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“The Power of Characters (Moji no Chikara).” In 2000 my book titles with hand-drawn characters became the subject of the exhibition “My Way of Creating Titles: Kouga Hirano’s Book Design with Hand-Drawn Fonts.” Subsequently at the exhibition “Character of Character (Moji no Moji)” I co-exhibited with my friend and font vendor Jiyukobo and held a symposium entitled “Ready-Made Fonts vs. Hand-Drawn Fonts.” I realized I had been closed-minded in my belief that ready-made fonts can never equal the unique expressions of hand-drawn characters. Instead, I started thinking about producing my hand-drawn characters as a font. As it turns out, I was too optimistic about archiving my past works through the font-making process of “Kouga Grotesque.” (Since I have been in this industry too long, my early works will most likely be lost somewhere along the way). I was wrong. A new approach had to be found. Until now, evoking an image from a phrase (such as book titles) was obli gatory to me. However, each character from the “Kouga Grotesque” font typed on a keyboard is put in a completely different context. And yet, those characters definitely carry certain information and meaning. At a glance, the typed-out phrases (for example, the magazine title “Iwato”) look uneven, but the characters always convey “Kouga Grotesque.” Ready-made fonts can communicate certain thoughts precisely or, to use another word, simply “display” the thoughts. I believe the role of handdrawn characters is to define that image in greater detail and in depth, and then to “attract.”
Books “Kouga Hirano: The Book of Book Design,” published by Libroport, 1985 (out of print) “Kouga Hirano: The Art of ‘Book Design’ – The Shape of My Favorite Books,” Shobunsha Publishing, 1986 “The Power of Characters (Moji no Chikara),” Shobunsha Publishing, 1994 “Hand-drawing the Characters (Moji o Kaku),” the editorial group SURE, 2006 “My hand-drawn Fonts,” Misuzu Publishing, 2007 CD-ROMs/Fonts “The Power of Characters: The Works of Kouga Hirano” by F2 Company CD-R “Kouga Grotesque” – Kana CD-R “Kouga Grotesque 06” including Kanji CD-R ”Kouga Grotesque 07 08”
In your book “Hand-drawing the Characters (Moji o Kaku)” you mentioned drawing so many Japanese characters is almost like Buddhist sutra writing and going through penance. Have you ever thought about giving up? What was your goal in accomplishing such a major project? Yes, it has become my daily routine like writing Buddhist sutra. The goal was and still is to keep working.
Kouga Hirano is a graphic designer and book designer. Born in Seoul in 1938. Graduated from the Department of Visual Communi cations Design at the Collage of Art and Design in Musa shino Art University. Worked in the publicity department at Takashimaya department store and then became a freelance designer. Designed most of the books by Shobunsha Publishing from 1964 to 1991 and established the company’s image. At the time, content and design of the Shobunsha books was considered unique and innovative in the publishing industry. In 1968 co-founded the theater company “Kuro Tento” (black tent) and to this date designs scenic art and advertisement for the com pany. His design for Junji Kinoshita’s novel “Hongo” won the Cultural Award by Kodansha Publishing in 1984. Recipient of the Book Design Award. He has designed about 6,000 books. His book designs were made into lithographs and exhibited in the traveling solo exhibition “The Power of Characters” (Moji no Chikara) in Japan and abroad in 1992. Producer of Theatre Iwato (http://www.theatreiwato.com/) since 2005.
How can we obtain your font or hand-written characters from abroad? You can either download from this website: http://www.dex. ne.jp/download/font/brand/kouga.html (in Japanese) or order through mininem@gmail.com (in English or German). Only 100 copies of the limited autographed edition “Kouga Grotesque 06 Kanji” are available. If you don’t need a whole package, you can also order from a single text or phrase for use. Whose fonts inspire you? The designers of Emigré had a very interesting approach. Interview and translation: Nemu and Peter Kienzle
114 Folio : Copy Bold (9 pt) Columns : Copy Bold (9/11,5 pt) Margin : Copy Bold (7/9 pt) Captions : Copy Regular (7/9 pt) Type Specs : Copy Regular (6/8,5 pt)
115 Captions : Copy Regular (7/9 pt) Running Title : Copy Bold (7/9 pt)
Stencil Slanted #9 / Winter 2009