"Coriander" Coriander free font is available for free download! Taiwan’s first open source set of hard-pen regular script fonts

Coriander has a special smell. People who like it like it very much, but people who don’t like it hate it. Some time ago, a set of “Coriander” traditional hard-pen regular script fonts adapted for Taiwanese education was made available for free download. It was adapted by But Ko, the initiator of Zihai, based on Fontworks Klee One. It retains the original regular script and imitation Song style, and improves the missing characters, adjusts the layout, and adds Taiwanese and Hakka characters, making it more suitable for Taiwan’s needs.

“Coriander” Coriander free font is available for free download! Taiwan’s first open source set of hard-pen regular script fonts

Coriander, also known as coriander, often appears in daily snacks in Taiwan. Those who like cilantro and those who hate cilantro are also divided into two extreme groups. Those who love to eat may wish to add cilantro and add it to the top, while those who hate cilantro may not be able to eat it even if it is dipped in cilantro. But have you ever imagined that “cilantro” could become a font?

Among the fonts built into the macOS system, the Fontworks Klee (クレー) font is also widely loved by Chinese users because it has both “Kaili” and “Song-style” style, high legibility, and warm appearance. However, after all, it is a Japanese font. Even if there are many characters, there will still be some missing characters in the Chinese characters.
In order to solve this problem, the new font “Coriander” was adapted and launched by But Ko, the founder of Zihai, based on Fontworks Klee One. The new font was born! The “Coriander” font is also Taiwan’s first open source hard-pen regular script font, which is open to the public for free download and can be used commercially.

▲Picture source:Aesthetic Cell Textbook Reconstruction Project (Facebook)

But Ko, the initiator of Zihai, uses the Klee One font as a basis to improve the problems of missing characters and different writing methods from Japanese fonts in Traditional Chinese. It tries to adjust the fonts as closely as possible to the standard writing methods of the Ministry of Education, supplement Taiwanese and Hakka characters, and be closer to the needs of Taiwan. It also makes it suitable for school-age education, such as children’s books, Chinese calligraphy exercises, etc. It also gives everyone an additional choice of hard-pen regular script when designing textbooks, study sheets, picture books and other learning media.

▲Picture source:Aesthetic Cell Textbook Reconstruction Project (Facebook)

Comparing the original Japanese font of “Klee”, it is still somewhat different from Taiwan’s Chinese font. “Coriander” referred to the “Principles for the Development of Standard Chinese Character Fonts” and adjusted the font to be as close as possible to the standard writing method of the Ministry of Education. Just to correct this seemingly insignificant difference is a big project.

▲Picture source:Aesthetic Cell Textbook Reconstruction Project (Facebook)

The “Coriander” font has also been adjusted to one stroke, including broken strokes in block letters. Only about 3,000 characters of Klee’s original characters are retained, more than 4,000 characters have been modified, and more than 1,500 characters have been added.

▲Picture source:Zilian (Facebook)