這樣也可以？！漢字視覺實驗展 Experimental type in Chinese exhibition

在不只是圖書館入口處的地方，小小的長方形空間擺著一張桌子，三面牆上掛著用中文字排成的實驗性畫面展板，每一個展板的都像是一個故事，將觀眾的注意力吸進無止盡的畫面衝擊感中。看似狹小的空間，卻是充滿動態跟能量的展場。

這個由Circle設計雜誌、Not Just Library主辦的展覽，以Emil Ruder這位瑞士國際主義先驅所研究之歐文字體編排理論出發，特別針對 Typography 這本書內容以12項討論方向做漢字設計的實驗。Circle雜誌一直都是我非常喜歡的設計雜誌，第一次購買時是他們出資訊圖像化的專題（準確名稱有點忘記了），還有字體的魔鬼細節，都是我在還沒正式進入設計學習前的催化劑；這次以Emil Ruder字體實驗為題，的確非常有趣，我想設置這展覽有一大部分的目的是向這位大師致敬吧。

Emil Ruder是國際主義的重要人物。這裡的國際主義的概念是指承接了現代主義巔峰，以「國際通行性」、「標準、規格化」為主要目標，以威爾姆以及包浩斯學校為兩大派別，此兩所學校可以說是以教育學領域的觀點切入國際主義概念最佳例子。而Emil Ruder特別強調空白之於畫面節奏的關聯，影響了往後瑞士的設計師們，例如之前提到的 Lars Müller，在現代主義的影響下，他特別重視畫面中的「空氣感」。（詳見野生的Lars Müller）而字體在畫面中的可讀性也是Emil Ruder在實驗字體之餘不忘強調的重點。

總體而言，我們所說「瑞士設計」，不外乎是以下這幾個特色：齊左排、不對稱欄位、網格、無襯線字體，另外在此風氣下的「閱讀性」更是被大師強調，要如何看得快、資訊清楚、看起來舒服，從以上幾點我們可以看出瑞士設計可謂國際主義的中心觀點之一。

字體是一門大學問。不只是留白空間，粗細與大小控制著畫面的灰度，並給予畫面的深淺；在講座上，講者提到，檢驗灰度可以用「瞇著眼睛看」的方式找到。以其中「韻律」跟「動線」兩個方向切入為例來討論，字跟字的編排，將會跟方塊排列的效果相仿，也就是說，字體編排就像在設計不同灰度的色塊，而字體如何帶動視覺動線，我們叫做「字塊」，字塊孰重孰輕則會根據字體本身粗細、大小而有所變化及做不同的處理：同樣字重normal的8級字跟82級字，8級字的字腔較為緊密，整體空間小，可能是作為畫面中較不重要之資訊；而82級的則讓容易聚集第一眼的注意力，字腔可以感受到空氣在流竄其中，因此，若是同樣82級這樣的大小，有一個以上的漢字並列（例如標題），則需要留有更多空隙讓觀者可以呼吸、消化此資訊。

歐文屬於外來語，非大眾最熟悉的語言，但因為許多設計概念多學習西方理論為標準，讓我們對於歐文反覺得親近，也時常為了平衡畫面而加入意義極小的歐文字串。但回到設計理論中的內容(content)，畫面中的元素都應該是要有充足的理由才被選擇置入，就像在工作坊時，洋蔥設計負責人黃家賢在critic的時候問了我某個元素放在哪裡有沒有理由？或者是你用這樣的粗細、大小的意義何在？是為了強調？是閱讀動線？他提醒了我設計要時時回頭看並檢視content，不要被形式而有所框架。

比起歐文，中文在設計上的應用似乎稍微缺少了一些準則，而西方用羅馬字母所發展出的設計法則卻無法完全套用以方塊為單位的中文字型。這次展覽Circle以實際操作中文版的Emil Ruder字體實驗，除了證明在Typography一書裡的原則外，更是發掘了中文字在畫面中的可能性。

In the front space of Not Just Library, there is a long table sitting on the ground within the narrow open space. Three walls are hanging works of experimenting Chinese characters with the method of Emil Ruder. Each work tells a specific story, which pulls people into the dynamic feeling that it creates. The space is filled with the energy of creating.

