Shimadzu 島津 is a leading manufacturer of analytical and medical instruments. The company commissioned Hanyi Fonts to create Shimadzu Genso Sans, the industry’s first custom brand font. This elegant typeface, designed to boost brand recognition and eliminate font copyright risks, was awarded the iF Design Award 2025.

The core concept, “Beauty of Health,” reflects Shimadzu’s commitment to the well-being of humankind and the Earth, aligning with the company’s management principles. Inspired by the handwritten descriptions of X-ray radiography systems by Genzo Shimadzu Junior, the font fuses the warmth of handwriting with natural, curved lines, resulting in a minimalist aesthetic.

Genso Sans is designed for easy readability on digital devices like tablets and smartphones, taking into consideration users with disabilities. This universal design is compatible with the Latin alphabet, used in 35 languages, as well as with Hebrew. It also adheres to the GB/T2312 standard, offering three weights and encompassing Chinese, Western, Greek characters, numerals, and more.

The font is used for graphics on Shimadzu China’s official website, for brand packaging, offices, etc.

Event poster for the Bassiani 10 Years Showcase at Zhao Dai Club in Beijing. The poster was designed by Pan Haojun’s design studio Bad Preacher:

For the past two years, we‘ve compiled a hefty collection of electronic archives for Zhao Dai Club, as always, keeping the creativity flowing has been an absolute joy and we’re excited to share this happiness with you all, and of course, it goes with our poster picks from picks.

The poster is set in partly distorted Cortese by Mark van Leeuwen.

The visual identity for the Halftime Orange Wine Festival was designed by Chai Kunpeng (After Path Design), who describes the project as follows:

Organized by thewinepool, the first Orange Wine Festival in China was held at the outdoor basketball court in the north section of Beijing's China World Trade Center. thewinepool's posters were based on a half-symmetrical design based on the keyword of the "basketball court" half of the court. The graphic of the basketball court was used as the soil from which the tools used to make orange wine, such as clay pots and grapes, sieves and scissors, were grown to create a visual image of natural vitality.

The same material was used for both the poster and the derivatives package: PE woven bag, screen printed with environmentally friendly ink. The reason for using the traditional printing method and the specificity of the material is that we are trying to express the organic raw material, the sustainability and the vitality of the brewing method of "Orange Wine" in a more relevant way. The idea is to bring the participants closer to "Orange Wine", "Natural Brewing" and "Freshness".

Typefaces: DaVinci by Virgile Flores and Hosei FW Chikushi Mincho by Founder Type and Fontworks.

Poster (square)

天空签名 Sky-Writing is a solo exhibition by artist 张业鸿 Zhang Yehong. It was shown at 拟像空间 Simulacra in Beijing, China, in 2021. From the gallery’s website:

The exhibition revolves around a now-defunct commercial tool – “sky-writing” – in which the artist starts with an anonymous sky-writing enthusiast starting with a chance flight pattern left by an anonymous sky-writer, the artist navigates through a multitude of found texts and images, searching for echoes of the different frequencies left by technology on the timeline.

The smoke screen of the First World War inspired a British Air Force major to take business to the skies and in 1922 issued the first introduction to sky-writing – ‘HELLO’; PepsiCo employed a large fleet of propaganda aircraft in the 1830s and 1850s to The Germans saw writing in the air as another means of circumventing the Treaty of Versailles, secretly training air force pilots through squadrons of commercial advertising; the Chilean writer Bolaño depicted in Distant Stars a mysterious puzzling skywriter who is both a murderer and a poet ......

The political and the mundane, the fictional and the real, the war machine and the performance apparatus, are intertwined like a Borromean knot, weaving a polyphonic historical situation; in the spiral of the narrative, it eventually comes back to the traumatic dimension behind the poetic image of the sky-writing.

The exhibition was directed by 赵邦 Zhao Bang. Space design by 张镜澜 Minato 林鹭琪 Lin Luqi. Xiaoyuan Gao provided the graphic design and the custom type design. The main font in use is Jack Halten Fahnestock’s Tiny (Velvetyne Type Foundry). The Chinese title is custom type based on Tiny, drawn by Xiaoyuan Gao. Additional fonts include Gao’s own Barbecue (old version, notyourtype) and Resource Han Rounded by Cyano Hao.

