Why Chinese brush calligraphy?

For the past few years, I have been studying Chinese calligraphy as a way to reconnect with my ancestral heritage. What captivates me most about the art form is its ability to embody both grace and vitality with each brush stroke.

The specific calligraphy piece that I’ve been studying is called 蘭亭序 (Lanting Xu), or Orchid Pavilion Preface, by 王羲之 (Wang Xizhi). Widely considered the greatest piece of calligraphy ever created, it serves as the basis for this typeface.

The main thing I wanted to capture in Fluidence is the feeling of flow. A smooth, carefree energy with a bit of whimsicality. The rhymthic movement creating a strong contrast and hairline connections between strokes. Mostly round, juicy shapes that change direction with abrupt angles and pointy terminals.

It’s important to mention here what I didn’t want my Chinese-inspired typeface to look like. I didn’t want it to look like chop suey fonts, which were created during an era when Orientalism surged in America, and now read as extremely stereotypical if not downright racist. I wanted to create a typeface that represented my Chinese background with dignity, and that reflected a love of calligraphy that my fellow East Asian diaspora could feel connected to and proud of.

FAQs

What’s included when I buy Fluidence?

• .OTF files (for desktop/print)
• .WOFF2 files (for web)
• .TTF files (for app embed, if included in your license)
• Instructions for installing and embedding the font files
• A copy of the End User Agreement License

Which license do I need?

Fonts can be used in several ways, the main ones being:

• Desktop/print use: installing the font onto a device for use in creative applications (like Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator, Figma, etc.) to create designs for print materials, graphics, logos, videos, apparel, etc.
• Web use: embedding the font on your website, and displaying it using CSS @font-face
• App use: embedding the font in a software app, where users can view but not edit with or download the font

My fonts come with a single tiered license that covers all of these uses, instead of having a different license for each type of usage. Just choose the tier that reflects the scale of your use, and that’s it. Your license is a one-time purchase with no expiration date. If your needs grow later, you can upgrade to a higher tier by just paying the difference:

• Basic License: For use on up to 3 devices / 20,000 monthly web views
• Small License: For use on up to 8 devices / 100,000 monthly web views
• Medium License: For use on up to 20 devices / 500,000 monthly web views / 1 app embed
• Large License: For use on up to 50 devices / 2,000,000 monthly web views / 1 app embed

If you’re working solo or have a small operation, the Basic License is a great starting point. As your business or project expands, you can easily upgrade to a higher tier license to match your growing needs.

If you need a larger or custom license, feel free to get in touch!

What’s a variable font?

A variable font is a single font file that contains multiple variations (of width, weight, optical size, etc.) of a typeface. You can set the value of these variations using CSS. For example, the variable font Fluidence VF contains all the weight variations of Fluidence, from Regular (weight=400) to Black (weight=900). Here, weight is called an axis that can be set within a range defined in the typeface. Using the CSS `font-weight` property, you can set Fluidence to have any weight within its defined range, from 400 to 900.

In contrast, a static font represents only one specific style of the typeface. Before variable font technology, typefaces were produced as separate individual files, where each file would represent one specific width/weight/style combination. For example Fluidence Regular, Fluidence Bold, and Fluidence Black are each a separate file. This means that if you had a large font with many styles, you could end up with 20 or 30 different font files to represent a complete typeface.

Fluidence is available both as individual static fonts (Fluidence Regular, Fluidence Bold, and Fluidence Black) and also as a variable font with the complete weight axis (Fluidence VF). If you purchase the variable font, you also get all 3 static fonts for free, and vice versa.

Does Fluidence have an italic style?

No. Fluidence is a display typeface, meant for headings and large, stylistic text. Italics are not a big use case in this context. The Chinese language also historically doesn’t have the concept of italics; emphasis was implied by context or at most, annotated with a symbol, like an underline.

Fun fact: Fluidence was created as during my education at Type West, and I actually did create a pseudo-italic version of Fluidence, called Fluidence Classic. However, I removed it because it didn’t feel coherent with the rest of the Fluidence family.

Other questions?

Contact me for any other questions about Fluidence, custom licensing, type design, or anything about my studio practice.