YouTube link for this presentation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWo6YUjOtP4 Keynote delivered at Same/Difference: Multilingual Typography Symposium 2011 Bilingual typography in Hong Kong has a long history. While much has been written about bilingualism in Hong Kong from a linguistic point of view, little has been done from a typographic standpoint. Through a systemic approach, this presentation will examine some case studies of Chinese–English bilingual typography in Hong Kong and attempt to establish links between the semantic, syntactic and pragmatic aspects of bilingual typographic communication. Two types of bilingual typography will be explored: 1. where two languages appear to be parallel to each other in terms of their literal meaning; and 2. where one language is embedded into another, termed as ‘code-mixing’ in linguistics. A descriptive and theoretical framework will be presented. These theoretical investigations will afford a glimpse of the socio-political and socio-linguistic evolutions of bilingualism in Hong Kong as well as shed light on the factors which influence the effectiveness of various approaches to bilingual typography.

1. Bilingual typography: Hong Kong case studies
Keith Tam
Information Design Lab
School of Design · Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Same/difference: Multilingual Typography Symposium 2011
Hong Kong Polytechnic University
18 August 2011
© Information Design Lab, Hong Kong Polytechnic University 2011

3. Bilingual typography is all about visual harmony?

4. Sheung Wan, Hong Kong 2008

5. Shatin, Hong Kong 2009

6. Central, Hong Kong 2007

7. Truck graphics, Hong Kong 2008

8. Peng Chau, Hong Kong 2005

9. 字 Ａ

10. 字 ａ

11. 字 a

12. 字 word

13. 字 Word

14. 字 WORD

15. Chinese and English are linguistically and anatomically very different
字 Aahxg

16. Former Tai Po Market railway station architectural lettering c1913 (now Hong Kong Railway Museum)

17. Former Tai Po Market railway station signage c1913 (now Hong Kong Railway Museum)

18. War memorial arch at the Zoological and Botanical Gardens 1928

19. Central Government Offices lettering c1957

20. So Uk Estate architectural lettering c1960

21. Victoria Park School of the deaf entrance sign c1960

22. Riots in Hong Kong 1967 http://djyimg.com/i5/403112643869.jpg

23. Pages from the Laws of Hong Kong, Official Languages Ordinance, passed in 1974

24. Kowloon Tsai Park original lettering c1964

25. Kowloon Tsai Park swimming pool sign c1964 (?)

26. Kowloon Tsai Park sign post-1997

27. Kowloon Tsai Park sign, possibly post-2000

28. Exit sign, Mass Transit Railway, Hong Kong

29. Bilingual typography is all about visual harmony
about how various constituent parts
of each language
interact with each other
under many different contexts
for many different purposes

30. Insert in my secondary school report booklet c1984 (?)

31. Secondary school testimonial 1992

32. Secondary school testimonial 1992 English only

33. Secondary school testimonial 1992 Chinese only

34. Secondary school testimonial 1992 Inserted dynamic information only

35. A model for investigating typography
Culture
文化
Language Typography Technology
語言 文字信息設計 科技
Aesthetics
美學
Keith Tam 2010

36. Pragmatics, syntactics semantics work in tandem to communicate effectively
visual elements
and principles,
rules of visual
Syntactics perception
how it is
understood,
how meaning
is created
(verbal graphic
language) Semantics Pragmatics how it works for
the user, in terms
of searching and
accessing information
in a given context

37. Typography is a verbal–graphic hybrid language
Visual
Verbal
Keith Tam 2011

38. Typography is a verbal–graphic hybrid language
Multilingual typography becomes a meta language
Language 1 Language 2

Visual Visual
Language 3
Verbal Verbal
Keith Tam 2011

39. Types of bilingualism / bilingual typography
Two languages presented as
Parallel 雙語並行 equivalence of each other
One language is embedded into
Code-mixing 語碼混合 another below the clause level
(words and short phrases)
One language is interweaved into
Code-switching 語碼轉換 another at clause level or above

40. Types of bilingualism / bilingual typography
Two languages presented as
Parallel 雙語並行 equivalence of each other
One language is embedded into
Code-mixing 語碼混合 another below the clause level
(words and short phrases)
One language is interweaved into
Code-switching 語碼轉換 another at clause level or above

