LL Kleisch is a serif typeface designed specifically to complement old-style CJK typefaces, also known as Ming. It addresses the challenge of incompatibility in stylistic features and parameters when typesetting between serif Latin and CJK scripts in Ming typefaces.

This issue is daily encountered by designers and typographers working in Asian countries, where English is ubiquitous as a second language, while the default Latin letterforms available in CJK typefaces are often of poor quality. Finding other matching Latin typefaces proves equally challenging, given that CJK and Latin scripts differ fundamentally in visual parameters, proportions, contrast, and more.

Chiachi Chao approached the problem with an entirely new method that yielded an extremely versatile typeface, shining with crispness and precision when combined with a wide range of Ming typefaces, while also excelling as a stand-alone Latin type.

Chiachi set out from the observation that both Latin serif and Ming typefaces went through several transitional periods of rationalisation, eventually morphing from hand-written shapes into standardized printing fonts. He then identified a number of formal features of individual Latin serif and Ming shapes, which, during these periods of rationalisation, started to come surprisingly close to each other in writing speed, ductus, stroke models and sometimes even proportion.

On the Latin side of the equation, such features became particularly pronounced in Baroque and Neoclassicism, which is why Kleisch was based on typefaces from Van Djik, Kis and Fleischman. Synthesising a number of formal features found in individual letters of these designs, Kleisch turns out to align very well with similar features that are frequently found in individual Ming characters today.

Next to the regular LL Kleisch familiy with six weights plus italics, the headline and display families offer improved contrast for use in large and extra-large sizes, respectively. To allow for further adjustment to various designs in CJK type, Kleisch also comes in a fully variable version. With axes for weight and contrast, this will allow to minutely modify character shapes and greytone and to match a wide range of Ming designs in common use today.