Archive | Originally published 2022-01-27. Ages, crowdfunding progress and current affairs are retained as reported at the time. Please refer to the product pages for current availability and licensing.
Reborn began crowdfunding in early January. When this article was written, it had raised more than 40 per cent of a target of roughly HK$1 million. Since 2019, Roy Chan’s Moodmen Font had introduced Traditional Chinese design through social-media lettering and products. This forceful display face was intended to encourage people not to give up, and to connect with local practices and memories under pressure. ‘People in different trades are working to pass things on. I hope Reborn can help renew type design while everyone continues Hong Kong’s spirit in their own way.’
TEXT BY JAZ KONG PHOTO BY BEN TAM (PORTRAIT)、MOODMEN FONT
An idea rather than a dream
‘I would not call this typeface a dream. I have many dreams about changing type design, design more broadly and even the world. This is an idea that might bring those dreams closer, step by step.’ Roy had wanted more type-related work while employed at a film company, and felt more confident handling black-and-white forms than colour or layout. He also liked the challenge of a less crowded field. After turning to lettering full-time in late 2019, an early Reborn treatment emerged for an election campaign that was ultimately not used. He nevertheless decided it should have strength and a rallying quality. In mid-2021, while away from Hong Kong, he returned to the project and concentrated on drawing a thousand common characters. Towards the end of the year, he began planning how marketing and crowdfunding might support a more complete set of over five thousand. A set approaching nine thousand remained a second-stage goal. The reporter felt the work already carried a particular meaning, whatever the eventual campaign outcome.
Reborn combines Song-like stroke details with gothic horizontals and verticals of similar weight. A sharp pen-like entry and cone-shaped terminal give it both force and a softer counterpoint. The set deliberately includes written Cantonese, such as 哋 and 囉: ‘If we are making a Hong Kong typeface, local characters should come first.’ Roy also felt expressive headline faces met an under-served design need. Earlier work in film graphics had made him aware of an imbalance between imagery and type. Some people thought Reborn attracted too much attention, but he saw an opportunity for the image and the type to develop together rather than asking the lettering always to recede. He hoped its use would encourage stronger overall compositions, not simply add another visual effect.
Was the time right?
Other designers’ crowdfunding efforts had helped encourage Roy into the field. He wanted more stylistic choices for Traditional Chinese, though a complete typeface was a daunting undertaking. ‘Rather than stopping because I am worried, I ask why I should continue. There are not many people here with both the design ability and some resources or marketing experience. If I do not try, someone younger or with fewer resources loses one possible encouragement.’ His examples of unexpected change ranged from the computer to the renewed visibility of Hong Kong music around Mirror: one cannot always foresee what a new contribution might lead to.
Roy did not claim to know whether the timing was right. ‘Hong Kong often judges by the result: success means the timing was right, failure means it was not yet time. Even if the crowdfunding failed, I would not necessarily call the project a failure. I would have tried, and it might become a stepping stone for someone else. I do not have to be the one who reaches the other side.’ He felt a business alone would not change the city, but a typeface could leave a lasting trace. The intention was to try, leave something useful and show another possible path to others.
Reborn was intended to encourage persistence and renew something of Hong Kong’s cultural memory. Roy nevertheless reminded himself not to spend every day imagining how to change the world: first, change what he could in his own work.
