Te-Yang Tang and Yi-Hsuan Lai · CLIENT: Department of Visual Communication Design, YunTech
In Chinese culture, a special type of character called Stacked Character refers to the character formed by overlapped glyphs. Most of these superimposed characters are uncommon and are gradually replaced by commonly used characters nowadays. So that Stack Glyphs constructed the characters using graphical symbols, collected these lost chinese characters.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Characters are the carrier of culture. In Chinese culture, a special type of character called Stacked Character refers to the character formed by overlapped glyphs. Stacked character can be constructed to express the meaning of accumulation and mass of the word. Most of these superimposed characters are uncommon and are gradually replaced by commonly used characters nowadays. So that we constructed the characters using graphical symbols, collected these lost chinese characters.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Main visual poster size: 890mm x 420mm, Guide Book Package size: 280mm x 215mm x 40mm, Guide Book size: 200mm x 100mm x 7mm, Pileup size: 25mm x 25 mm x 25mm
- Tags
- visualized, chinese culture, character, symbol, glyphs, guide book, poster
- Production Technology
- Iconic Representation of Stacked Characters. Drawing on the ancient Chinese script before the standardization of characters, which relied heavily on pictographs, we aim to recreate the classic history of Chinese characters. Through this, viewers can experience a sense of immersion and gain an understanding of the ancient methods of character formation.
- Design Challenge
- We collect rare stacked characters, which are gradually being replaced by commonly used characters. Therefore, we often encounter problems of missing characters or unknown pronunciations during the sorting process. To overcome this challenge, we extensively collect stacked characters excerpted from historical ancient books and use a design approach to reconstruct some lost stacked characters, creating the art piece Stack Glyphs.
- Project Duration
- Stack Glyphs project began its conceptual proposal in June 2022, entered design production in October 2022, and held a design joint exhibition in Yunlin, Taiwan in April 2023. It was followed by an exhibition at the Young Designers' Exhibition in Taipei in May, and Vision Get Wild in Kaohsiung.
- Operation Flow
- We studied these overlapping synonym and analyzed their morphology, phonics and cultural contexts. Integrated the result into our icon design, and convert it into NFT, hope to preserve its cultural value. Through the Stack Glyphs Concept Guide Book, the viewers can understand the cultural connotation of superimposed characters. Meanwhile, the interactive designed Stack Glyphs seal Pileup is an extension of our concept that allows viewers to create their own pileup characters.
- Research
- The sampling of stacked characters focuses on the text superposition of positive forms. We collect stacked characters excerpted from historical texts such as Analytical Dictionary of Chinese Characters, and transform individual characters with specific meanings into icons, which display in different styles depending on how the characters are stacked. For example, with the character Mù means wood, two-stacked character Lín means forest, three-stacked character Sēn means dense forest.
- Inspiration
- As time passes, the culture of stacked characters gradually becomes lost, with these characters rarely used and even unable to be displayed in computer fonts. They are gradually being replaced by commonly used characters. The unique cultural characteristics of these Chinese characters lack dissemination and may face the risk of extinction in the future.
- Image Credits
- Image #1: Kuei-En Chou, 2023.
Image #2: Kuei-En Chou, 2023.
Image #3: Kuei-En Chou, 2023.
Image #4: Kuei-En Chou, 2023.
Image #5: Kuei-En Chou, 2023.
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