Fang-ping Lin This talk arises from a recurring challenge in global type communities:
When designing across writing systems, how do we convey the beauty and complexity of a script to those who don’t read it?
As a type designer working primarily with Hanzi (Traditional Chinese), I often find that the visual values I care about—stroke dynamics, spatial rhythm, and structural balance—don’t always translate to those from different typographic cultures. When visual reference points don’t naturally align, how can we foster deeper understanding?
Rather than offering fixed answers, I aim to open a conversation about typographic empathy—how we might approach unfamiliar scripts not just functionally, but aesthetically. Through comparisons, analogies, and questions, this talk explores how Hanzi can be meaningfully communicated to Latin-alphabet readers, even without linguistic access.