Display Typeface for CJK Ming Typesetting
A Latin serif designed to coexist with Ming
LL Kleisch is a serif typeface designed by Chiachi Chao and released by Lineto in 2024, with font engineering and mastering by Alphabet, Berlin. It was conceived to address the stylistic incompatibility between Latin serif and CJK Ming typefaces in multilingual typesetting—a problem common among designers in Asian contexts where Latin defaults in CJK fonts are often substandard. Chao identified formal convergences between Latin and Ming letterforms that emerged during shared rationalisation periods, using those parallels as the structural basis for the design. The family spans six weights with italics, plus dedicated headline and display cuts, and a fully variable version with weight and contrast axes.
Set in LL Kleisch Display
Insights
- Chao traced formal similarities between Baroque and Neoclassical Latin serifs and Ming letterforms—particularly in ductus, stroke models, and proportion—drawing on typefaces by Van Djik, Kis, and Fleischman as source references.
- Beyond the regular family, dedicated headline and display cuts offer improved contrast for large and extra-large settings respectively.
- A variable version provides weight and contrast axes to allow fine-tuned matching against the range of Ming typefaces in common use.
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