29LT Zeyn is an elegant, contemporary Arabic and Latin typeface. Each weight contains 900-plus glyphs covering the Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and Western European languages. The Arabic set contains an extensive set of ligatures in addition to short and long stylistic sets to give the font an added elegant appeal and feel.

Zeyn «زين» is an Arabic word meaning beautiful, graceful, and elegant.

Arabic character set designed by Pascal Zoghbi from 29LT. Latin Character set designer by Ian Party from SwissTypefaces.

The Zeyn type family of four weights (Light, Regular, Medium and Bold) are derived from the corporate typefaces created in 2010 for Shawati’ Magazine, the cultural magazine about the United Arab Emirates.

The Arabic is inspired from both Naskh and Thuluth calligraphic styles, while the Latin is drawn based on the Modern Serif Roman style. The letterforms are drawn with extreme refinement and high contrast between the thick and thin pen strokes that unveil modernity in a stylish approach. The Arabic and Latin were created simultaneously and without any sacrifice from one script on behalf of the other. The elements that bring both scripts together are the design approach, the proportions, the weight, and the contrast.

We designed each letter in a special way, making sure that they all had the extreme thick and extreme thin pen strokes. The extreme contrast was coupled with strong cuts and edges to give the font a strong and crispy feel. We drew the Arabic letters with a free approach. We cut the letterforms’ descenders in an elegant, thin open stroke instead of curving back into the main figure of the letter. We created the loop structures in the letters in an original manner with extra extended strokes with thin endings, as opposed to the traditional fully circular or triangular approach.

29LT Posters designed by Reza Abedini. Each poster is designed with one of 29LT fonts.

29LT multilingual fonts (Arabic/Latin) were offered to the renowned Iranian graphic designer Mr. Reza Abedini to experiment with and create typographic posters for each of the typefaces.

I became friends with Reza in 2008 and later-on colleagues at AUB (American University of Beirut). Since then, we always thought of what kind of collaboration we can collaborate on, but constantly busy schedules postponed our intentions and willingness.

29LT Posters were made available for the first time at Nuqat Design conference 2014 via The Yard bookstore.

29LT Azer Poster designed by Reza Abedini

29LT Azer Type-Family

Azer’s asymmetrically modern characters connect to infuse a reassuring presence to your text‭.‬
حروف‭ ‬آزر‭ ‬الحديثة‭ ‬المتباينة‭ ‬تنضمّ‭ ‬فتضفي‭ ‬لمسةً‭ ‬مريحةً‭ ‬على‭ ‬نصّكم‭.‬

Name Meaning معنى‭ ‬الإسم
Help‭, ‬support  ‬والعون ،‭ ‬والمساعدة،‭ ‬المساندة

Category الفئة
Text and display type خطّ‭ ‬عرض‭ ‬ومحتوى

Arabic Style الطّراز‭ ‬العربيّ
Naskh النّسخ

Latin‭ ‬Style الطّراز‭ ‬اللّاتينيّ 
Sans Serif ‭ ‬خطّ‭ ‬سان‭ ‬سريف

29LT Bukra Poster designed by Reza Abedini

29LT Bukra Type-Family

Bukra’s geometric structure sheds the frills to deliver your clear corporate message‭.‬
هيكلة‭ ‬خطّ‭ ‬بكرا‭ ‬الهندسيّة‭ ‬تتخلّص‭ ‬من‭ ‬أيّ‭ ‬تكلّف‭ ‬لتزويدكم‭ ‬بالتّالي‭ ‬برسالة‭ ‬تجاريّة‭ ‬واضحة‭.‬

Name Meaning معنى‭ ‬الإسم
Tomorrow ‬غدًا‭

Category الفئة
Text and display type خطّ‭ ‬عرض‭ ‬ومحتوى

Arabic Style الطّراز‭ ‬العربيّ
Kufic الخطّ‭ ‬الكوفيّ

Latin‭ ‬Style الطّراز‭ ‬اللّاتينيّ 
Sans Serif ‭ ‬خطّ‭ ‬سان‭ ‬سريف
‭
 

29LT Kaff Poster designed by Reza Abedini

29LT Kaff Type-Family will be available in early 2015.

29LT Makina Poster designed by Reza Abedini

29LT Makina Type-Family

Makina stands out of its display frame by recreating the charm of typewriting‭.‬
‭ ‬إنّ‭ ‬خطّ‭ ‬ماكينة‭ ‬يبرز‭ ‬من‭ ‬إطار‭ ‬عرضه‭ ‬عبر‭ ‬استرجاع‭ ‬سحر‭ ‬الطّباعة‭ ‬على‭ ‬الآلة‭ ‬الكاتبة‭.‬

Name Meaning معنى‭ ‬الإسم
Machine ماكينة

Category الفئة
Text type خطّ‭ ‬محتوى

Arabic Style الطّراز‭ ‬العربيّ
Simplified Naskh النّسخ‭ ‬المبسّط

Latin‭ ‬Style الطّراز‭ ‬اللّاتينيّ 
Mono-linear‭ & ‬mono-width type خطّ‭ ‬ذو‭ ‬سماكة‭ ‬وعرض‭ ‬متساوييْن

