TP Sky Modern

Overview

TP Sky family is the first Japanese font featuring the four axes of weight, contrast, character width, and inside space between strokes. In particular, TP Sky Modern has the widest space between strokes among the Type Project fonts; it is a sans-serif typeface with a generous structure that provides stability. Large characters with wide inside space between strokes designed to fill up space convey brightness and familiarity, which creates cuteness and an impression of affinity. As each square space for full-width characters is used maximumly, the character spacing is constant, and it is compatible with solid typesetting; it also fulfills a function where crushing is less likely to occur.

An extremely thick weight is also achieved in TP Sky Modern by widening the inside space between strokes. In the Extra bold weight, Blk (Black) strokes have been repeatedly adjusted, so kanji, kana, and Latin, with differences in the number of strokes can be seen in order even when they are placed side by side. This manages both thickness and visibility by strengthening the contrast between straight lines and curved lines, making strokes longer to allow a generous structure. UL (Ultra Light) and EL (Extra Light) are weights with the strength in narrowness, lightness, and transparency; due to the line width set almost the same, a sense of uniformity is generated. As the line width from L (Light) to H (Heavy) is designed to be visually seen as uniform, it achieves a stable black wash in typesetting.

TP Sky is implemented with an axis in contrast to a sans-serif typeface so as to improve its effectiveness on screens. Delicate UL (Ultra Light) is newly added to Low Contrast, making the family a total of forty-eight fonts in three axes of weight, contrast, and character width.

TP Sky Classic is a simple sans-serif typeface, it is a font family with a classical appearance. The well-balanced proportion carried out for kanji, kana, and Latin tightens the screen. At the same time, it creates a relaxed atmosphere. UL is also added to Low Contrast in TP Sky Classic. It consists of sixteen fonts in one weight and three contrasts.

By adding the enhanced weight development of TP Sky Modern, new utilization applications for the TP Sky family have broadened. By using each font properly between headings and texts or titles and captions, etc., a high level of unity can be achieved on the screen without using Mincho or Gothic typefaces.

Concept

A serene and vast sky – this is the concept for the TP Sky family. While the simple outline description with a high purity of TP Sky is kept as is, TP Sky Modern has a strengthened structure of contrast between straight lines and curved lines by widening the inside space between strokes. With a well-proportioned space between the inside and outside of each character, and a stable, strong black color, it expresses messages as if talking in a clear loud voice.

(Left) TP Sky Low Contrast B (Right) TP Sky Modern B
●Inside space／●Outside space
The inside space of the modest structure of TP Sky is widened to create a well-proportioned space between the inside and outside of characters.

While being orderly, a correct sense of distance with familiarity is reliable as a font for games, images, social networking media applications, etc. As the weight development is wide from extremely thin to the extremely thick, selection can be made in accordance with the content you would like to express – lightness with a wide space for the thin weights, and strength with impact for thick weights.

Features

TP Sky Modern features large characters designed to fill up space. While widening the inside space between strokes, the type face is set at a large size at the same time, so the sizes of kana and kanji become closer. As the character size is arranged, it is a stable typeface that strongly inherits the plain and flat impression common to the TP Sky family.

Kana of the thickest Blk (Black), Latin, and Chinese numerals with lower numbers of strokes feature extreme thickness, around 150% thicker than TP Sky Low Contrast B. In kanji characters with a large number of strokes, the main strokes are thickened, and the other parts are kept thin to prevent damage to the image of the character and black accumulation, and to maintain the balance of density with characters with fewer strokes. This can restrain dispersion in blackness of character, even when used in large sizes, such as on headings, signboards, etc.

Comparison between TP Sky Low Contrast B simply thickened at 150% and TP Sky Modern Blk.

The Latin has a relaxed, orthodox design. With a large inside space between strokes, and a generous structure similar to Japanese, it gives a strong impression while remaining simple. High visibility is also maintained in the thick weights by setting the x-height higher. Not only it is easy to read in Latin by itself, it is designed with a strong awareness of compatibility with Japanese. As the height is adjusted by weight, the appearance is well-balanced, achieving a natural appearance at the time of typesetting.

In contrast to TP Sky Classic, in which a tightened block style format is incorporated, TP Sky Modern is created with the awareness of generating a silhouette close to square, and achieving flat and orderly typesetting.

Family

TP Sky Modern has a total of eight weights: UL (Ultra Light), EL (Extra Light), L (Light), R (Regular), M (Medium), B (Bold), H (Heavy), and Blk (Black). From delicate weight to extremely thick weight, the wide range of development supports a variety of utilization applications. Blk demonstrates its strength with a clear and strong presence to attract attention, such as in titles, headings, catch phrases, etc. The narrow UL and EL are elegant, even when the characters are handled at large sizes, bringing out the main character of photographs, illustrations. Similar to Blk, this weight is also recommended for titles and headings. From L to H, in the Modern series, this weight group demonstrates the effectiveness of the function of making crushing less likely to occur. L and R have a good usability even in small character sizes, such as in typesetting headings, etc. M to H are good for emphasis and subheadings. An appropriate weight can be selected for the specific usage.

In the lineup of forty-eight TP Sky fonts (weights × contrasts × character widths) in the TP Sky family, sixteen TP Sky Classic fonts (weights × contrasts) and eight TP Sky Modern fonts have been added. Now, a family of seventy-two fonts is available.

Specification