Poster

Leaflet

Leaflet

Title of the exhibition

Folded leaflet

Poster

Custom type design

From Mousse Publishing:

X Museum 2020–2021 is the first chapter in a series of annual publications dedicated to the activity of the newly opened museum. Since its opening in May 2020, X Museum has been committed to nurturing and supporting emerging artists and embracing innovative practices on a global scale, based on critical perspectives and practical concepts. The annual catalog composes a narrative of X Museum’s creative journey during its first year of activity, including exhibitions, public program events, and various off-site activities and collaborations.

Designed by Related Department, using Scope and a yet unidentified typeface for Chinese texts. Edited by Jiashun Fang. Texts by Michael Xufu Huang, Poppy Dongxue Wu, Cyril Kuizhen Rao, Jiashun Fang, Ziyi Liao. Published by Mousse Publishing.

Exhibition poster for the 2021 edition of Gallery Weekend Beijing 画廊周北京. The design is by DUAN Zhihua of Shanghai-based design studio, Pocca (Playground of Conceptive & Cheerful Actions).

The title of the exhibition is bi-scriptual: The English version, Dream of the Red Chamber, is set in Spindle by Gor Jihanian. The Chinese, 红楼梦, uses a custom design by Zhihua using modified forms based on Spindle. Accompanying text is set in GT Alpina and a yet unidentified Chinese typeface.

Description of the exhibition:

Pilar Corrias, a well-known gallery from London, presents the exhibition “Dream of the Red Chamber” in this year’s Art Visiting Unit of Gallery Week Beijing, featuring a new series of eponymous paintings by Sophie von Hellermann and a series of potted sculptures created by Rirkrit Tiravanija. According to the Chinese classic Dream of the Red Chamber, von Hellermann produced a series of paintings to explore the contemporary historical fiction and reality with Tiravanija's works in the theme and aesthetic level mutual reflections. The latter brings restraint and uniqueness to the exhibition, and in an abstract and concrete way to creates a fitting and dreamy atmosphere for von Heilemann's characters.

According to the unique and poetic concept of the exhibition, we select a special typeface for the English title and create the Chinese title typeface with the similar style. Based on this, we combined the virtual and real images to create the exhibition poster in a clear but obscure way.

For the first solo record of Beijing-based cellist and multimedia artist Gogoj (also known as 盛潔, or Sheng Jie), designer Qingyu Wu conceived a very stark sleeve, using a combination of KRSNA (originally designed for another record cover) and a yet unidentified Chinese font. The title on the front is printed with silver metallic ink and the back cover layout is entirely vertical (a typesetting known as 纵排 [zongpai] in Chinese), like if the liquid text was dripping from the top of the record (see also the raining code from the Matrix movie).

The combination of black and silver inks with spiky interlocking letters might recall to some people the viewing of cyberpunk masterpiece Tetsuo the Ironman, the story of a salaryman turning into a metal creature made of screws and pipes. A movie so raw (in all the meanings of the word) that it is the perfect echo to gogoj’s music, a mesmerizing mix of classical cello performance and loud noise music.

Limited to 300 copies, the record is still (at the time of writing) available from Maybe Noise Records and WV Sorcerer Productions.

KRSNA is part of the Lab typefaces, available from Swiss Typefaces.

[More info on Discogs]

Banco on the cover of a book published by Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1972. From The Book Shed’s description:

Peasant militia defeats Japanese fascist forces in a graphic novel style account. The action is occasionally interrupted by a quotation from Chairman Mao. Illustrations by the Chekiang Fine Arts Institute Drawing Group.

The typeface used for the captions is some sort of Garamond.

In 2021, Beijing club Zhao Dai hosted the second edition of its annual outdoor festival. Zhao Dai On Leave 招待会 took place from May 28 to May 31 at a beach of Aranya in the city of Beidaihe. Graphic design by Menslies. The typography uses Mineral by Benoît Bodhuin for the English text, with matching Chinese characters that were custom added.