Held by Circle Magazine and Not Just Library, the exhibition extracts one of the theories that Emil Ruder, the pioneer of International Typographic Style, wrote considering typography rules, and specifically showcases the 12 principles from the book Typography. Circle Magazine has always been one of my favorite readings. This time, Circle Magazine themed at the type experiment from Emil Ruder, which is surely an interesting idea. I guess the tribute is there.

Emil Ruder is one of the most important roles when it comes to the Swiss Style, also known as the International Typographic style. It is also highly concentrating on the negative spaces within a canvas, which influences Swiss designers greatly under the trend of modernism, Lars Müller, who we discussed in our previous post is a great example.(see our previous blog From the Wild Lars Müller)Swiss style holds on to the peak of Modernism, and is aimed at the universality and standardization in design, which is divided into two main streams to ULM School of Design and Bauhaus respectively.

They are the best examples regarding how Swiss Typographic Style emphasizes the aspect of education.The emphasis in negative spaces also influenced designers believing in and learning such method.

Overall, the style contains no more than the following characteristics: Align Left, Asymmetry, Grids, and Sans Serif. Other than that, the readability and legibility is also two of the core elements in Swiss Style.

Roman alphabets are foreign systems for Taiwanese people. However, because the typography theories and systems are more sound and well-equipped in western countries, it has become closer to design learners in Taiwan. Therefore, we often add some short Roman words or sentences just to balance the whole picture. Going back to the CONTENT we learned in design theories, however, we are acknowledged that every element should be appeared for its right reasons: Why the font size? For emphasizing the information? Or for the good reading flow? We should always look back and examine the content and not being abducted by form.

Compared to Roman system, Chinese characters seems like the principles are in vague. The typographic theories, however, couldn’t fully apply to the squared characters. The Chinese experiment conducted in the exhibition not only proves Emil Ruder’s principles in Typography, but discover more potentials within a frame.

Stop Stealing Sheep & find out how type works

::: 設計閱讀計畫 ::: Design Reads :::

Stop Stealing Sheep & find out how type works

從英文字母形體的觀察到考量其在段落中的可讀性皆敘述詳盡。假如你的工作幾乎每天都會用到文字排版，特別是歐文排版，那你一定不能錯過這本書！假如你已經有幾年的排版經驗，那這本書將成為你很好的檢視跟借鏡！

From detailed observing in shapes of alphabets of various types to the flow of legibility in either paragraphs or just a line of words.
If you, in any ways, are using typography in your daily lives(at work or just interested), definitely cannot miss this book. Highly recommended.

–

建議購買處（全球免運費）

Suggested purchase point:

https://www.bookdepository.com/Stop-Stealing-Sheep-Find-Out-How-Type-Works-E-M-Ginger/9780201703399?ref=grid-view&qid=1532178547785&sr=1-1

教科書可以有多美 The most beautiful Textbook in the World

在展場周圍，像是戴著紅色泳帽的藍色呼嚕呼嚕怪獸潛伏在周圍。它像是一個得以自由出入於水坑的變形生物，埋伏在我們的世界裡，默默控管著時間的推移與人們的生活

教育似乎就是如此，在淺移默化中形塑出如今的社會。

世界最美的教科書是哪裡的書呢？

回頭想想，或許太習慣，抑或太遲鈍，在受教育當下的我們的確不太注意到書的美醜。教育除了將知識傳遞到年輕的族群外，「如何做」以及「為什麼做」更是應該要被廣泛討論的事情之二。這跟我們所知道的設計思考大同小異：先決定內容的詮釋，再決定如何呈現。以這次展覽內容舉例，日本的教育極度倡導「終身學習」──這個概念應用之年齡範圍較為廣泛，若應用在書系上，其設計應避免掉特別擄獲某一族群的元素，而採用通用之設計，例如考量明確、簡單之風格、字體大小、內容規劃等等。有了以上的思考，交予適合的執行團隊，到了觀眾手上，才更能符合使用者需求，並有機會被歸類為「美」的教科書了。

以「學制與其內容」這個大方向來看，小學至高中的內容皆由少變多，尤其高中內容有突然爆量的狀況，而這當然也能在這次展出的日本書中看見。但話說回來，為什麼大方向不變，日本跟台灣的狀況卻有所不同呢？為什麼他們的教科書比較美？其中關鍵是資訊設計的著重與否。

