#noramoji

[noramoji]

フラワーポケット #のらもじ #noramoji #typo #typographydesign #typography #fontdesign #logodesigns #ロゴデザイン #タイポグラフィ #路上観察 (Katsushika-ku, Tokyo, Japan) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu0xARyDYYX/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=xy2dz2ifmb6z

[bowleggedmar20]

いつかの水戸駅前 #noramoji #のらもじ #タイポさんぽ #看板 #いい文字 (Mito, Ibaraki)

[sarahssecretstuff]

Noramoji

When looking for inspiration for my own brand, I came across this project by a group of people passionate about typography in Japan. Much like the ancient view of Wabi-Sabi, these people recognised the character and perfection in imperfect typography found on shop signs. The hand-drawn typography has a unique charm compared to the commercial type found in every city around the world. The people behind this have dedicated their time to developing fonts corresponding to each sign they see, and they give the profits back to the owner of the sign, helping the sign and the original font to survive.

In English, I see hundreds of fonts every day, manipulated, stretched, curled, sharp and bulbous. I never stopped to consider how you could manipulate the complex Japanese alphabets while keeping them legible, but the limits are just as wide as any other alphabet we have on this Earth. Just a shame I can’t read them!

I picked the example above as I love the exaggerated curves of the type, reminiscent of the traditional Japanese brush writing, while having smooth and sharp edges of the digital age.

[ameliawiseaub]

Visual Research 

The NORAMOJI Project - Japanese street signs 

However, a lettering style, the typeface of logos and signage do not deserve its neglect,  as they cover a considerable amount of urban surfaces. When you exit from an airport and get on a taxi to downtown in a foreign country, it hits you that you are on a foreign land when you start seeing how the signs, storefronts, and advertisements are written that are not familiar to you. You would recognize the iconic Helvetica letters in a New York subway station, or Illuminated Neon Street Signs in Hong Kong. They, too, contribute to shaping the city’s identities as much as the other factors like urban infrastructure and architectural types.

Japan-based NORAMOJI Project knows how much typography matters. They pay attention to fonts that appear in storefronts in old neighborhoods in Japan. They especially have a care for fonts that are handmade, unique,  and even imperfect - that are created by shop owners and non-designers. "They might not be sophisticated, but they have their own charm and uniqueness," Naoki Nishimura, one of the directors, says. 

[tsuyatsuya]

タニヘイ | のらもじ発見プロジェクト タニヘイフォントでデザインしたグッズです。のらもじの提供者である「タニヘイ」に代金が支払われます（一部はのらもじ発見プロジェクトの活動資金に充てられます） Products designed by store's font. By buying these products, you can back up the store, the provider of NORAMOJI. (Part of it used by activity of project.) If you want to download for free, please help us by sharing the project via SNS.

[tombolo-design]

デザインを担当した書籍が完成しました。あちこちで撮りためた看板の写真も多数掲載しています。書店でお見かけの際には、お手にとってみてください。4月18日(火)発売です。 ：：：：： 『のらもじ』　まちに出よう　もじを探そう https://medium.com/@noramoji/book-18f2c0d940b4 出版：エムディーエヌコーポレーション 発売日：2017年4月18日 価格：1,580円＋税 A5判　160ページ 下浜 臨太郎，西村 斉輝，若岡 伸也　著 #本 #のらもじ #看板 #デザイン

[engmatthew-blog]

rinroad signs

[noramoji]

ホシヤ #のらもじ #noramoji #typo #typographydesign #typography #fontdesign #logodesigns #ロゴデザイン #タイポグラフィ #路上観察 https://www.instagram.com/p/Bnz_0HUhJ1B/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=twcu9ppamxu1

[bowleggedmar20]

#noramoji #のらもじ (Kashima, Ibaraki)

[aclxisxdead]

[naillig]

NORAMOJI

reproducing japanese signage fonts

try the "type test" on their website!: http://noramoji.jp/

[bowleggedmar20]

#看板 #タイポさんぽ #タイポグラフィ #noramoji #のらもじ #店構え #ファサードサイン (Kamakura)

[alexander-turner]

のらもじ発見プロジェクト

[onejamtart]

NORAMOJI PROJECT

I love typography and this is one of the coolest things/projects I have seen this year.

Nora (stray) + Moji (text) gives us Noramoji, which is an awesome Japanese typography project by Rintaro Shimohama, Naoki Nishimura and Shinya Wakaoka. 

Those 3 friends went out searching for unique mojis that could not be found in print magazine, but rather found on the streets of Japan and more specifically on local storefronts.

When they found a moji that they liked and obtained permission to use them by the respective store owners (interesting to note that the majority of these store owners created their own unique mojis despite having no design background), they went about analysing, creating and fortifying these mojis and made them available to whoever wanted them as a donationware font with all donations going back to the respective store owners.

If your computer or mobile device can type Japanese, then I do really recommend checking out their website which has a very cool feature where you can very test out the different mojis on photos of the actual storefront of where the moji came from.

Peace, JW