Chinese characters are square characters developed from hieroglyphs, and their composition law is to form units of equal length and width according to the appropriate proportions of different strokes. This determines the qualitative difference between Chinese character font design and Western font design, not only to coordinate the visual relationship between words and words, but also to pay attention to the subtle changes in stroke thickness and stroke spacing by adjusting.
Chinese character design is not only a detailed feature of the stroke style, but also contains the most fundamental visual beauty rules of design. The essence of font design is composition, we can first put aside the literal characteristics, the font as abstract points, lines, surfaces, or squares, circles, triangles and other primitive geometric visual symbols, especially the visual beauty of the Chinese character font structure, is an exploration of the visual law based on the two-dimensional composition, is a pure formal beauty.
The experience of the formal beauty of Chinese characters, first of all, comes from the original laws of nature, such as people's long-term pursuit of symmetrical beauty and stable beauty, love of the golden ratio, etc., reflected in the font design, the exploration of the visual beauty of Chinese character design, mainly focusing on the visual balance and visual rhythm generated by the Structure of Chinese Characters.
Visual equilibrium is the formal beauty law language of composition, and the visual equilibrium in the two-dimensional visual space determines the degree of comfort brought by visual information to the viewer. The average is the average, which is reflected in the font structure, including the average of stroke thickness and the average of stroke spacing, which is the basis for font symmetry and coordination. Balance is balance, through the orderly placement and combination of font strokes to give people a balanced visual psychological feeling, this visual sense of balance, mainly from the font structure of the center of gravity position.
The visual balance of Chinese character design is mainly obtained in the following ways:
One way is to ensure the unity of stroke characteristics and structural center of gravity. When people read visual symbols of the same form, they will default to these symbols as a group, whether it is visual average or visual balance, its essence is the unity of visual elements, which emphasizes the stability of the font structure.
Different areas in the two-dimensional visual space will produce different visual weights, the upper left corner area is a space with lighter visual weight, and the lower right corner is a larger sense of visual weight, so when the stroke of the font is deliberately adjusted to the structure of the upper and lower loose, the font center of gravity line will move up as a whole, so that the text will be visually "lighter" as a whole, and if the center of gravity line of some of the words is lowered without any basis, it will make the font structure visually chaotic and break the visual balance.
Another way to obtain visual balance in Chinese character design is the unity of stroke thickness and stroke spacing, which is not an equal division in physical space, but a visual equal difference. In the design of Chinese characters, the positive and negative relationship between the stroke itself and the blank space constitutes the grayscale of the text, and different literal gray levels form different visual tensions, and different font structure changes under the same area will lead to the emergence of optical illusions, which need to be corrected by artificial illusion to achieve visual equilibrium.
Text with fewer strokes, the literal grayscale is relatively light visually, in the design, it is necessary to appropriately widen the strokes, and the text with more strokes, in order to increase the gap and leave white, it is necessary to appropriately reduce the thickness of the strokes, or simplify the structure of the strokes without affecting the text recognition.
The concept of symmetry also occupies an important position in visual equilibrium, which is the most fundamental beauty of visual homogeneity. Symmetry in Chinese character design does not refer to the symmetry of specific strokes, but the symmetry of visual weight, that is, the local structure of different forms and sizes through the adjustment of details, so that the left and right or upper and lower parts of the structure of the literal grayscale to achieve the consistency of visual feelings, such changes relative to complete symmetry, more can feel the rich changes from the dull monotonous form, can better reflect the beauty of Chinese characters.
The concept of sense of rhythm originated from vocal music, which is the rhythm of syllables composed of different high and low notes according to regular rhythms. Rhyme is the feeling of harmony, the expression of the emotional experience, the goal and meaning of the design. The law is the law, the presentation attributed to the constitutive form, the means and method of design. The emergence of the aesthetic sense of Chinese character prosody is based on the synaesthesia of the aesthetic sense of vocal music, which is combined into a visual law according to the rhythm of regularity.
