Typeface Design for Lineto

A Latin serif engineered 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. Created specifically to complement Ming (old-style CJK) typefaces, it addresses the persistent stylistic incompatibility between Latin serif and CJK scripts in multilingual typesetting. Chao traced parallel rationalization histories in both Latin and Ming traditions—identifying convergences in stroke models, ductus, and proportions—and grounded the design in Baroque and Neoclassical Latin sources including Van Djik, Kis, and Fleischman. The family comprises six weights with italics, plus separate headline and display subfamilies for large and extra-large sizes, and a fully variable version with weight and contrast axes.

Set in LL Kleisch

Insights

Chao identified that Latin serif and Ming scripts underwent structurally similar rationalization periods, producing unexpected convergences in stroke model and ductus that became the design's formal basis.
Baroque and Neoclassical Latin typefaces—Van Djik, Kis, Fleischman—were chosen because their rationalized features most closely mirror formal properties common in contemporary Ming characters.
Separate headline and display subfamilies offer progressively higher contrast for large and extra-large sizes respectively; a variable font with weight and contrast axes enables fine-grained matching to specific Ming designs.
The design addresses a recognized problem for designers in Asian countries where Latin letterforms bundled in CJK typefaces are often low quality and standalone Latin alternatives are difficult to match visually.