Will the holidays never end? We have yet to finish vacuuming up the confetti and here comes zheng yuè marking the Chinese Lunar New Year with lines of dancing dragons, strings of firecrackers, and cartons full of fried dumplings. To mark the Year of the Rabbit we're dishing up Chang Chang, an ornamental font in two styles by Canadian Designer Daniel Gauthier.
Gauthier's creations are direct descendents of a novelty style used to adorn everything from takeout cartons to blinking neon signs. Sharp, triangular marks mimic the inky strokes from a bamboo pen in Chang Chang, while Chang Chang Woodcut features the same forms with a rustic chipped-out detailing that gives words a handmade feel by blending the calligrapher's pen with the sign engraver's chisel.
It's hard to take a typestyle seriously when it's working so hard to get our attention--but maybe that's its job, since the original was meant to invite us to eat something delicious. This is a font that wants to play. Type "Delicious" in Chang Chang and discover the lowercase "i"s chatting up their partners even as the "o" chases its own tail like a crazy cartoon cat. The designer's sense of frantic hilarity carries over to the punctuation sets. Our personal favorites are the hash mark (#), @ sign, and asterisk (*).
Trivia tip: The font is named for the designer's dearly departed black cat, Chang, and Gauthier has included a black cat silhouette in the set. In the spirit of good fun, we'll let you hunt for it.
Chang Chang and Chang Chang Woodcut offer complete upper and lowercase sets, numerals, and punctuation. Limited math and monetary symbols (including a very stylish yuan sign) are also in the mix. Size at 36 points and up to hold the details of Chang Chang and keep Chang Chang Woodcut above 72 points to show off the tiny chips.
The fonts are licensed for personal use only. Use Chang Chang for a commemorative menu at your own table, then go big with Chang Chang Woodcut in a banner to welcome friends and family to the banquet.
However you choose to celebrate, Happy Year of the Rabbit to you! Good fortune is sure to follow the dragon to your door with Chang Chang and Chang Chang Woodcut spelling out the welcome.
Note: To use this font, unzip the folder and install the .ttf file in the folder C:\Windows\Fonts. Note that the fonts won't appear in your applications until you close and re-open them.
--Kate Godfrey
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