This.

Plum Blossom (V2)

Version 2 update: Tiles are now in 3D isometric view

My only entry for the Fontstruct Color competition, consisting of 38 tile designs for the Chinese game of Mahjong (+ tile back).

I underestimated how big of an undertaking this was going to be, but luckily I managed to curb my perfectionism and get most of the tiles done with designs I'm satisfied with. The Chinese characters were traced from images on Wikimedia Commons (1, 2) and then modified to fit my taste, the space on the tile, even out stroke width and so on. Hopefully they turned out looking good and legible, as I'm not at all familiar with the system. The rest of the designs were freehanded.

The font is named (for now) after my favorite of the designs - the plum Flower Tile, one of the last I drew. (mapped to 'w')

Character Mapping

This font uses two mappings for each of the tiles, to the following Unicode character sets:

Mahjong Tiles (U+1F000 ... U+1F02F)

All tiles are represented except for the four Season Tiles and Joker (U+1F026 ... U+1F02A)

Basic Latin

Coins suit: a to i

Bamboo suit: A to I

Charaters suit: 1 to 9

Dragons: | (Red) 0 (White) # (Green)

Winds: ^ (N) v (S) > (E) < (W)

Flowers: w (Plum) x (Orchid) y (Chrysanthemum) z (Bamboo)

Tile Back: *

Possible Future Updates

I'll probably be taking a break from Fontstruct for a while, but some ideas for future improvements could be:

- Change name

- Add four Season tiles

- Add Joker

- Redesign 1 Bamboo tile (Current one based on a design from this article. It was easiest to replicate but doesn't really fit the rest of the set)

- Add character mapping to Chinese chars.

- [DONE] 3D Isometric view of the tiles

Extra Links

"How Do I Know if my Mahjong Set is Complete?" from mahjongtreasures.com was helpful.

Also this YouTube video from Accented Cinema provided an interesting look into the culture surrounding the game.

Thanks for reading. Feedback will be appreciated!

Opening Day of Marvel's Shang-Chi movie!!!! It's Marvel's first solo Asian superhero movie and it takes place in the SF Bay Area? Sign me up! Couldn't miss posting this today, although it was running late. Also coming off an Avenger's high after spending a week in Disneyland's Avenger's Campus. 

Remember that time in the future, when there was a deadly global virus, then they tried to force everyone to take a mandatory untested vaccine, along with an implanted GPS chip that is cryptocurrency controlled and could track you worldwide, along with embedding additional restritions on civil liberties and personal freedom? Oh wait, thats now. Silly humans.

Future technology, like nanoimplants, will be magically rendered invisible with the use of nanotechnology utilizing atomic sized processors enabled through ferro electrics in conjunction with nanowires and carbon nanotubes operating from a ternary extradimensional mathematical framework. Or something like that.

Ironically, this font works best in macro sizes, not micro or nano.

The culmination of 11 years of cinematic comic book bliss, alas, it is the opening day of the highly anticipated Avengers End Game. This is a tribute to almost all of the characters taking part in the most monumental achievement of interconnected storylines in the Marvel Cinematic Universe spanning 22 films. The list of pixellated heroes:
A: Antman
B: Black Panther
C: Captain America
D: Doctor Strange
F: Falcon
G: Gamora
H: Hulk
I: Iron Man 
M: Captain Marvel
N: Nick Fury
P: Spiderman (Peter Parker)
Q: StarLord (Peter Quill)
R: Rocket Racoon
S: Scarlet Witch
T: Thor
V: Vision
W: War Machine
b: Black Widow
d: Drax the Destroyer
g: Groot
h: Hawkeye
m: Mantis
n: Nebula
w: Winter Soldier
!: Hulk Smash again!
...maybe more to come...?