What Can Shanghai’s Historic Typography Teach Us About Modern Design?

“You are not just buying my directing skill, but every sip of wine, cup of coffee, meal, book, love, and view I have ever experienced.” This Indian director’s remark frames creation as the deconstruction and recombination of experience.

Shanghai

Typography is a delicate, subtle creative act; the forms we see today have evolved over centuries, with relatively fixed structures that must retain recognizability. Visual experience is essential for designers.

In the late 19th century, Shanghai’s unique environment fostered the rapid adoption of Western metal type technology. By the 1930s‑40s, the city’s commercial art, publishing, and printing reached a peak, producing experimental black‑letter styles through stroke deformation and ligatures.

After the founding of the People’s Republic, Shanghai remained a visual pioneer, producing trademark designs that became highly pictorial and eclectic. Designing a complete Chinese typeface can cost over 40,000 characters, far more than the roughly 1,000 characters needed for a Latin alphabet, leading many Chinese fonts to sacrifice aesthetic refinement for cost.

In 2014, the "Shanghai Type" dynamic font show used the words “SHANGHAI” and “上海” as design elements, inviting 32 international and 46 domestic designers to create 86 animated pieces displayed on LED screens along the Huangpu River, merging public art with collective visual exploration.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s cultural influence is evident in its classic film fonts and Cantonese signage. Visitors often notice traditional Chinese characters everywhere, from street signs to public notices.

The Hong Kong MTR’s use of Ming (Song) typeface is a rare example of this style in modern wayfinding, giving the system a distinctive visual identity.

Adrian Frutiger said, “Type is a tool.” Each typeface is designed to meet functional needs—print fonts aid readability, while signage requires clear strokes for quick comprehension.

Hong Kong’s neon signage, once a hallmark of its prosperity, blends typography, graphics, and imagery to create dense visual experiences. Iconic films and literature have captured this neon landscape, but the phenomenon is gradually disappearing.

The online exhibition "NEONSIGNS.HK" archives these fading signs, inviting research from design, urbanism, visual art, film, literature, and pop‑culture perspectives.

Skill Loss and Regeneration

Technological progress and environmental constraints force us to accept the disappearance of certain design styles, yet these may re‑emerge in new forms. The loss of tactile skills—like sharpening an apple—mirrors the fading of hand‑drawn abilities, reducing the sensory richness of the design process.

Conversely, embracing new technologies may allow forgotten crafts to be revived in unexpected ways, suggesting a future where technical innovation coexists with revived sensory experiences.