41. An analytical model for bilingual typography
Verbal language (content)
Status relationship Semantic structure
Global visual hierarchy Local visual hierarchy
Verbal–graphic language (form)
Keith Tam 2011

42. An analytical model for bilingual typography
global Status Sequence Categorization Grouping
properties 地位 排序 類別 群組
local Hierarchy Sequence Categorization Grouping
properties 層級 排序 類別 群組

Graphical spatial attributes
Keith Tam 2011

43. Is the (swiss) grid the ultimate solution?
Typographie by Emil Ruder c1967

44. Is the (swiss) grid the ultimate solution?
Typographie by Emil Ruder c1967

45. Is the (swiss) grid the ultimate solution?
Typographie by Emil Ruder c1967

46. Is the (swiss) grid the ultimate solution?
Typographie by Emil Ruder c1967

47. Analyzing a sample of bilingual typography
Hong Kong Independent Film Festivl programme guide 2011

48. Le French May
programme guide 2011

49. Are two or more elements the same or different in terms of . . .
Status? Category? Grouping?
Semantic Language? Sequence?
level?

by looking at and comparing graphical spatial attributes
Keith Tam 2011

50. Using cityscapes as an analogy . . .
Hierarchical element – it’s more important than everything else
Distinguishing element – it’s different from everything else

51. Using cityscapes as an analogy . . .
a landmark such as a large cathedral is both a
hierarchical and distinguishing element and it becomes
a focal point of a city

52. Using cityscapes as an analogy . . .
an eceletic cityscape – everything is different from
everything else! Lacks focus and does not facilitating
searching or grouping

53. Our eyes never stay still – they keep looking for patterns and organization
Fixations =
2/10 to 8/10 seconds
Movements between
fixations =
1/100 to 8/100 seconds
Patterson 2002 p.213

54. Difference in run length
Language 1 Language 2
Because of the nature of the
language, a large gap is created

55. Different sequential order
Language 1 prioritized
by order in sequence
Searching for the
starting point of
language 2 becomes
more difficult

56. Same run length, different column width
Language 1 almost becomes a Being more than three times the column
sidebar or margin notes rather width of language 1, the visual precence
than the main text of language becomes greater, hence
more emphasised

