Hello
My name is Xinru Zhu (朱心茹/しゅしんじょ/Shinjo Shu). I'm from China and currently working at Institute of Science Tokyo (formerly Tokyo Institute of Technology).
My research explores the formal aspects of various signs and symbols as media of communication, with a particular focus on written language. I'm especially interested in typefaces and their diverse roles in written communication.
I'm working on multiple projects that bridge theory and practice of forms of media. The primary project involves developing a collection of Japanese typefaces and a typeface customization system aimed at helping people with reading difficulties read with less effort.
Another key project focuses on establishing a systematic framework for describing typeface design, intended to advance both academic discourse and practical applications in typography.
By the way, if you're wondering about this website's icon, it's a pig nose. This comes from my surname 朱 (ZHU), which shares the same pronunciation as 猪 (ZHU), meaning pig in Chinese.
Affiliation
Department of Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering
School of Environment and Society
Institute of Science Tokyo
Academic experience
- School of Environment and Society, Institute of Science Tokyo
- Associate Professor
- 2024.10.01–present
- School of Environment and Society, Tokyo Institute of Technology
- Associate Professor
- 2024.04.01–2024.09.30
- National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics
- Collaborative Researcher
- 2022.10.18–present
- School of Environment and Society, Tokyo Institute of Technology
- Assistant Professor
- 2021.04.01–2024.03.31
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- Research Fellow
- 2019.04.01–2021.03.31
- National Institute of Informatics
- Collaborative Research Student
- 2018.04.01–2019.03.31
- Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo
- PhD in Education
- Thesis: Research on Japanese Typefaces and Typeface Customization System Designed for Readers with Developmental Dyslexia
- 2017.04.01–2020.12.16
- Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo
- Master of Arts in Education
- Thesis: 発達性ディスレクシアに特化した読みやすい和文書体の研究 [Research on Japanese Typefaces for Readers with Developmental Dyslexia]
- 2015.04.01–2017.03.31
- School of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University (Double Degree Program)
- Bachelor of Arts in Political Science
- 2012.09.21–2014.09.15
- School of Journalism, Fudan University
- Bachelor of Arts in Communication
- Thesis: 地铁字体与城市形象——上海地铁导向系统字体更改建议 [Subway Typeface and City Image: A Proposal for Typefaces of the Wayfinding System of Shanghai Metro]
- 2010.09.01–2014.07.01
Activities
- Studies in Lifelong Learning Infrastructure Management
- Editorial Committee Member
- 2018.04–2020.03
- Japanese English
- Asia Pacific Dyslexia Festival 2018
- Committee Member
- 2018.04–2018.12
- Japanese English
- Wondershake, Inc.
- Engineering Intern
- 2016.08.05–2019.03.31
- Ruby on Rails HTML CSS JavaScript
- Shanghai Library
- Research Assistant
- 2014.07.02–2015.03.31
- Chinese Japanese English
- Shanghai Education and Research Center, Waseda University
- Teaching Assistant
- 2013.09.01–2014.07.01
- Chinese Japanese
Skills
- Languages
- Chinese: native speaker
- Japanese: native speaker
- English: proficient
- Programming languages
- Python
- Ruby
- JavaScript
- Web development
- HTML
- CSS
- Ruby on Rails
- Flask
- Vue.js