Sammy Or

A seasoned typeface designer, Sammy Or’s career spans 30 years. He is one of the most prolific and important designers of contemporary Chinese typefaces. With a solid grounding in traditional Chinese calligraphy as well as thorough knowledge in current font technologies, Or’s typefaces are amongst the most widely used in the Chinese-speaking world today.
Or began his work in typeface design as a Sign Systems Designer for the Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTR) in Hong Kong in the 1980s. At MTR, Or participated in the development of a corporate typeface for its wayfinding system, which is still in current use. Subsequently, he was employed by the Hong Kong branch of the Monotype Corporation as Type Manager and Chief Typographer. While at Monotype, Or developed over twenty Chinese typefaces, including the first Chinese digital LaserCom fonts for the Hong Kong Government’s Printing Department. The Monotype Sung and Hei families – typefaces of choice for numerous publications as well as the Hong Kong Government – are also his designs. In 1989, Or founded TTL Technology Limited. LiSung and LiGothic were the first Chinese outline fonts designed and developed for Apple Computers. These remain system fonts in the Macintosh operating system to this day. He also designed and marketed the popular ‘Li’ family of over thirty typefaces. In 1992, Or assumed the position of Vice-president and Chief Font Designer of DynaLab Inc., a preeminent font manufacturer in Asia. At DynaLab, Or was responsible for developing numerous new Chinese typefaces, as well as expanding its business to Shanghai and Japan. Or has also been a project development consultant for Bitstream Inc. for ten years, designing CJK fonts and developing stroke-based technologies for international fonts.
In 2008 founded VMType, created XinGothic font family. Or is currently an independent typeface designer and font technology consultant based in Hong Kong. He is also an Assistant of vice-professor in Taiwan Shih Chien University, and a guest professor at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.