We know that the writing system in Asia, especially in the Chinese-speaking world, is completely different from the west, and to create a set of font, you need at least a minimum two thousands (and a full set 20,000+) glyphs. WriteAway is a small startup team that has been, for the past 5 years, working on helping people preserve their handwritings by turning them into digital fonts, in an age where less people are writing by hand. The team worked with ITRI designers in hope for making their services more approachable and reaching a wider audience. We streamlined the process and service into the form of a calendar, in which the user would finish writing a few lines of characters and do a quick scan using their phone, making it a fun, ritualistic daily task and an at-home hands-on project.

To make the entire font-making process a less painful one, we included a variety of contents for users to ‘transcribe.’ On the weekends, we included writing tips from pro calligraphers. Upon finishing the entire year, user would acquire 3000+ of common used characters, enough to generate a font of their own. We’ve also designed an app that can be used with and used after the calendar. During the making of the font, user would be able to scan and edit the characters they’ve written to expand the glyphs. Upon finishing, user will not only get the .otf font file for their computer, but also able to create quote images or similar artworks directly using the app.