I teach design in Vietnam. This is a great asset that we are familiar with. Vietnamese art and design has been greatly influenced by French and Russian influence and also Vietnamese folk paintings, the colors of which are distinct. Unfortunately, the output of many young Vietnamese designers is increasingly ‘international’, with little to distinguish it from what is being done elsewhere in SE Asia. Maybe Vietnamese typography is another matter… and Vietnamese illustration is certainly world-class kick ass and distinctly Vietnamese. Check out the work of Kaa: https://www.kaaillustration.com/, Mr Phan: https://www.facebook.com/hi.mrphan/ and Tin Tran: https://www.tinsideout.xyz/personal
I live in Vienna, Austria, and I have a fascination with the typography of the signage all over the city.
There are very distinct examples of different era, with 19th-century, 20th-century, and 21st-century periods in full splendour. This can be seen in various Instagram groups, which alas are not as open/public as I would prefer. [1]
Do you see much older signage and typography in Vietnam? In the villages versus cities?
It always impresses on me that a city, itself, is an open book for typography.
I wonder if you would be aware of any similar projects to "Fonts of Vienna", but for your region of the world?
> It always impresses on me that a city, itself, is an open book for typography.
That is a very good observation.
> I wonder if you would be aware of any similar projects to "Fonts of Vienna", but for your region of the world?
I have asked around, but nothing comes to mind. There is however this absolutely brilliant resource: https://vietnamesetypography.com/ who writes in great detail about the history and practice of VN typography. Also, https://www.luuchu.com/ which is an open archive for VN designers (e.g. this wonderful collection of publications https://www.luuchu.com/archive).
