fai* chittayasodhara
fai* is Thai multidisciplinary designer currently based
in NYC, bridging typography, visual systems, and digital product experience.
fai* is Thai multidisciplinary designer currently based
in NYC, bridging typography, visual systems, and digital product experience.
catalogue of thoughts
The first time I knew I was a designer was when I looked back at the little kid in myself, spending hours carefully drawing exam headlines and breaking down study notes into infographics.
It had never been explained to me in theory. Little did I know that design first soothed my eyes, but later pushed my thinking further. I have always believed that even the smallest things can shape the larger world. Among the most impactful disciplines, type design is one of the most ordinary things we encounter in daily life, yet rarely recognize. We read type, we text with type, yet we rarely notice it consciously. This stayed in my mind for a long time: how can a knot of unconscious feelings quietly transform our habits?
This question became the turning point of my life as a type designer. As a Thai design student at the time, I noticed a major limitation: there were only a few distinguished choices in Thai typefaces.
That intuition was lit by curiosity. I began drawing a custom typeface in my third-year undergraduate branding design class. That experience pushed me to apply for an internship, which later led me to continue as a type designer at Cadson Demak, a Thai type design consultancy. While working there, I also had the opportunity to assist in several type design classes, which expanded my vision. The interconnectedness between localization and global context later encouraged me to join the Type@Cooper Extended Program. Through this program, I have started refining my perception of type: from black texture, to white counterform, to the rhythm between them. These ideas are reflected in the three selected works I am presenting.
I am still asking myself how I can contribute to Thai type design. Sometimes, it is not only about becoming an expert in my own career, but also about bringing Thai and global scripts into active communities together, allowing them to speak beyond borders and take part in a larger global conversation.
This is the most challenging thing I’ve done this year. I mean, I worked as a junior type designer. I’m a post-grad design student who is always immersed in the details of form and elements, meanwhile, I never imagined myself writing an essay in the language of this field.
I love visuals, I always have an image run out in my foggy brain, but I’d never press the print button out of my head image.
I sit in front of my laptop, in a Brooklyn apartment, in New York City, opening a Notion page with no gorgeous references. Only words on the screen ask me to express thoughts I’ve never organized before. A messy bunch of ideas circles around me with no clear starting point. Even in this disarray, this is the very first time I’m putting it into words.