ATypI Brisbane 2024 | Yehang Yin | Zhuque, an Ongoing AI-Aided Fangsong Type Revival

The rapid advancement of generative AI is nearing a breakthrough in overcoming the centuries-old curse of CJK types associated with the tremendous character set. To exemplify the current state of generative Hanzi AI, we launched Zhuque Fangsong, an ongoing exploratory open-source CJK typeface project with a pan-CJK ambition. As one of the four fundamental type styles in China, Fangsong and its Japanese counterpart, Sōchōtai, have been long without a free, open-source alternative. While Zhuque Fangsong is rooted in forward-looking technology, its design harks back to the early 20th century. This was a period of remarkable diversity in Fangsong typefaces in China. Zhuque seeks to rejuvenate the CJK Fangsong ecosystem with a design that has not yet been digitized. The development of Zhuque is a co-creation of AI and human designers. Backed by the new AI technology, we implemented numerous bold attempts that were previously impossible for CJK type projects, including public beta for user feedback, iterative design improvements on a large character set, interactive editing with a pretrained model, and above all, speeding up the character set expansion through batch generations. This presentation will dive into the technical and design story behind Zhuque, offer insights into the future of CJK typefaces that we are now prepared to embrace. It prompts us to envision a CJK type industry where the production capability for large character sets is fully democratized-a future that is now within our reach.