A Design in the Life

Alphabet or Japanese? Fonts that are unreadable to Japanese natives

One day, a tweet from a friend traveling in Thailand became a hot topic among my group. This friend is a language expert, fluent in Japanese and English, and proficient in many other languages. Despite being a polyglot, he admitted defeat when it came to reading the package of a snack called “LIME SALT.”

If you can’t read it as an alphabet no matter how hard you try, you’re probably a native Japanese speaker. If you can read it without difficulty, you’re likely a native speaker of an alphabetic language. The product name is written in a font called “TokyoSoft.” Other fonts that Japanese readers struggle with include “TechnoJap” and “Electroharmonix.”

On the flip side, there are hiragana fonts that look like English letters. “Black Letter Japanese” is one such font that, while not very practical, offers an intriguing visual expression.

“Electroharmonix” was designed by Ray Larabie, a Canadian designer living in Nagoya. He has an artist page on Adobe Fonts showcasing many ultra-modern styled fonts. Among his creations, “Electroharmonix” is the only challenging one to read.

For Japanese speakers, these fonts are hard to decipher. However, people from regions with alphabet-using languages might find them easy to read. Similarly, foreigners learning Japanese and young children just starting to recognize characters often find it difficult to distinguish between katakana characters like “ソ(so),” “リ(ri),” and “ン(n).” Those familiar with Japanese likely differentiate these characters unconsciously by their stroke order and the angles of their lines.

A language’s theme and literacy practices strongly influence the characters’ shapes and font designs.

For example, in the popular sci-fi film series “Star Wars,” there are no English letters. This choice reflects a different world, far from Earth or set in a distant future. Similarly, in “Star Trek,” Earth-originated humans use English letters, while some alien races have short, combat-optimized languages and scripts that are easy to distinguish even amidst the noise.

This phenomenon shows that while trends come and go over time, font designs can express different eras and environments. Highly legible fonts give the impression of a world similar to our present reality. Conversely, less legible fonts can depict a far-off future or an environment different from Earth.

Being surrounded by various fonts can evoke a sense of diversity and liveliness.

What makes the text hard to read?

Some people have cognitive traits that make reading text difficult. Actors Tom Cruise and director Steven Spielberg have this trait, known as dyslexia. Dyslexia comes in various forms, and using a reading ruler to focus on one line at a time can help some people read smoothly. Even for those without dyslexia, small text or tightly packed text can be hard to read and time-consuming. The same goes for speed readers.

For elderly people with deteriorating eyesight, it’s easy to understand that larger text is easier to read. However, it’s not just the size of the text; appropriate contrast (the difference in brightness between the background and the text) and spacing between lines can be more important. Some people find that overly high contrast, such as black text on a stark white background, can be extremely tiring to read.

Examples of hard-to-read fonts and expressions

• Cursive and Handwritten Text: Script, calligraphy, and graffiti where letters are connected and change shape can be hard to read.
• Continuous Script: Arabic, Devanagari in Hindi, and Thai often have connected characters, making it difficult to distinguish individual letters.
• Old Text: Ancient books, inscriptions, blackletter, and old kanji characters can be challenging to read.
• Abstractly Designed Characters: Decorative fonts, logos, and characters designed more for their shape than readability can be difficult. Fonts mimicking objects like animals or plants are examples.

Different culture –  different cognition, and common sense

In the movie “Arrival,” communication is attempted with aliens using mysterious inkblot-like characters. By learning the aliens’ script, the linguist protagonist gains a new sense that humans never had before.

The “Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis” posits that language influences perception and thought. This idea, popularized by American anthropologist Franz Boas, suggests that living environments reflect language. For instance, a friend who is very active in English meetings and presentations becomes quiet and reserved in Japanese meetings.

Inuit people, living in snowy environments, are said to have 100 words for “snow.” This might be an exaggeration, with about six primary terms and twenty derived words for different snow conditions. In Japan, in regions where you can see powdery snow crystals, people might call snow “六花 rokkā” (six flowers) or “風花 kazahana” (represents wind and flower) for snow fluttering in a blue sky, evoking different images for different people.

Love songs like “You Are My Sunshine” often praise the beloved as the sun. However, in some cultures and languages, “the sun” might evoke harsh, scorching, and unfriendly impressions.

The main focus I wanted to share is that “your common sense may not be common sense for others.” 

Working on a project to develop a 3DCG character-based sign language translation system, I realized my own cognitive biases. I had naively thought that the same message could be conveyed through text even if someone couldn’t hear. This undervalued the importance of sign language. A sign language interpreter who grew up with deaf parents but can hear themselves taught me that sign language is a conversation, not just a series of words or letters. Seeing a couple happily conversing in sign language on a crowded train further reinforced the idea that sign language is indeed a form of conversation.

Researching Japanese sign language shows that instead of memorizing all the character shapes, sign language is designed for easy recall and clear communication. It’s cleverly crafted to be intuitive, with hand shapes and movements that convey meaning effectively in Japanese. For my name Yukio (ゆきお), Yu(ゆ) is represented by three fingers for the hot springs symbol(ゆ, Yu), Ki(き) is defined by Kitsune (fox), and O(お) is an alphabet “o”. Unfortunately, sign language isn’t a universal language; it varies by the native spoken language and can even have dialect-like variations within the same language.

Seeing yourself objectively

To recognize and correct cognitive biases, consider the following approaches:

1. Journaling: Write down your thoughts and actions to analyze your thought processes and emotions objectively later.
2. Self-Questioning: Ask yourself “Why did I make that decision?” or “Why did I choose that?”
3. Comparing Different Perspectives: Understand your thinking patterns by comparing them with those of others who think differently.

Not everything is black and white. Sometimes, what happens to you by chance might seem normal. Emotional shifts can also make you perceive the world too positively or too negatively. The world you perceive might be different from the one your audience perceives. Thinking this way can make design seem more complex, yet more interesting and full of possibilities.

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In “A Design In The Life” series, we will provide hints on improving the resolution of the design experience from the perspectives of both designs in daily life and design in digital space. If you have a topic you would like us to cover, please let us know.