TDC Awards

The TDC competition, established in 1953, is the longest running, most prestigious, global typography and type design competition. Now in its 70th year, these awards are all about how letterforms are used and drawn, recognizing typographic excellence and celebrating new typeface designs in all global languages.

2022 TDC Awards - Typeface Design

Uwabami

Agency Hisashi Iwai / Tokyo

Category

Single Typeface

Annual ID

TD25_023T

Description

Japanese texts have always been written in a vertical direction since their beginning. Uwabami follows the tradition and is designed exclusively for vertical typesetting. Each character included in Uwabami conforms to the size/proportion of the historical form of Kana and is placed in a proportional body. By designing beyond the space of the body, the neighboring characters may be overlayed by chance, which adds a distinct personality to the composition. Uwabami's character set mainly utilizes Hentaigana, kana that are marginally used today. While this renders the characters almost indecipherable to most modern people, this striking feature helps achieve a unique, archaic flair. Some characters have alternate forms that automatically switch depending on the previous characters. Uwabami is also equipped with abundant ligatures for aesthetic enhancement. These factors diversify character shapes and lead to a richer typesetting experience.

2022 Awards

Total Points: 20

TDC Winner

Credits

Type Foundry

Hisashi Iwai / Tokyo

Type Designer

Hisashi Iwai
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