資訊量爆炸、版面大小有限這狀況，對圖文編排確實為極大的挑戰之一。以下列舉三點觀察到之基本教科書編排原則：首先，如何決定單行字數多寡？一行太多字，學生閱讀疲乏，太少反而發散注意力；再來是如何調和來源不同之圖片，或許從色彩去調整，則考慮以相近色系為並排元素，也或許從統一尺寸大小下手，主要目的為避免圖片之間讓閱讀分心；最後，如何融合圖文內容並作合宜的配置，如同以下擷取其中一本高中歷史課本內頁，適當的照片組合方式將能把對立、合作等等的課文烙印在學生腦海中。

其實新一代的台灣人非常幸運，有一群美感教科書的團隊，注意到了一些問題，知道教科書美化的必要性，正在為之後入學的種子準備肥美的土壤。或許，「教科書如果可以好看一點，那該有多好！」的想法，也會如種子般散佈在台灣的土地上，提醒大眾設計的必要性吧。

On the windows surrounding the exhibition area, a blueish monster-like creature is hiding beneath. It makes its way through all kinds of ponds freely, and controls time and the lives of human beings.

It seems like education is all about this that cultivates and forms today’s society.

Where do the most beautiful textbooks come from?
Besides the goal of bringing knowledge to the youngsters, educators should also consider the How and Why before putting into production. For example, a series of books were categorized as lifelong learning by Japan government, which contains crafts, housing, marriage, and so on. It is designed with no tendency towards any audience; overall, the design is elegant, clean, and can be added for more categories without losing its style.

In terms of the content, it goes without saying that it grows over time, especially in high school, when the content tripled all of a sudden, which can also be observed in the textbooks from Japan. But what makes the difference? Why is Japan considered outstanding? The vital reason should be the information design. Under such circumstance of huge volume of information, from deciding the length of the texts to combine photos extracted from different sources, the layout becomes way more difficult.

I couldn’t envy more of the new generation in Taiwan. A group of people are now dedicating themselves to the improvements of textbooks, including not just the content but design. It is my sincerest hope that questions such as “wouldn’t it be great if our textbooks are beautiful?’’ can be asked from every one of us.

野生的Lars Müller / From the Wild. Lars Müller

誠品信義店是我很愛去的一間書店之一，開闊的環境讓人迷失其中，卻又欣喜若狂，使我迷失在書的世界。約莫幾個禮拜我寫了一篇文章，有關於這次紙間現實的工作坊、講座、與讓我流連三次仍然嫌不夠的展覽。

展覽的數量當然值得提一下，但僅止於此，展覽的質量才是應該關注的地方。以下請允許我挑出幾本穆勒先生在工作坊有跟我討論到的，以及本人私愛的幾本書。

The Face of Human Rights

這本書是我在工作坊裡隨機從白色書車上拉出的一本書，殊不知Müller先生就剛好看到，說這是個great choice，因為他做這個書封做了好幾年。此書內容為針對不同種類的人權分篇章敘述探討，書中充滿各種相關圖片，與說明文字並列之。出版一本書，出版社與書籍設計師的觀點一定有所差異，例如像這樣充滿圖片的書籍，設計師反傾向不特意挑選其中一張照片作為封面選照，然而出版社則認為圖片更能吸引購買。設計師不選擇圖片的原因有很多，純粹以字體便能承載整本書的論調為其一，另外便是若單純應用字體呈現，將可以為這本書帶來更廣闊的閱讀群眾，因為圖片會容易讓愛好特定技藝、專業等的人群自動分類，只挑自己有興趣的書翻閱──這樣的選擇只純粹透過他/她看見的封面，而不是書裡的內容。我相信目前線上有名的設計師都是擁有跳出框架的勇氣，越跳越能以大家一看便會驚嘆並同感的面貌見世，也會為整本書做出最好的註解。

Helvetica: Homage to a Typeface (Paperback)

一直以來，Helvetica都是設計圈裡呼聲有高有低的瑞士字體家族。我個人非常喜愛，相信穆勒先生也是很愛，愛到出了這本主要以收集街道應用Helvetica的景觀之書（另還有Helvetica Forever: Story of a Typeface，將帶入更多Helvetica的What跟How）。光是愛好者就應該收藏這本書，封面的顏色搭配是瑞士各種文化元素融合的街頭招牌，從小貼紙、地鐵指標、乃至參差不齊的雜誌封面都可以看見Helvetica的身影。Helvetica或是所有的字體，最大的特點是都有一個迷思：並不是太多、太氾濫而不好，而是設計使用之處不對了，才是不好。

