When thinking of Taiwan, people often think of the nation’s gastronomic industry. Few, outside of those seeking to learn the Chinese language, remember that Taiwan is the only nation in the world that still uses traditional Chinese characters.
In the hope of drawing more attention to traditional Chinese characters, the JustFont group on Tuesday started a fundraiser to design a new font for the traditional block Mandarin characters called the Jinshuan (金萱) style.
JustFont had raised NT$21 million (US$642,000) as of 8pm yesterday.
Photo: CNA
The campaign raised its target of NT$1.5 million within an hour of its announcement on Tuesday, JustFont co-founder Su Wei-hsiang (蘇煒翔) said, adding that he was flattered by the support.
“The goal for this fundraiser is to develop a style that is uniquely Taiwanese,” he added.
Founded in 2012 as a Chinese cloud-top font service devoted to design and development of Chinese font types and styles, the group said it hopes the Jinshuan font would be widely used after its initial exposure.
“Font types need to be exposed and we hope that this campaign will bring sufficient attention to Taiwan’s font industry,” Su said, adding that font designers contribute to everyday life, but are often overlooked.
Jinshuan style was named after Jinshuan tea. The font style is a mix of Ming style and sans serif-style, and because Jinshuan is a mix of fermented and unfermented teas that is where the name came from, Su said.
Jinshuan style contains the base of Ming style, but also the simplicity and strength of sans-serif font, Su said, adding that it could be widely applied to cartoons that aim to have a more literary air or are lighthearted in nature.
According to Su, the starting cost to develop a new style is about NT$1.5 million, the original target set for JustFont fundraising, adding that the group would look to develop more Chinese fonts.
JustFont co-founder Yeh Chun-lin (葉俊麟) said that font design does not usually make money and there is a distinct lack of investors, adding that the organization has made clear to supporters that the company would shoulder some of the costs and all money raised would be used on the project.
The project hopes to introduce the Jinshuan font by August next year and is to continue to develop the typeface, releasing alternate versions in 2017 and 2018 respectively, Yeh said.
As for the font’s departure from the Ministry of Education’s standard, Su said that the standard was education-centric and might not be suitable for printing, as it would interfere with font aesthetics.
Taiwanese singer Rene Liu (劉若英) has featured a pre-release of the font type on the cover of her up-coming album, which is slated for release on Sept. 22.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost