This fall, Thy Hà brings her expertise to Type Electives with her workshop Drawing Vietnamese Diacritics. Her story and work illustrate how type design can bridge cultures, histories, and digital innovation.

Thy Hà’s Journey into Type Design

When you think about the letters you write every day, have you ever wondered why they look the way they do? For Thy, that curiosity began in childhood. Growing up in Vietnam, she noticed a striking difference between the fonts printed in her school textbooks and the cursive handwriting she practiced on paper.

“In our textbooks, the font they used was something very geometric… sans-serif. But when we wrote, we had to write in cursive, so our handwriting looked completely different. I remember wondering why there were two such different ways of writing the same letters. Why is the letter ‘a’ double-story in our books, but when we write, it’s single-story?

“In Vietnam, they also had competitions in school for who had the most beautiful handwriting. When we were kids, we were very competitive, so everyone wanted to write the most beautiful letters. I started wondering—why do we have those kinds of letters and who decides what’s beautiful? That curiosity stayed with me all the way until I started studying design. At uni, when we were selecting type and fonts for projects, there were just so many options. I kept thinking: Why are there so many? How do we design them?“

From Ho Chi Minh City to Melbourne Suburbs

Thy’s journey spans two vibrant, visually distinct cultures: the bustling, colorful streets of Sài Gòn and the calm, spacious suburbs of Melbourne.

“Sài Gòn, it’s very vibrant. You’ll feel like we never sleep. There’s always a lot going on, even in the small details. You see a mix of shop signage—some hand-painted, some more modern—so there’s this mix of old and new. It’s kind of a maximalism, with so much happening visually.”

In contrast, Melbourne’s pace is slower, quieter, and more reflective. The access to libraries, museums, and galleries has allowed Thy to dive deeper into design history, something less available in Vietnam.

“I think both environments have shaped my design sensibility in different ways. In Vietnam, you absorb inspiration from everyday life and details. In Melbourne, I have more resources to research and explore design history. I think Melbourne carries over into my working style too—back in Vietnam, you often have to work fast and get things done quickly, whereas here, people tend to take more time to think and plan.”

Teaching Diacritics with Type Electives

Thy’s course Drawing Vietnamese Diacritics dives into the fine details of designing for one of the most diacritic-rich languages in the world.

“By the end of the course, your type will be able to support Vietnamese, and you’ll gain more confidence in building diacritics!”

She emphasizes that the skills aren’t limited to Vietnamese.

“What I teach in Vietnamese diacritics design definitely applies to other languages. You need to understand how the language works, how its writing system behaves, and then the design of the marks themselves.”

One common challenge she addresses:

“People ask, when accents stack—like a circumflex combined with an acute or grave—where do you put them? On the right, the left, or directly on top? And for less familiar marks like hooks, how should they look? Can they be drawn like a question mark?”

Her approach blends structured grid-based design (from her UX/UI background) with deep cultural insight—and some of her favorite tools. One of her go-tos is SpeedPunk, a plugin that shows how smooth your Bézier curves are.

“I use it a lot to check curves and handles, to make sure everything flows nicely,” she says. “When you’re drawing diacritics, especially stacked marks, you need to make sure everything feels consistent with the base letter.”

Crafting Type and Community

Thy’s passion for type shows in Eyja, a revival typeface based on a book by Ida Pfeiffer, who traveled to Iceland and other Scandinavian countries. Named after the Icelandic word for “island,” it draws on the landscapes and culture in Pfeiffer’s book.

“Eyja started during the Type@Cooper extended program. I couldn’t finish the full course because of the time difference, but I continued developing the project with my collective, Counter Forms. We’re a collective of emerging type designers who give each other feedback and help improve our work. So, it’s a special project to me because I started it in a formal type design school and finished it with a community-based collective. One of my favorite singers, Keshi, uses Eyja for his website and album—which is pretty exciting!”

That same love for collaboration and cultural preservation is what draws her to Lưu Chữ, a Vietnamese typography collective and library devoted to preserving and sharing the country’s typographic heritage.

“I might be a little biased, but I'd recommend my collective, Lưu Chữ. We're a Vietnamese typography collective that also operates a library. We have a collection of books on type and design in Vietnam. Because so many old books were lost, destroyed, or stolen, we collect and preserve what’s left. People can visit the library, which is amazing. Whenever I go back to Vietnam, I always like to spend time there to get inspired. We also have a website, though it's mostly in Vietnamese, so it might be hard to read, but you can use Google Translate for now!”

For Thy, spaces like Counter Forms and Lưu Chữ aren’t just about type—they’re about building communities where design is rooted in shared history, curiosity, and a willingness to learn from each other.

Cooper Black in Vietnam: A Typeface Icon

One particularly fascinating story Thy shares is the unexpected popularity of Cooper Black in Vietnam.

“Cooper Black got used a lot in Vietnam for a few reasons. The design is very big and bold, so it naturally grabs people’s attention. Unlike Australia where shops are often grouped in specific areas, shops are everywhere in Vietnam and each have their own signage to stand out. So a big, bold typeface like Cooper Black fits perfectly for that. It’s also everywhere on Vietnamese food packaging, even here in Australia.”

Ask Thy about Cooper Black in Vietnam and her face lights up.

“My collective and I actually did some research collecting food packages, and basically… they’re all in Cooper Black,” she laughs. “Part of the popularity is tied to early software created for typing Vietnamese diacritics on computers. The developers included a version of Cooper Black with the Vietnamese marks, and it got installed on a lot of Windows systems. Because of that, people had easy access to Cooper Black and started using it a lot.”

Once you start looking for it, she warns, you’ll see it everywhere.

Beyond Design: Bubble Tea, Shells, and Joy

When she’s not designing type or teaching, Thy finds joy in unexpected places.

“I love bubble tea—especially with pearls. It helps me stay focused while I’m working.”

She’s also recently developed an interest in conchology, the study of shells, inspired by old illustrated books.

“These days, I’m really into conchology. I’ve always been interested in shells, but recently I went to a Rare Book Fair in Melbourne where they had these really old books filled with hand-drawn illustrations of shells. And now I’m just scrolling through Instagram and TikTok watching people collect shells. I’m just really curious about all the different shapes and designs they come in, and they all have different names, too.”

If you’re curious about expanding your language support or want to deepen your understanding of diacritics, don’t miss Thy’s Drawing Vietnamese Diacritics workshop this fall.

Want more from Thy? Visit the Type Electives Virtual Lecture Series archive to watch her full presentation (+ Q&A) on language diversity in type design.

Follow Thy on Instagram at @mightymaithy and @mai_type

License Thy’s fonts: counter-forms.com/typefaces/eyja

Thy’s website: www.thy-ha.com

Thy’s initiatives: Lưu Chữ and Counter Forms

Interview conducted on August 7, 2025. Written by Kate Ragosta.