The project develops a composite type system: a sans-serif (grotesque) form defines the outer contour, while a serif structure operates as the inner core, generating a new hybrid letterform through their interlocking relationship. Rather than a simple overlay, both typefaces are re-designed in terms of structure, proportion, and detail to establish tension and coherence. The system functions both as a unified composite and as three independent typefaces: the inner serif, the outer sans-serif, and their combined form.
This structure reflects the temporal and epistemological framework of general education: it engages with both the classical and the future, yet ultimately operates in the present—the intersection of past and future. The serif typeface embodies traditions of writing and craftsmanship, carrying historical and sensorial qualities; the sans-serif emerges from industrial and digital contexts, representing rationality and efficiency. Their combination is not a reconciliation, but a constructed balance within difference, suggesting how the humanities continuously negotiate between reason and intuition, objectivity and subjectivity.
In application, the system enters text through a hybrid mode: serif, composite, and sans-serif typefaces alternate, often switching line by line, producing a disrupted reading rhythm between continuity and fragmentation. This instability is not a disturbance but a constructed experience, pointing to multiple perspectives and the inherent indeterminacy of knowledge structures.
Extending from this system, the project also develops a publication series. Booklets of varying sizes are designed in response to different contents, forming sequences either from small to large or vice versa. Material choices introduce diverse tactile and visual qualities. All booklets are ultimately gathered within a single folder, forming a knowledge container that can be both disassembled and read as a whole. Its structure echoes the type system itself—operating between separation and combination to construct an open and reconfigurable framework of understanding.
Identity / Book Design
Project Title:
General Education
Client:
Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts (GAFA)
City:
Guangzhou
Year:
2024
Tian Bo
Designers:
Yang Xuan, Wu Jingyu
Project Manager:
Wang Man
Dimension:
Various