JANE ZHANG

ABOUT ME

I’m a Communication Design major at Washington University in St. Louis who is also pursuing minors in Human-Computer Interaction and Computer Science. In my work, I strive to explore a diverse range of narratives, perspectives, and approaches. My favorite part of the design process is the iteration stage, especially the moment where I finally arrive at the version that addresses everything I’ve been trying to communicate.

Recently, I’ve been interested in the nuances of multilingual typography and how the characteristics of different languages’ letterforms can be leveraged to enhance a concept across multiple linguistic demographics. Outside of my work, I love stories in any form, whether that means books, movies, or music. Lately, I’ve been watching Summertime Rendering and listening to Jack Stauber.

Feel free to reach out for work or friendship, and check out more of my work below!

HOME / CLIENT WORK / ARCHIVE

LUNAR SANDS

The objective of this project was to create an interactive modular typeface with a passive state and active state that is triggered by a microinteraction. View the typeface here

RESEARCH

I ideated and digitized two possible directions for my typeface. The first idea consisted of crescents that connected at various joints, while the second was constructed with lines of varying weights and angles. Ultimately, I decided to explore the first option, as the organic curvature of the modules seemed like an interesting juxtaposition against what is typically a heavily gridded context.

DEVELOPMENT

Once I built my typeface in code, I considered how I wanted it to animate upon being interacted with. I knew I wanted to emphasize the organic aspect of my typeface, so I decided to lean in the direction of a crescent moon concept. Thus, I wanted to consider elliptical, organic motion to reflect the idea of deviating from the grid. Thus, I decided to mimic the motion of swinging pendulums to allude to the idea of realistic physics in my typeface. For my showcase specimen, I implemented a floating-in transition upon page load to reference a moon rise as well as the perceived lightness of the moon as it hangs in the air. I also applied a desynchronized rotation to each letter of the specimen to suggest the idea of orbital paths.