The number one factor in the production of visual rhythm is repetition. Visual rhythm is a cyclical and repetitive change, a visual symbol of the same form or the same amount, which is repeated in a regular and differentiated manner, resulting in a dynamic visual sensory experience. The repeated elements can be similar units or similar spacing, and it is the positive and negative spaces that seek harmony and unity in a staggered manner.
Another factor produced by the sense of visual rhythm is change, with a dynamic concept of temporality, a solidified melody. Chinese characters will produce visual flow beauty, is the coherence experience of different visual symbols, we can even see this coherence as a combination of several units, the units can be based on the structure of the font stroke itself for high and low ups and downs of the staggered change, but also according to the number of font strokes for dense and scattered differences.
For example: we can adjust the words with simple strokes to be shorter or thinner, the words with complex strokes can be adjusted to be higher or wider, and the text with small literal grayscale should be staggered around the text with larger literal grayscale in the position arrangement, so as to ensure that the text produces visual dynamics in the overall vision and makes the font look more flexible.
The perception of visual balance and visual rhythm complement each other, that is, to seek the space for artistic change under a unified form, both to break through the shackles of rigidity and harmony and unity. The development of Chinese characters themselves has evolved from the initial graphical system to today's square system, which is actually a process of constantly seeking visual balance and visual rhythm.
In the process of Chinese character design, in addition to the visual structure composed of strokes and combined forms, the logical grouping of different information is also an important factor in the visual balance and visual rhythm of Chinese character design. Information grouping is the process of purposefully distinguishing visual information according to the importance of information or the relationship between different categories, so that it forms a clear interrelationship between primary and secondary.
We can roughly divide text information into different categories such as basic text, information text, explanatory text and propaganda text, and how to grasp the primary and secondary levels of information is an important factor in the generation of a good sense of visual balance and visual rhythm. The basic text mainly refers to the title text, which is the center of visual information and conveys the most important content, so the proportion of the basic text should account for the largest proportion of all words.
Explanatory text and information text is a supplement and interpretation of the basic text, generally more words, the volume of a single word is smaller, in the form of "bar" and "face" in the layout, with the overall proportion and the basic text to achieve a balance of visual weight. Propaganda text refers to the slogan or advertising slogan text, in a concise and clear form, in the layout, can be used as a reconciliation element to appear, fill the gap in visual weight, the basic text and description and information text coordination into a unified whole.
The basis of the emotional expression of Chinese character structure is ultimately composition, that is, our emotional cognition of abstract visual symbols. We are stabbed by a triangular object, the triangle gives us a sharp and stimulating visual feeling, the circular object is smooth to the touch, and the circle brings us a sense of softness and affinity.
The emotion of Chinese character structure first comes from the characteristics of strokes and gestures, the Song characters give people a beautiful and elegant visual perception, the black characters look more stable and serious, and the round characters are the most affinity, mostly used for flexible themes, such as brand characters for infant and toddler products. The brand text of women's products can use a more slender structure, with rounded stroke features, highlighting the softness and beauty of women.
The expression of the emotional characteristics of Chinese characters also comes from the spatial relationship formed by the strokes of the text, that is, the space formed by the thickness of the strokes and the spacing of the strokes. Thicker structural literal grayscale and visual weight, coupled with the close relationship between stroke spacing, will cause compact and tense visual gravity; conversely, thinner strokes and larger spacing will cause soothing visual feelings. Through the adjustment of the font structure, you can create different visual experiences of light, heavy, slow and urgent, and when we use the visual experience of the font structure to assist in the expression of the literal meaning, it is easier to resonate with the reader and produce a good reading effect.
How to make the structure of Chinese characters visually conform to the formal laws of composition, so that it has a good sense of visual balance and rhythm, is the eternal and unchanging design core of Chinese character design, which can make Chinese character design have better visual expression and appeal.