Aline Nguyen | Design Portfolio | Typography
Avalon Hans is a humanist sans serif typeface designed for the Vietnamese language and its unique set of additional diacritcs for tones. Inspired by Paul D. Hunt's Source Sans and Hermann Zapf's Optima, Avalon Hans is a typeface that strives to make reading comfortable and enjoyable for both screen and print.
Avalon Hans' humanist personality is given character by its subtle contrasts in weight. The subtle "pinching" seen in selected areas such as the link of the "g" and shoulder of the "n" and the "h", and the higher x-height and capline encourages better legibility and readability.
As my first typeface design, it was an eye-opener to how powerful typefaces can be in setting the tone and mood in a reader's experience. Even the most subtle of details in typographic composition can have a major influence in how information can be perceived.