Beyond Intuition

Abstract There are situations where designs involve bilingual content. In such cases, to convey clear and consistent messages, we need to select typefaces in two languages. Traditionally, designers relied on their intuition and experience when selecting typefaces. This study, however, uses analytical research to explore the possibility of using data to inform designs and to make appropriate typeface selections in bilingual contexts. It collects and analyses participants’ responses toward sample typefaces and uses them to choose typefaces in two languages simultaneously, English and Chinese. This method is shown to be effective; it breaks language barriers and explores an original and efficient approach to typeface selection.