Zin Nagao: Breaking Typographic Barriers

Some designers dive into certain design categories because they have a natural talent or love for it and they end up making a career out of it, but this wasn’t the case forJapanese designer Zin Nagao, who says type design was something he was “not good at it” initially. With hard work, determination and a no-pain-no-gain daily practice structure, he polished his skills beyond average and managed to create a diverse multi-faceted portfolio based on typography design – something that’s hard even for those who are experts on the matter.

By looking at Zin Nagao’s body of work, you wouldn’t guess his love for letters and type design wasn’t his initial calling as a designer. If you visit foznt.com you can only describe it as fun, modern, dynamic, bold and just cool, you don’t get tired of looking at it, as it combines animation and type design in a refreshing way.

What started as a fling evolved into a passionate love of letters for Zin, as his work aims to “convey the joy and fun of letters” to his audience. This is achieved through a clear homage to Japanese video games and retro visual media, and through the unique presentation of his designs, with letters twist, morph, flip and switch right in front of your eyes being all present, “creating both a playful visual experience as well as proving the vast possibility of each individual letter”, according to It’s Nice That – and we agree. Can’t wait to see what’s next for this artist, currently working as a type designer at Fontworks.