Insight ∙Original Font
If you are looking for a more playful, fully packed square sans, look here—!
There is no such thing as two identical fully packed squares under the same sky!
At Sandoll, we make an effort each year to listen closely to users’ voices through surveys. Despite the many questions, we gain both insight and inspiration as we carefully read through the thoughtful responses shared by users. The Product Planning Team I belong to is responsible for translating this data into fonts. Through fonts, we strive to anticipate users’ needs and trends, respond to them, and make informed proposals. That is why we are always highly attentive to which fonts people prefer and need. Recently, we have also been visiting bookstores and exhibition spaces in person to conduct field research, observing how various fonts are actually being used. If you happen to see five or six people huddled together somewhere, quietly talking only about fonts, there is a good chance they are from Sandoll’s Product Planning Team!
「SD Tapi」 is a font planned through the analysis of survey results collected in this way. Since the release of 「Sandoll Gyeokdong Gothic」 in 2014, numerous fully packed modular gothic fonts have appeared up to the present day. Even so, fully packed modular gothic ranked first as the most desired font style in our survey. As a result, Sandoll has been producing at least one new fully packed square design each year over the past several years. Beyond that, we believe this font also meets specific user requests such as, “We need a font that allows a unified design across a single family, from thick strokes to thin ones!” and “We want a display font with a clear concept and distinctive character!” a single family, from thick strokes to thin ones!” and “We want a display font with a clear concept and distinctive character!”
So, what about 「SD Tapi」?
Compared to the fully packed square fonts already in the Sandoll library, 「SD Tapi」 is a more graphic font. To enhance usability, it was planned with full Hangul support* and extended Latin, and produced in three weights: Regular, SemiBold, and Heavy. As its name suggests, 「SD Tapi」 is a ‘type’ created with letters inspired by tape.
*Expanded to 11,172 characters to cover the full range of modern Hangul syllables.
Because there were already quite a few fonts based on a tape motif, we approached this project by posing light, playful questions such as, “What if we used tape to create a fully packed square?” and “Could tape be used in a more fun way?” This line of thinking is also why we emphasized the idea of type earlier. While letters made of tape can easily become irregular, we believed that, as type, they still needed to retain a certain level of comfortable readability and visual consistency. Rather than forcing every glyph to be literally constructed from tape, we developed the font by organizing and designing forms based on the motif. You will immediately understand this approach when you see the square, track-like form of the ㅇ(ieung) character.
「SD Tapi」 is a font in which the characteristics of tape—such as bends and breaks—stand out clearly. As mentioned earlier, rather than looking like letters literally made of tape, it is a look that translates letters that could be made with tape into a font. Depending on the angle at which a stroke begins and ends, and the points where the tape peels, sticks, or bends, the range of expression was virtually endless. Refining and adjusting these possibilities into visually pleasing forms was fun, yet it also required deep consideration each time.
In fact, the initial seed-letter drafts contained more graphic elements than the final version. When set into lines of text, some elements collided visually, so the design was ultimately revised in a direction that reduced those elements, leaving only a few distinctive glyph features. This stage involved quite a few twists and turns. With simpler letters that had more space, we wanted to emphasize their character, while with more complex structures, we wanted to reduce design elements. This made the lack of cohesion between base letters and final consonant letters somewhat frustrating, and multiple rounds of design testing were necessary. During this process, we even tried creating glyphs directly with masking tape to gain hints on how to translate those forms into type.
How we recommend using it
「SD Tapi」 looks like letters made by peeling, sticking, and folding tape, and its distinctive broken and bent glyph designs are a key part of its charm. The weight of the large initial consonants is also fun. On the flip side, this also means it can be seen as a fairly complex design. When used as a bold focal point, its design details become much more visible, allowing its appeal to really shine. During production, typesetting tests were conducted with the assumption that it would be used at 18 pt or larger. Whenever possible—no, actually… absolutely, absolutely (not a typo)—we recommend using it big(!). With its casual impression, 「SD Tapi」 is easy and fun to use lightly in many different contexts. Please show lots of love for it!
P.S. The masking tape we had envisioned from the early planning stages is scheduled to be produced as official merchandise. We kindly ask for your interest in the event that will be held via SandollCloud’s Instagram (Link).
