Christie Chi is a Chinese-American graphic designer whose concept and research-driven practice explores what’s possible through graphic design. Her work is rooted in curiosity, culture, and community, with a passion for learning about sustainability and applying it to her practice.


CONTACT
christiechi.design@gmail.com
linkedin.com/in/christiechi






CURRENT INTERESTS


-pickling
-scouring for typography inspiration






002 MOVE Display Font

PROJECT YEAR
2026

PROJECT TYPE
Student Work

TIMEFRAME
10 Weeks Illustrator
Photoshop Research
Graphic Design
Creative Direction COLLABORATORS:

Sarra Naemi 
model

Delyla Saeteun
photographer

ABOUTFor my last quarter, my Interactive Design class offered three capstone projects to choose from. Without hesitation, I selected the typeface design project. Typography is one of many fields I deeply admire, and I saw this as an opportunity to strengthen my understanding of letterforms and further develop my typographic foundations.
OBJECTIVEDesign a modular display font by developing a set of geometric shapes used to construct a complete uppercase alphabet. Working with this limited kit of parts, explore how repetition, proportion, and structure can create a cohesive family of letterforms.

CRITERIA- 26 uppercase letters
- No lowercase letters
- No numerals
- No curves
- Straight lines only
- Any angles must be 45 degrees
- Minimum 5 shapes, maximum 12




Given the project’s constraints, geometric fonts often evoke industrial, technological, or a transit-oriented tones. I wanted to challenge that expectation by exploring how fluid, organic qualities could be translated into a modular system





FONT IN USE: Conceptual magazine cover for Red Matter, Play Edition




Inspired by avant-garde sculptural fashion and human movement, this font examines the relationship between fluidity and structure. Drawing from the work of Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, and the expressive performance style of FKA Twigs, it reinterprets gesture and form through a system of geometric components


The construction process was informed by Chinese tangrams, where simple shapes can be assembled into complex compositions. This approach became the foundation for building letterforms inspired by sculptural silhouettes and the body in motion
PROCESS

Initial Shapes Used (16)
*color coded for differentiation
Final Shapes Used (12)



The font development began with a set of control letters: O, H, A, E, and N. These foundational characters established the core rules of the modular system, allowing key structures, proportions, and relationships to be refined before expanding to the full alphabet





Each letter began with a reference image, though the system remained flexible throughout the process. Some letters were constructed from other characters, while some drew from the same reference image when recurring visual features emerged