A "book" has no shape in its textual form.

Therefore, I think that book design is the task of materializing intangible text. In the materialization, there are various elements that compose the book as well as the text.

Among these elements, the “letter” (typeface) is like a “voice sound” that embodies text, so I think that it is definitely a major element that determines the mood of the book.

The Mincho typeface of the Chikushi typeface I use is mainly Tsukushi A Old Mincho "is. "Tsukushi B Old Mincho Then, I feel that I have too much habit...

Then, it was the first Gothic typeface of the Chikushi typeface. Tsukushi Gothic I also like These two are often used relatively often, and in the typesetting of Text, "Chikushi A Old Mincho-R and Tsukushi Gothic B" is often specified as a frequently used pair.

Right now, the series of Text, which is a light reading material, is said to be "make it as large as possible", and "13.5 grade" is increasing. I used to use a thin (about L in terms of weight) Mincho type for Text, but now I feel a little weak with that weight.

Tsukushi Gothic B may seem a little too thick when viewed as a Text typeface, but Weight fits in right now. It doesn't garble in printing like it used to, and it can be used with a little drop in the series so it's cute and not hard to read.

Chikushi A Old Mincho has a little habit from the Mincho body that everyone imagines, but if that habit flows as a sentence, it will be elegant and beautiful. Among various old-type Mincho bodies, Chikushi A Old Mincho has a pure impression that it does not shake too much in Japanese style. That is true not only for purely literary sentences, but also for translations of foreign literature.

Of course, for book binding, the area around the cover can be said to be the "face of the book," so it is an important factor in attracting readers in book design. However, the one with whom the reader stays the longest is Text. Therefore, for me, the Chikushi typeface used for the inside as well as the outside has an important meaning.

Speaking of which, I don't often mix Japanese and European plants except for subordinate European texts in the Chikushi typeface. In both vertical writing mode and horizontal writing mode, in the case of the Chikushi typeface, it is often the case that subordinate Roman text is used as it is.

Most of the books that I ask for are literary works that spell out the subtleties and delicate feelings of everyday life, so when the readers are immersed in the world of books, the contents will come to your mind immediately. I am trying to specify the typeface by combining Text like this.

Therefore, if you mix Japanese and European plants, you will have to adjust the size and Weight more often, which may lead to discomfort in the text itself. If you can specify Text in one typeface, such discomfort due to the typeface difference will be eliminated.



However, the method of "weight mixed planting" is often done.
For example, when using "Chikushi A Old Mincho Weight B" for kanji, hiragana, and katakana, drop a little weight for numbers, alphabets, brackets, and punctuation, and say "Chikushi A Old Mincho Weight M". Is the method of using.


Of course, there are some people who think that it is "thick until now", but in my preference, as I mentioned earlier, each character in the whole sentence looks the same-the aim is to make it "flat". So, I arrived at this method. This is also because Chikushi A Old Mincho and Tsukushi Gothic have weight variations as a font family.

Today, I would like to introduce some of my recent work.
For example, Mori Mari's paperback book (Mori Mari Collection) was decided to be a series at the stage when we received the story of the binding, so an elegant and beautiful impression will not be destroyed even if any title (character) comes I thought about making it a typeface that I can keep. Besides, the name "Mari Mari" is also beautiful.
As a typeface in which both the title and the name look beautiful, I am using the slightly flattened "Tsukushi A Old Mincho" with the name part in mind.


On the other hand, Fumiko Yamamoto's "Work of the House" is "Tsukushi Old Gothic" both around the cover and inside. This book is an essay written by a woman who is a housewife. Although she is a woman who lives in a delicate and polite way every day, she received the image of a "liver mother" with a little "gombuto". I thought the typeface would fit.

Actually, Tsukushi Gothic, and Tsukushi Old Gothic Is a typeface that changed the image of Gothic for me.

Since each impression was soft, it seemed that the boundary with Mincho was disappearing. Originally, I liked the Gothic font, which is an old type and the kana part is made small, but the Gothic font of the Chikushi typeface had a more adult-like impression than the traditional Gothic font.


Powerful Gothic is popular for Advertisement copies, but it's the Gothic style you'll find when it comes to capturing the modern adult copy. When I got emotional words like sadness and joy in the novel, I felt something different.


Tsukushi Gothic has nuances that Gothic fonts do not have, and I think it is a typeface that bears the story or expresses words that touch emotions. From the appearance of this typeface, the image swelled that the Gothic type can give the same soft impression as the Mincho type. It may be because I am a woman myself, but I think the Gothic typeface of Chikushi typeface suits the cute direction women want.

Also, since I am busy today, I decided to request the typeface I wanted, so I brought in a copy from an old book.

It is a type used in the book "Flight Sensation" bound by Koshiro Onchi, a printmaker and bookmaker in the early Showa era. This type is so nice ... At first glance, the characters used in this book are very quirky, and they are on the side that was shaken off. The katakana is made small, and it is interesting that the alphabet has a very narrow width.

As a book designer, I'm glad that there are both extremes, a standard typeface and a typeface that is extremely shaky. This is, of course, the typeface that was shaken off. It would be great if such a typeface would be a digital typeface.

Then there is the Mincho type that matches the picture books. Nowadays, I think that the Mincho typeface for adults has been filled with the Chikushi typeface, but there is little variation in the Mincho typeface that fits picture books-that is, there are few variations in the Mincho typeface that can be used for children's books, I feel undeveloped.

It's not a textbook, nor is it a general-purpose Mincho font. Right now, there is not enough Mincho typeface for children's books, which is included in the genre of Mincho typeface used in the lines of comics. If there is a new typeface in this field, I think the variations of Mincho type will also spread.