuk, and others. Lee Yong-hee has been my mentor since then until now.
Q. Could you introduce NohType with some key words?
The goal is to create 'sparkling and lustrous' fonts through long contemplation, polishing, and dedication.
Q. [Balance Game] If you had to choose between using only the fonts you created for life or only fonts created by others, which would you pick?
I'd choose the first option. If I could only use fonts I created, I think I'd work harder to make them.
Part 1. Introducing the 'Optique' Font
Q. I'm curious about how 'Normal Batang' started.
Q. I'm curious about how 'Optique' started. It began as my graduation project at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague during my studies in the Netherlands. The original requirement was to develop a 'Latin' font, but to play to my strengths, I also created a 'Hangeul' (Korean alphabet) font. One of the reasons I decided to study abroad was because I wanted to create a well-matched Latin font for the Hangeul fonts I had made.
'Optique Display'
Q. So 'Optique' started as your graduation project. Why did you name it 'Optique'?
Optique' is French for 'visual'. I named it this way because the Optique font family is divided into 'Display' (for titles) and 'Text' (for body text) styles based on the visual size.
Since Korean fonts often have diverse weight families, I wanted to create a new style of font family. Before making Optique, I had an assignment to revive the Caslon typeface in Paul van der Laan's class. Looking at the Caslon specimen book, I noticed that even though they were all called 'Caslon', the alphabet shapes differed depending on the point size used, since back then font sizes couldn't be freely adjusted like today's fonts. I realized the Latin font industry already had size-specific font families like Matthew Carter's Miller and Sitka. So I sketched out the Optique font family with the idea of creating a similar size-based family for Hangeul. That's why the 'Optique Text' still needs to be made to complete this project. I'm diligently working on Optique Text, so please look forward to an update next year.
「옵티크 (Optique)」는 프랑스어로 ‘시각적’이라는 의미입니다. 이름을 이렇게 지은 이유는 「옵티크」의 글자가족이 시각적 크기에 따라 ‘Display(제목용)’과 ‘Text(본문용)’으로 나누어지기 때문입니다.
William Caslon I’s 1734 Specimen Sheet
From top: 'Optique Display Bold', 'Optique Display Regular', 'Optique Text'
'Optique' Font Family & Symbols
Q. With that background story, it sounds even more interesting. So what are the key features of 'Optique'?
For the Latin part of Optique, I designed it based on a 'broad nib' pen, so I contemplated whether to use the same writing tool, a pen, for the Hangeul part as well. However, since I wasn't very familiar with using a pen, it was difficult for me to draw nice Hangeul forms with it. Instead, I used a 'brush', which was an ancient Korean writing tool. But rather than making it look old-fashioned, I wanted to express brush-based forms in a sharp and elegant way.
'Optique' Latin Alphabet Broad Nib Sketches
'Optique' Latin Alphabet & Hangeul Sketches
'Optique' Latin Alphabet Sketching Process
Q. What was the most challenging or area you focused on the most during the design process?
The harmony between Hangeul and the Latin alphabet. I wanted both scripts to look beautiful without sacrificing one for the other's sake. And for punctuation marks like quotation marks, periods, and commas, if I sized them for Hangeul, they looked too small for Latin text, and if I sized them for Latin, they looked too big and positioned awkwardly for Hangeul. To solve this, I used the OpenType feature to have appropriate punctuation marks appear based on the language setting.
'Optique' Punctuation by Language
Q. How would you recommend using 'Optique'?
The currently released Optique is the 'Display' version. Some may not be familiar with the term 'Display' yet, but it means it's intended for larger title usage. So I'd recommend using it at a generous size. I've also found it works really well with premium finishing techniques like hot-stamping, blind embossing, and letterpress printing.
'Optique' Font in Use
Q. Could you introduce any other fonts as well?
'Climate Crisis-Hangeul' is a cool font I made to raise awareness about the severity of the climate crisis. It expresses the shape of melting glaciers with a unique expression. It's a free font, so download it right away. It's also available on Cloudary.
'Climate Crisis-Hangeul'
'Soribody' is a geometric, modern text font. It has hidden multi-glyphs for transcribing foreign language sounds. It's a font that can add a modern vibe to any design, so please check it out.
'Soribody'
Part 2. Designer's Thoughts
Q. What makes a good font?
Fundamentally, it needs to be well-refined and have a high level of completion, but those are basic requirements for any font. In my opinion, a good font truly shines when it's used appropriately for its intended purpose. Even a great font can look bad if it's used in an unsuitable context. For example, when the iPhone first launched in Korea, it used a replica version of the SM font designed by Choi Jeong-ho called Apple Gothic as the default font. But at the time, there were reviews that it lacked readability on the iPhone screen. No matter how great the font, it was originally designed for print on paper, so it wasn't suitable for screens. Ultimately, what makes a 'good font' goes beyond the font designer's role - it's completed when the user applies it appropriately.
Q. Then what do you think is needed to become a font designer? Do you have any advice for fellow or aspiring designers?
I think there are people who simply enjoy making fonts. If you can find that enjoyment, that may be enough. Rather than advising others, I'd like to discuss fonts more with my fellow and junior designers. What I envied most from experiencing the overseas font design industry and academia was how active the exchange of information was among them. I was really happy to see similar opportunities for exchange emerging in Korea, such as the recent Sandol x Glyphs Workshop 2022 and AGTC 2022 conference. Although my MBTI starts with 'I' so I'm not very outgoing, I'm trying my best, so please feel free to approach me!
Q. As a font designer, is there anything you hope for?
In the past, I just wished people would acknowledge that there are people who make fonts. When I introduced myself as a 'font designer' or 'Hangeul designer', many didn't quite understand what that job entailed. Some would say, "Aren't fonts pre-installed on computers?" or "Didn't King Sejong already create Hangeul?" Compared to that, it seems like people are more interested in fonts these days.
Nowadays, what I hope for is to communicate more with graphic designers, who are essentially the professional users of fonts. We work in very closely related fields and have a shared interest, but the communication isn't as smooth as you'd expect. Graphic designers seem to have questions and thoughts about the fonts they work with, but unless you're close friends, it's not easy to hear them out.
Q. Could you share your future font production plans?
I've been busy doing various things like publishing the book 'Glyphs Type Design' together with designer Ham Min-ju, giving lectures and talks. For the time being, I want to immerse myself in font work by sitting diligently at my desk. Next year, I plan to showcase the 'Optique Text' version for body text to accompany Optique. I may also expand the Optique family with additional styles. Recently, I slightly modified Optique to create a logotype for the drama 'Little Women', and I've received feedback that it would be great to make that version into a font as well. My long-term goal is to continue writing books and research while also creating new fonts.
tvN 'Little Women' Logotype
Part 3. Joining Sandoll Cloud
Q. Could you share the reason you chose Sandoll Cloud and a comment?
I've always been interested in distributing through a cloud service. One day, a designer friend of mine said they preferred using Sandoll Cloud's fonts within their company, so I decided I really wanted to join.
Q. Could you leave a comment for customers welcoming NohType's addition?
Although at a slow pace, I will continue to diligently create sparkling, brilliant fonts. Please look forward to them.