Designer on quest to lead visual revolution with Chinese style characters
Global Times
1523658342000

Ye Tianyu (Photo: Ye Tianyu)

Post-90s designer Ye Tianyu has always had a keen interest in reviving classical Chinese culture, and now he's using that passion to address the dearth of digital Chinese types by creating a high-value digital character bank.

Over the past 18 months, Ye has designed 13,982 characters packaged into two types of Chinese font in different styles - classic and sporty- for personal use. The classic design won him the Special Mention Prize at the 2016 Granshan Competition, a renowned international type design competition.  

After working around 14 hours every day for the last two years, Ye launched his products for only 99 yuan ($15.77) for indefinite use - a wallet-friendly price for those unable to afford the typefaces developed by the industry's leading companies.

Passionate about promoting China and the origin of Chinese characters, Ye was determined to become a leading player in the typeface-design industry. 

"I'm determined to change the face of shop signboards along Chinese streets. The younger generation usually complains that these signboards have failed to inherit the true aesthetics of Chinese writing," Ye declared.

"There are thousands of typeface designs for Chinese characters designed in Japan in the computer system, but those designed in China are only a few hundred."

While his peers are going out to party in the evenings, Ye's only dates for the past few months have been with his "characters."

Ye's story and efforts even got the thumbs up from the Communist Youth League of China, setting him as an example to motivate the younger generation.