Website content from a font maker. It can dissemble a letter or character into pieces, and then compose new images by combining them in many different ways. The examples were made by visitors, and are presented together with the process by which they were made. The beautiful shapes of the fonts are reflected in the pictures, reminding us of the traditional Japanese art form that combines illustration and calligraphy into a whole.

FONTPARK 2.0 is a website dedicated to “the very shape of Japanese letters.” I aimed to create an intuitive and extremely open interface, which is not only suitable for casual interaction, but can also be used to create very complicated pictures, if desired. I hope that this website will allow people to appreciate the beauty and quality of Japanese letters afresh.

The pictures displayed on this web site are the result of the efforts of its visitors; this award winning work is a place of expression, as well as an advanced piece of software developed to create new artwork. The excellence of it is obvious when the quality of the pictures created by it is perceived; this work certainly has the power to inspire the creativity of its users. The technology to disassemble complex shapes, such as Japanese letterforms, and the interactivity that allows the users to feel the movements of the mouse as though their own fingertips, are innovative; the freedom of control is highly original, and cannot even be found in the latest game consoles. While drawing, the players can realize the beautiful curves and unexpected details of Japanese fonts, which is also ideally suitable for the font maker, Morisawa. Moreover, one very interesting thing about this website is that the viewers can see the trial and error process involved; it is recaptured quickly and rhythmically, and the struggles of the user to choose the shapes and where to place them are revealed from beginning to the end. It is not only amusing but also highly inventive. This idea conveys a feeling of “maybe I can try myself…” to the viewer, and this is what I call entertainment.