ZXX Typeface
A Korean graphic designer is receiving a lot of attention in the US with his invention of a new font that can disrupt the US government’s Internet surveillance.
According to the foreign media on October 1, graphic designer Moon Sang-hyun distributed “ZXX,” a typeface that machines cannot automatically recognize, via the Internet on September 30 (local time).
It was reported that Moon made the font in order to protest the digital surveillance system of the US National Security Agency (NSA).
Last year, he developed the ZXX typeface to graduate from Rhode Island School of Design, a fine arts and design college in the US. There are six different styles (Sans, Bold, Camo, False, Noise, and Xed), which have the most notable characteristic of patterns and small dots which camouflage shape spread onto the alphabet.
The typeface is recognizable by people, but unreadable by text scanning software, thereby preventing an indiscriminate collection of information.
However, experts say that the font does not effectively protect privacy like an encryption method would. Thus, the typeface only has symbolic meaning.
Moon pointed out, “I created the ZXX font to urge citizen action,” adding, “I intended to trigger discussions about privacy law reform.”