"A poster or logo can bend structural rules for a particular visual effect," Xing says. "A typeface must remain consistent and recognizable when thousands of characters are entered, combined, and used in different contexts."
Xing compares professional type designers to dancers in shackles, creating to their will within strict constraints.
A distinctive stroke may work well in the first few dozen glyphs but later create problems among similar characters. Designers must constantly adjust forms to maintain the overall system.
"In the end, you have to follow its rules," Xing says. "Some artistic expression will inevitably have to be reduced."
For Xing, ABS Street Ink succeeds because it avoids becoming either loose graffiti lettering or a simple imitation of Gothic script.
"It uses Gothic structure as the skeleton and graffiti strokes as the surface," he says.
Sharing a sense of flow
Adapting Gothic calligraphy to Chinese writing involves more than adding Western decoration.
Chinese characters have their own internal architecture, including structural balance, spatial relationships and the distribution of empty space. Excessive ornamentation can damage recognition.
"Western audiences may not understand the Chinese characters, but they can still recognize the Gothic style," Xu says.
He previously participated in a calligraphy exchange connecting Beijing and Berlin, in which artists wrote together via live projections. Even without understanding the content, participants could sense the rhythm and energy of the writing.
In graffiti culture, this quality is called "flow". In Chinese calligraphy, it resembles the continuous movement that carries the brush's energy from one stroke to the next.