Beijing Antique Market poster series

“Diǎn mǎo” is a phrase of Beijing dialect, which means to go to a place and to experience that place. It also reminds me of a part of my grandfather’s routine as an old Beijinger. He went to the Baoguo Temple every Thursday. The Baoguo Temple has become a well-known antique collectors market in Beijing for several years. It is not only a market for antiquarian experts, but also a place for antique collectors to find community. Unfortunately, permission to set up stalls at the market was revoked in 2019.

The posters below were designed for three of the most famous Beijing antique markets – Panjiayuan, Baoguo Temple, and Liulichang. By naming the project “diǎn mǎo”, it is not only about educating the current and next generations to have an experience toward the culture but it also serves as a reminder of the old Beijingers’ habit of going to the antique market(s) every once in a while.

This series of hypothetical posters for the Beijing antique markets was designed as a private project.

Panjiayuan Antique Market

Baoguo Temple Antique Market

Liulichang Antique Market

In 2017, designer Qingyu Wu designed an album cover and merchandise for The Landscape the Tropics Never Had (热带从未有过的风景) by Beijing-based band Chui Wan (吹万).

As an experimental psychedelic rock band, Chui Wan’s music consists of emotional and textural contrasts and Wu sought to convey these tensions in the album’s design. The bilingual typography contrasts the calligraphic Ogg Display, which is used for Latin text, and the sans serif FZ Lan Ting Hei S UL GB for the Chinese text.

“I wanted the design leave a space for imagination, just like Chui Wan’s music does,” Wu adds. “The design is intended to translate and represent the tracks’ ambiguous, poetic, and textural melodies, and Ogg expresses all of these temperaments. Ogg keeps the classical attitude of serifs — elegant, romantic, and meandering. At the same time, it also contains some contemporary aesthetics — odd, sharp, and loud,” Wu shares. The cover art uses “Desserts” by Li Gang (李钢) / Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing.

Bologna used in all caps on the cover of Early Man in China, published by Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1980. The author’s name is set in ITC Garamond (or similar).

Jia Lanpo (贾兰坡, 1908–2001) was a Chinese palaeoanthropologist and is considered a founder of Chinese anthropology.

This is a recruitment poster for a buyer's shop called Code Me. The building in this poster is the appearance of the buyer's shop. The whole illustration is depicting a person holding a trumpet in the shop to tell everyone about the recruitment information. Since the overall image is lively and interesting and the patterns are complicated, Bazinga chose Tenor Sans which is a more concise but without losing the advanced sans serif as the main font. And for the small fonts, she selected Innova as the basic font which let font weight changes to increase the sense of hierarchy.

This is the opening ceremony poster of a buyer's store called Code Me, located in the Chaoyang District of Beijing, China. Since the opening date coincides with the Christmas season, there are mannequin, gifts, Christmas tree, mistletoe and other Christmas elements in the poster. The style of this store is relatively young and lively. That’s why the designer chose high-contrasting colors to increase the festive atmosphere. The lines and style of the painting are rigorous, so she chose Wichita [edit: It’s Marker Felt Wide, see comments] – which is full of playfulness – as the main font. It’s paired with Helvetica as the basic font to have a sense of contrast. The font used for Chinese text is yet unidentified [Akira Yoshino identified it as Source Han Sans].

Ryo Sekino 関野亮 and Yuko Sekino 関野ゆうこ are handmade glass artists based in Tamba-Sasayama, Japan who apply classical glass-making techniques in modern vessel designs. Mazzybox of Studio NA,EO in Beijing designed posters for an exhibition featuring their work that primarily uses a combination of Ogg and Kozuka Mincho [It’s Adobe Song, see comments], with old style numerals from Leonardo Fascia. In an interview with Mazzybox, she was seeking a typeface that reflected the same harmony between the classical and modern in Sekino’s works.

“I choose Ogg as the main font in the poster because it keeps the classical aesthetics of serifs, while retaining the modernity of visual representations. I appreciate Ogg’s delicate serifs and handling of thin lines — it is no doubt a distinguishing typeface and it fits perfectly for the theme of this exhibition,” Mazzybox said.

The Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA) is a not-for-profit art center serving both Beijing and a global audience. UCCA is a pioneering institution, at the heart of the cultural 798 Art District, featuring a wide range of exhibitions and programming.

BMD was asked to redesign the UCCA visual identity in conjunction with a new entrance design by FCJZ Architects. Insights around the growing nature of public art in China and UCCA’s role manifested during the research phase, leading the team to design an identity that is at once structured and fluid. The goal of the identity is two-fold: first, to position the UCCA as leading art institution, and second, to mark the gallery as an active art space. The letterforms are singular and structured when the logo is ‘at rest’, but elastic and expandable when used in frame artwork.

Metric is the primary typeface. The constructed sans serif compliments the geometric forms of the dynamic word-mark. [Editor’s note: The typeface used for Chinese texts is yet unidentified.]

UCCA Design Team

Source: www.instagram.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Eurostile Bold Extended in use for a collaboration by Pigalle and Nike.

From Nike.com:

Since 2014, Nike has worked with Parisian Stéphane Ashpool’s Pigalle in a mutual celebration of basketball’s pure cultural impact. The collaboration has generated a series of apparel and footwear collections, and also focused on supporting community-building programming by providing safe harbor for players. […]

“Our court in Paris birthed a community,” says Ashpool. “We transformed a parking lot into a place that has fostered a family and inspired people. All the subtle details that can make this magic happen were united. It was the best learning for me, and now it’s the right time to work in expanding this scheme, staying organic, authentic and focused.”

Pigalle x Nike. License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: www.instagram.com Pigalle. License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: www.instagram.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: www.instagram.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: news.nike.com Pigalle x Nike. License: All Rights Reserved.

The Nike x Pigalle basketball court in Beijing.

Source: news.nike.com Pigalle x Nike. License: All Rights Reserved.

The new Nike x Pigalle basketball court in Mexico City.

Here</>There is an exhibition featuring recent design and art graduates-come-professionals, who have attended and graduated from design and art institutions in the USA and Europe. It was curated by Adrian Shaughnessy and Regular Practice. Organized in collaboration with SIA – School of International Art, it is held at the Today Art Museum in Beijing, the first private museum for contemporary art in China.

The visual identity of this exhibition is designed by Tao Lin, a Chinese Austrian designer who graduated from ZHdK in Zurich, Switzerland. Currently he works as an independent designer between Europe and Shanghai.

The design should convey both the radical creative values that each practitioner involved in the exhibition has employed in their displayed works, with contemporary, cutting-edge, innovative character. Tao Lin found a typographically solution by using Massimo Grafia by übertype, a linear grotesque with powerful hand-drawn forms. Furthermore, he removed the slash from the original title Here</>There, so that the the pair of less-than and greater-than signs is not just a symbol that points to two directions, but also a container that should be filled with different contents, like texts and images.

Detail from the website

A book that is equally elaborate (almost 5000 pages) as limited (edition 5), more sculpture than book. Designed by Toko, produced by Digital Press (Australia) and set in Radim Peško's Fugue.

As part of China’s 2012, year of the Dragon celebrations, Toko was invited by the China International Design Competition Committee to judge the first ever annual design competition in Beijing last September. This competition, hosted by PoloArts, AIGA and Beijing Design Week in conjunction with the Capital Museum of China, aims to promote communications, exchange and interaction between China and the World.
–– Toko

The book ‘Long Story, Made in China’ captures the sheer scale, complexity and history of the Chinese Zodiac Dragon. A monumental but foremost conceptual interpretation of the Dragon, the book celebrates every Dragon year since it’s supposed origins in 2697 BCE based on the most widely ‘tolerated’ myth.

The 4,716 page book carries the title “Long Story made in China”. “Long” as in the rich culture, cultivated over thousands of years, and “Long” as in the chinese word for Dragon (Long story / Dragon story). The book (edition 5) should be seen as a paper sculpture and is a tribute to Chinese culture by western interpretation.
–– Toko

Juice by Melissa, an organic cold pressed juice and super food café, is located in Dongzhimen, China. JAF Domus Titling is used for its branding throughout.