Insight ∙Original Font
If you are looking for a more playful, fully packed square sans, look here—!
There is no such thing as two identical fully packed squares under the same sky!
At Sandoll, we make an effort each year to listen closely to users’ voices through surveys. Despite the many questions, we gain both insight and inspiration as we carefully read through the thoughtful responses shared by users. The Product Planning Team I belong to is responsible for translating this data into fonts. Through fonts, we strive to anticipate users’ needs and trends, respond to them, and make informed proposals. That is why we are always highly attentive to which fonts people prefer and need. Recently, we have also been visiting bookstores and exhibition spaces in person to conduct field research, observing how various fonts are actually being used. If you happen to see five or six people huddled together somewhere, quietly talking only about fonts, there is a good chance they are from Sandoll’s Product Planning Team!
「SD Tapi」 is a font planned through the analysis of survey results collected in this way. Since the release of 「Sandoll Gyeokdong Gothic」 in 2014, numerous fully packed modular gothic fonts have appeared up to the present day. Even so, fully packed modular gothic ranked first as the most desired font style in our survey. As a result, Sandoll has been producing at least one new fully packed square design each year over the past several years. Beyond that, we believe this font also meets specific user requests such as, “We need a font that allows a unified design across a single family, from thick strokes to thin ones!” and “We want a display font with a clear concept and distinctive character!” a single family, from thick strokes to thin ones!” and “We want a display font with a clear concept and distinctive character!”
So, what about 「SD Tapi」?
Compared to the fully packed square fonts already in the Sandoll library, 「SD Tapi」 is a more graphic font. To enhance usability, it was planned with full Hangul support* and extended Latin, and produced in three weights: Regular, SemiBold, and Heavy. As its name suggests, 「SD Tapi」 is a ‘type’ created with letters inspired by tape.
*Expanded to 11,172 characters to cover the full range of modern Hangul syllables.
Because there were already quite a few fonts based on a tape motif, we approached this project by posing light, playful questions such as, “What if we used tape to create a fully packed square?” and “Could tape be used in a more fun way?” This line of thinking is also why we emphasized the idea of type earlier. While letters made of tape can easily become irregular, we believed that, as type, they still needed to retain a certain level of comfortable readability and visual consistency. Rather than forcing every glyph to be literally constructed from tape, we developed the font by organizing and designing forms based on the motif. You will immediately understand this approach when you see the square, track-like form of the ㅇ(ieung) character.
Production Process
「SD Tapi」 is a font in which the characteristics of tape—such as bends and breaks—stand out clearly. As mentioned earlier, rather than looking like letters literally made of tape, it is a look that translates letters that could be made with tape into a font. Depending on the angle at which a stroke begins and ends, and the points where the tape peels, sticks, or bends, the range of expression was virtually endless. Refining and adjusting these possibilities into visually pleasing forms was fun, yet it also required deep consideration each time.
In fact, the initial seed-letter drafts contained more graphic elements than the final version. When set into lines of text, some elements collided visually, so the design was ultimately revised in a direction that reduced those elements, leaving only a few distinctive glyph features. This stage involved quite a few twists and turns. With simpler letters that had more space, we wanted to emphasize their character, while with more complex structures, we wanted to reduce design elements. This made the lack of cohesion between base letters and final consonant letters somewhat frustrating, and multiple rounds of design testing were necessary. During this process, we even tried creating glyphs directly with masking tape to gain hints on how to translate those forms into type.
How we recommend using it
「SD Tapi」 looks like letters made by peeling, sticking, and folding tape, and its distinctive broken and bent glyph designs are a key part of its charm. The weight of the large initial consonants is also fun. On the flip side, this also means it can be seen as a fairly complex design. When used as a bold focal point, its design details become much more visible, allowing its appeal to really shine. During production, typesetting tests were conducted with the assumption that it would be used at 18 pt or larger. Whenever possible—no, actually… absolutely, absolutely (not a typo)—we recommend using it big(!). With its casual impression, 「SD Tapi」 is easy and fun to use lightly in many different contexts. Please show lots of love for it!
P.S. The masking tape we had envisioned from the early planning stages is scheduled to be produced as official merchandise. We kindly ask for your interest in the event that will be held via SandollCloud’s Instagram (Link).