57. Parallel setting in list and matrix configurations

58. Parallel setting in list and matrix configurations

59. Parallel setting in list and matrix configurations

60. Customary reading directions
Sheung Wan, Hong Kong 2008

61. Customary reading directions
Sheung Wan, Hong Kong 2007

62. Truck graphics, Hong Kong 2010

63. A comparative descriptive framework (graphical spatial attributes)
Chinese 中文 English 英文 Chinese 中文 English 英文
A Type style 01 Songti or Mingti 宋體或明體 seriffed 襯線體 A Spatial sequence 01 order in vertical sequence 縱向排序 order in vertical sequence 縱向排序
字體風格 02 Heiti 黑體 sanserif 無襯線體或等線體 空間排序 02 order in horizontal sequence 橫向排序 order in horizontal sequence 橫向排序
03 Kaiti 楷體 — 03 sequence assumed via position sequence assumed via position
04 Fang Song 仿宋體 — 位置引申的次序 位置引申的次序
05 cursive 草寫體 cursive 草寫體 04 sequence assumed via graphical attributes sequence assumed via graphical attributes
視覺屬性引申的次序 視覺屬性引申的次序
06 display 標題字 display 標題字
05 order of appearance in linear sequence order of appearance in linear sequence
07 calligraphy 書法 calligraphy 書法
線性流向的出場次序 線性流向的出場次序
08 handlettering 手繪字 handlettering 手繪字
06 reveal or hide after interaction reveal or hide after interaction
09 writing tool ﹠ material 書寫工具及物料
互動後揭示或隱藏 互動後揭示或隱藏
10 typesetting and production method 排字及製作方法
07 transform after interaction transform after interaction
互動後轉化 互動後轉化
B Scale measure 01 actual point size 實際點數
大小及量度 02 appearing size 視覺大小 appearing size 視覺大小 B Configuration 01 linear stream 純線性流動
03 character height 字元高度 cap height 大寫字母高度 配置方法 02 prose (linear interrupted) 段落（線性中斷）
04 — x-height X高度 03 verse (lines broken for sense) 詩句（根據字義換行）
05 — ascender length 上椽長度 04 branching (tree) 分支（樹形結構）
06 — descender length 下椽長度 05 list 列表
07 — baseline 基線 06 matrix 表格
08 Ideographic Character Face (ICF) size —
表意字面（內框）大小 C Reading direction 01 left to right 從左至右
閱讀方向 02 top to bottom, right to left (vertical) —
C Weight density 01 actual stroke width 實際筆畫粗細 從上而下，從右至左（縱向）
粗細及密度 02 weight 重量（粗細） weight 重量（粗細） 03 right to left (horizontal) 從右至左（橫向） —
03 overall density 整體密度 overall density 整體密度 04 — stacked letters, top to bottom
縱向叠起字母，從上而下
D Typographic variants 01 — upper- and lowercase 大小楷
05 sideways, top to bottom 轉側，從上而下
字元變換 02 — all-capitals 全大楷
06 sideways, bottom to top 轉側，從下而上
03 — small-capitals 小型大楷
04 — italic or oblique 草寫斜體或傾斜體 D Alignment 01 justified 左右齊行
05 — swashed characters 花體字 靠齊方法 02 flush left, ragged right 齊左散右 flush left, ragged right 齊左散右
06 — superscript 上標 03 flush top, ragged bottom 齊上散下 —
07 — subscript 下標 04 flush right, ragged left 齊右散左 flush right, ragged left 齊右散左
08 circled framed characters 圓及方框字元 — 05 centered 分中 centered 分中
09 jiazhu (split-column notes) 夾注 —
E Spacing 01 column width 欄寬
10 oblique effect 傾斜 oblique effect 傾斜
空間處理 02 line spacing 行間間距
E Typographic adornments 01 underlining 底線 03 paragraph spacing 段間間距
字元裝配 02 strikethrough 刪除線 04 first line indent 首行縮進
03 paragraph rules 段落嵌線 05 indent 縮進
04 emphasis marks 著重號 — 06 outdent 突出
05 zhuyin (phonetic glosses) 注音 — 07 character spacing 字元間距 —
06 other graphical effects applied to the text 其它字元效果 08 — letterspacing 字母間距
09 — word spacing 字間間距
F Graphical devices 01 text colour 字元顏色
視覺元素 02 background colour 背景顏色
03 border width 線框粗細
04 border style 線框風格
05 border colour 線框顏色
06 other graphical devices 其它標識
Keith Tam 2007–2011

64. Silkroad inflight magazine, August 2009

65. Silkroad inflight magazine, August 2009

66. Silkroad inflight magazine, August 2009

67. Silkroad inflight magazine, August 2009

68. Silkroad inflight magazine, August 2009

69. Silkroad inflight magazine, August 2009

70. Xpress The Hong Kong Designers Association journal 2007

71. multiscript ≠
multilingual

72. Multiscript ≠ multilingual The sign reads ‘Convention Exhibition Centre metro station’
Source: Yahoo news Hong Kong

73. Truck lettering, Hong Kong, 2011

74. Grouping – name Grouping – type of business
Syllable-by-syllable transliteration Translation
Longer English word spans across
Chinese compound word
Restaurant sign, Central, Hong Kong 2007

75. Milk magazine, June 2011 Table of contents

76. Milk magazine, June 2011 Front of book section

77. Advertisment in Milk magazine, July 2007

78. Muse magazine, September 2010

79. Code-switching
Muse magazine, September 2010

80. Code-switching
Muse magazine, September 2010

81. Code-switching
Tao magazine, August 2011

82. Tao magazine, August 2011

83. Tao magazine, August 2011

84. Tao magazine, August 2011

85. Tao magazine, August 2011

86. Superlife Express November 2009 Supermarket newsletter

87. Superlife Express November 2009 Supermarket newsletter (close-up)