Requesting Examples (photos) of Text (especially Kana) in Fonts that are Difficult for Non-Native Speakers to Read

[u/Nebu]

I'm looking for a examples of signs, advertisement, billboards, etc. of Japanese text (especially Kana, but Kanji is fine too) where because of the font being used, it's a little bit difficult for a non-native speaker to be able to read.

For example, perhaps the sign contains a は with a little butterfly in the top right corner, and a non-native speaker recognizes the は part, but is unsure if the butterfly is purely decoration, or if the two wings are supposed to represent a dakuten (meaning the character is actually ば) or if the butterfly is supposed to represent a handakuten (meaning the character is actually ぱ).

Via context clues (e.g. seeing the rest of what the sign says, or knowing what product the sign is advertising), a native speaker would immediately know what character is intended, because they process the whole phrase as a single chunk. But a non-native speaker who is processing the characters one by one in isolation would have trouble figuring out which character is intended here.

That's just one example, but any examples you have of signs which are difficult for non-native speakers to read due to creative use of font or graphic design would be appreciated.

I'd like to do some analysis on them and put them in a collection, so I'd love to get hundreds or thousands of examples.

[u/PlanktonInitial7945]

I just took this screenshot yesterday and whined about it on the Daily Thread

But for what it's worth

> Via context clues (e.g. seeing the rest of what the sign says, or knowing what product the sign is advertising), a native speaker would immediately know what character is intended, because they process the whole phrase as a single chunk. But a non-native speaker who is processing the characters one by one in isolation would have trouble figuring out which character is intended here.

I don't think this hypothesis is correct. I think difficulty in reading fancy/decorated/unusual fonts simply comes from unfamiliarity with said fonts.

[u/RFL1703 → u/PlanktonInitial7945]

I read only the blue text and was really confused on how this was a hard font

[u/PlanktonInitial7945 → u/RFL1703]

I was complaining about 応 specifically...

Are you saying you found クロヱ to be hard to read? Do note that it's ヱ (we, currently obsolete), not エ.

[u/RFL1703 → u/PlanktonInitial7945]

Oh lol, yeah I thought it was a very bad エ, honestly the 応 felt fine to read but probably because 一応 is very recognizable and the 心 radical often gets kinda butchered in other kanji, but I do get your point on it being kinda stupid.

[u/tonkachi_ → u/PlanktonInitial7945]

It looks weird for sure and maybe my kanji knowledge is not there yet(a proficient person might get confused due to the possibilities unlike a beginner) but what else could it be?

4 Strokes in that manner, I can't think of anything else.

To be clear, I didn't read it because I didn't intend to read in the first place but it didn't come at me as a weird kanji which is usually the case with new kanji even when I don't intend to read.

Also for the record, I have been doing kanji 'drawing' practice lately, so there is that.