For those of you who are enthusiastic about Japanese culture and media, you might be familiar with the word kawaii.
According to Merriam Webster dictionary, kawaii refers to a cultural style that is associated with bright, pastel colors and childlike imagery. In Japanese, the word kawaii suggests a meaning of someone or something being “cute,” “tiny,” or “lovable.” It carries a cute aesthetic, with its distinctive bold, nearly cartoon-like lines and rounded character.
The word kawaii shaped Japanese popular culture. It reflects the cultural shifts in Japanese history. Besides the interesting past story, this article will explore the features and samples of this cute typography.
Cute products spread across cultures throughout history. But, in Japan, the 1970s marked the milestone for the significant rise of the kawaii as a commercial culture.
The trend of cute products began to emerge around stationery goods and handwritings. They quickly became popular among Japanese youth. Especially among girls in school.
The famous round calligraphic style was well-known as maru moji. This style is especially associated with the use of certain merchandise in stationery, especially mechanical pencils and character-printed stationery.
Over time, the enthusiasm for cute products and handwriting eventually spiraled into the personalization of handwriting style, which was closely linked to the culture of letter and diary writing among girls.
The fever over cute products spread around the world in the nineties amidst the struggling economy and aging population in Japan.
Nowadays, kawaii has evolved into a mainstream phenomenon among youth around the world, influencing handwriting, branding, even fashion and digital design. You might often find youth cosplaying as cute characters. That is the spread of culture.
Beyond typography, handwriting style apparently also reflects important breakthroughs in the culture of Japan.
Derived from the word “cute”, there are distinct visual characteristics that would make certain handwriting styles have such a uniquely playful and charming aesthetic, as follow:
As opposed to traditional Japanese vertical handwriting, the kawaii handwriting style is written horizontally, influenced by the Latin writing system commonly used in the West.
The popular cute characters in Japan are commonly designed as having large heads, small and compact bodies, wide eyes, tiny noses, and minimum or no facial expression.
Kawaii fonts embody the same Japanese concept of “cute”as those characters. These fonts are known for having big rounded letterforms with playful and heavily stylised details, such as; emoticons, stars, and hearts.
Other details featured in the Japanese-born fonts are thick and black outlines to emphasize the cuteness. These fonts are typically colored in pastel shades.
Cute typefaces can visually communicate the vibe of joy, charm, cuteness, and softness in your Japanese culture–inspired design. They appeal to audiences of all ages. These fonts are ideal if you are designing for kids’ stuff brands, or products for pets.
Kawaii fonts emit a sense of personalized and customized things, just for you. They contribute to the feel of your products being lovable and approachable.
Let’s look at the ones Hanscos Studio provided for you
Smothy font pops out right from your heart. Its thick, rounded, and soft curved letters brought you to the memory of blowing bubbles on a bright sunny day.
This font is a perfect match for children’s books, posters of events for children, and cute products packaging.
Merisa feels like a teen romantic-comedy drama or movie you watch while relaxing in your room, with sweet caramel popcorn or heart-shaped lollipop in your hand. The actor and actress are wearing stylish cute wardrobe and being sweet with each other.
If you see them write each other love letters, this font would be perfect to be in the cover of the card. But if you want to use Lover font for baby–related events’ invitations, or any projects that need gentle and affectionate touch, that would be very perfect.
The sweetness of pastries that melts in your mouth, drawn straight from a recipe book. This monoline font would give you a guide when you Baking Pastry on a fun and relaxing weekend.
This pretty font would give your bakery branding, DIY projects, food blogs logos spotlight of warmth.
Paw Wow feels like you get a letter from your cute, lovely, furry friends. They sent you cute, adorable words with little paw prints in it. Isn’t it lovely?
This font is for you; animal lovers, pet shop owners, or pet–themed products logo designers who want to bring cuteness to the full force. Go get this font and send out card to your furry friend.
Cute Meow brings you fun times, just like when you play with your cats. They chase the toys you stretch out to them. You saw their cuteness with a big, bright smile, and adoring eyes.
This font pictured that situation well in its paw motif details. Full of cuteness, fluff, and playfulness. It is ideal for children’s books, or pet-themed souvenir logos.
Kawaii fonts reflect how typography goes beyond words. These typefaces speak volume about the people who use them; their story, their beliefs, their worldview, and most importantly, their emotions.
These typefaces write joy, cuteness, softness through their rounded curves, fun details, and gentle strokes. They spread joy through their warm tone of color and sentiment.
Kawaii fonts are, beyond aesthetic purposes, used to radiate a sense of softness, warmth, and charm that reflects your personality. They remind you of the side of tenderness, kindness, and quietness as a human.
Those sides of human resonates in your design of a children books’ cover, packaging, stickers, and digital contents. They act as a warm hug, and offer you a comforting companion.
More than a design element, the typography shows a cultural mindset that values emotional expression, cuteness, and care. They create space for delightful charm in your design.
In this fast-paced world, kawaii fonts tell the need to slow down, have some joy, and send warmth letter by letter.