從這次Lars Müller帶來誠品展出的100多本書中，我們看見字體在他的工作室佔有不可忽視的份量；只用字體來形塑封面，看似簡單，但卻是字體本身的結構跟設計師的選擇；元素越少、畫面越乾淨，細節更是重點，不容有任何缺失；以這樣的標準，設計師必須秉持極敏銳的思維與對細心的偏執做設計，Müller正是個完美例子。雖然接受西方現代主義的影響，但他亦多方接觸不同文化種子，例如他對原研哉的「刻意留白」就充滿興趣；我還記得他看了我的設計，突然就講起原研哉的一本書，雙手在空中遊動，聲音跟著手高低起伏，告訴我留白與呼吸之於人體視覺經驗的關聯。這是他身為設計師的一面，至於身兼出版社老闆的那面，似乎常常被設計師的那個自我所說服，而自我問答的過程，塑造了Lars Müller Publishers令人尊敬的形象。

16歲那年被踢出家門之後，他決心不要在有上司的環境裡工作，即使不得不為了這個原則付出更多心力以平衡收支，一路艱難坎坷，仍然值得。他告訴年輕設計師們，要培養對外界說no的能力，並且在這個科技不斷更新的世代裡找到自己的核心能力。Herr Müller的設計態度的確是值得年輕設計師們學習；即使瑞士跟臺灣的設計環境不同，若設計心態正確，相信境遇將會有所改變。

Herr Müller就像是在瑞士流浪過的設計師，外表內斂儒雅，行為溫柔敦厚，卻擁有帶有野生的能量，不斷透過設計或教育，為信念發聲，也為整個世代留下烙印。

From the Wild. Lars Müller —Eslite Bookstore Exhibition: Analogue Reality

Few weeks ago, I wrote an article about the experience of the workshop and speech given by Lars Müller during the exhibition period. The amount of books Herr Müller brought for the EXPO surely is worth mentioning, but the quality and delicacy of them are what matter the most. I’d like to brief some of the showcases below:

The Face of Human Rights

I randomly pulled out the book on a pure white shelf during the workshop. Didn’t know Herr Müller was standing just besides me, I was astonished hearing he said this a great choice. The process of making the cover took him years of consideration. One of the reasons was that the publisher often made different decisions from designers: in such book full of pictures, the publisher prefer choosing one of them and make it the main cover, mostly for marketing strategy; however, designer might consider the opposite, pure typography might bring out the best of its essence, and maybe attract audiences from different groups.

Helvetica: Homage to a Typeface (Paperback)

For decades, Helvetica has been one of the most widely-discussed typeface. Well I’m a big fan, and I believe Herr Müller is a huge one, so that he wrote and published this book.(There is another one called Helvetica Forever:Story of a Typeface is book, which aim at the What and How of Helvetica, I’m still on it, will share some thought soon afterwards) The book is covered with Swiss red and an capital H, and it collects all kinds of media with Helvetica printed on, from signages to magazines. For all types, there is no such thing called an awful type because of the prevalence but the misuse of each.

From the books exhibited during this event, we can see the amount that typography has in their design. Pure typography looks simple, however, what makes it hard depends on the graphic choices that designer has to make: the less the elements there are, the more details matter. Under such criteria, designers must be extremely sensitive to all details. Herr Müller is the perfect example. Besides having western design training, he gets in touch with different cultures. That time when he looked at my ongoing work, he talked to me about Kenya HARA’s idea of negative spaces with his hands waving in the air. That is how he taught me the relationship between negative spaces and breathing towards human senses, especially visually.

After his 16th birthday, he had decided not to work under any supervisor, which resulted in hardships when it comes to making both ends meet. Nevertheless, he said it was definitely worth it. The ability of saying no to the world and finding one’s core ability couldn’t be understated. Herr Müller’s is surely a model worth learning from.

Herr Müller is like a designer who had seen the goods and bads, looking elegant and mild, possessing the wild energy that makes it ways through design and education.

Lars Müller
Lars Müller Publishers創辦及負責人，書籍及平面設計師、前AGI(國際平面設計聯盟)主席、並受教於瑞士設計大師Josef Müller-Brockmann，益師益友。曾出版瑞士字體家族中Helvetica的相關書籍。近年致力於設計教育，於歐洲及世界各地巡迴演講。