driven by trips to japan and continual frustration at being unable to read the language, michael johnson and his team at johnson banks have been trying to design a katakana typeface that has english phonetic sounds embedded: ‘phonetikana’.

johnson banks: phonetikana characters from the phonetikana typeface

johnson banks: phonetikana

for example, UNIQLO in japanese is pronounced ‘yoo nee koo roh’ above are the four characters in phonetikana.

johnson banks: phonetikana

this is how ‘michael’ would look in the typeface.

johnson banks: phonetikana ‘big apple’

johnson banks: phonetikana ‘cheese’

johnson banks: phonetikana

‘doki doki’ (japanese for the ‘sound of my beating heart’)

johnson banks: phonetikana

‘baa + moo’

johnson banks: phonetikana ‘big in japan’

johnson banks: phonetikana ‘nee-koh’ – japanese for ‘smile’

johnson banks: phonetikana

‘koo-roo’ – japanese for the sound of something spinning