12.10.09
Phonetikana

supa_3

Multiple trips to Japan and constant frustration at being unable to read the language has sparked off an unusual typographic project at johnson banks. Earlier in the year we started seeing if we could combine the English language and Japanese script in some way.

One of the three typographic styles that is used in Japan is essentially phonetic, and is called Katakana. We’ve been attempting to find ways to incorporate phonetic sounds with the Katakana letterforms.

Here’s an example - UNIQLO, in Japanese, is pronounced with four clear syllables, U, Ni, Q, Lo (they’re actually spoken like this, Yoo Nee Koo Roh). There are four katakana used for these sounds.

UNIQLO_kat

Looks great, but unless you’ve learned the sounds, you’re no wiser. In our typeface, which we call ‘Phonetikana’, it would look like this.

yoo_nee_koo_roh

My name, Michael, is usually pronounced Ma Ee Keh Roo, so here it is in Phonetikana.

maa_ee_keh_roo_new

Here are some more characters.

phon_alph

We’ve been developing a series of examples to show it in action - at the top of this post is ‘superhero’, below is ‘big apple’.

bee_Goo_apple

‘Moo’ and ‘baa’?

moo_baa

Or ‘big in Japan’. (If you say them out loud, as you see them, you’re getting close-ish to Japanese pronunciation).

big_in_japan

See if you can work these out.

top_banana

tom_ma_to

(That’s ‘top banana’ and ‘tomato’).

We’re also working on some japanese phrases too...

nee_koh

...‘niko niko’ is Japanese for smile...

doh_kee

...and ‘doki doki’ means ‘the sound of my heart beating’.

koo_roo

‘Kuru kuru’ is the ‘sound of something spinning’...

chee-zoo

...and guess what the Japanese say when they take a group photo? Yep - ‘cheese’ (or ‘chee-zoo’ if you want the right pronunciation).

This is all work in progress, so apologies to our Japanese readers for any linguistic blunders. If you’re interested in finding out more about Phonetikana, (or just want to correct our grammar) please email info (at) johnsonbanks (dot) co (dot) uk.

There’s also a piece about Phonetikana on the design blog, Designboom, here.

We wouldn’t normally say this but for legal safety’s sake we have to point out that all of the ideas, concepts and designs above are ©johnson banks design limited 2009.

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