29LT Massira Poster designed by Reza Abedini

29LT Massira Type-Family
Massira is the typeface that refuses confinement and projects the destabilizing urgency of change‭.‬
مسيرة‭ ‬يُعتبر‭ ‬خطّاّ‭ ‬يرفض‭ ‬الأسر‭ ‬ويعكس‭ ‬ضرورة‭ ‬التّغيير‭ ‬الملحّة‭ ‬والقاطعة‭.‬

Name Meaning معنى‭ ‬الإسم
Demonstration‭, ‬march مظاهرة،‭ ‬ومسيرة

Category الفئة
Text and display type خطّ‭ ‬عرض‭ ‬ومحتوى

Arabic Style الطّراز‭ ‬العربيّ
Ruq’a خطّ‭ ‬الرّقعة

29LT Zarid Poster designed by Reza Abedini

29LT Zarid Type-Family will be available in early 2015.

29LT Zeyn Poster designed by Reza Abedini

29LT Zeyn Type-family

With its fleeting edges and graceful drift‭, ‬Zeyn permeates the authentic tradition of the cursive‭.‬
‭ ‬خطّ‭ ‬زين‭ ‬يعزّز‭ ‬تقليد‭ ‬الأحرف‭ ‬المتّصلة‭ ‬الأصيل،‭ ‬وذلك‭ ‬فضلاً‭ ‬لحافاته‭ ‬الخاطفة‭ ‬وانحرافه‭ ‬الجميل‭.‬

Name Meaning معنى‭ ‬الإسم
Beautiful‭, ‬elegant‭, ‬graceful ‬وفاتن ،‭ ‬وراقٍ،‭ ‬جميل

Category الفئة
Display type خطّ‭ ‬عرض‭

Arabic Style الطّراز‭ ‬العربيّ
Hybrid Naskh/Thuluth خطّ‭ ‬هجين‭ ‬النّسخ‭/‬الثّلث

Latin‭ ‬Style الطّراز‭ ‬اللّاتينيّ 
Modern Serif ‭ ‬خطّ‭ ‬سريف‭ ‬حديث

HOROUF DESIGN COMPETITION Hosted by NUQAT and 29Letters

مسابقة حروف لتصميم الخطوط تقدّمها نقاط و٢٩ حرف

First annual edition, November 12, 2014

المسابقة السنوية الأولى,  12 نوفمبر 2014

 Summary of proceedings ملخّص عن الإجراءات :

Facilitator: Pascal Zoghbi (see last section for bio)

الميسّر: باسكال زغبي (راجع القسم الأخير للسيرة الذاتية)

Location: Al Amricani Cultural Center

المكان: مركز الأمريكاني الثقافي

Summary الملخّص :

The Horouf Competition was launched as a social design initiative with the aim of developing Arabic type design and advancing the practice of professionals in the field. In addition to the creation of exciting new fonts for use across mediums, by setting the challenge of designing a font with both Latin and Arabic scripts, the Horouf competition hopes to play a key role in facilitating and encouraging bilingual publications and promoting understanding and creative expression across languages.

تم إطلاق مسابقة حروف كمبادرة تصميم إجتماعية بهدف تطوير تصميم الخطوط العربية وتعزيز ممارسة تلك المهنة في هذا المجال. بالإضافة الى ابتكار خطوط جديدة واستخدامها في مختلف الوسائل، من خلال تحدّي المشتركين لتصميم خط باللغتين اللاتينية والعربية، تسعى مسابقة حروف الى أن تلعب دورا” أساسيا” في تسهيل وتشجيع إصدار المنشورات الثنائية اللغة بالإضافة الى ترويج التفاهم والتعبير الإبداعي في مختلف اللغات.

The jury members noted that some of the type design entries put forward by professionally trained designers were more consistent and technically sound in their understanding of typographic elements, but seemed reserved in terms of the iconoclasm and innovation in their overall approach. The less experienced designers put forward some of the fresher approaches, but were less consistent in the execution of their visions which made it difficult to envision a full application of the overall type design.

أشار أعضاء لجنة التحكيم أنّ تصاميم الخطوط التي قدّمها المصمّمون المحترفون بدت أفضل من الناحية التقنية ولكنّها افتقرت الى الابتكار. أمّا التصاميم التي قدّمها المصمّمون الأقل خبرة فكانت أكثر ابتكارا” ولكنّها افتقرت الى الطابع التقني ممّا خلق صعوبات في تخيّل الخط بمختلف أشكاله.

Whilst the jurors are all excited to take part in the very first annual Horouf design competition for typography design, they agree that this year’s entries left much to be desired in terms of innovation and technical execution. This is reflected by their reluctance to award any first prizes. With their winning selections they expressed the hope to reward and encourage the spirit of creativity in the field of Latin and Arabic typeface design and more rigorous work in the field at large.

مع الرغم من حماس أعضاء لجنة الحكم للمشاركة في أوّل مسابقة حروف لتصميم الخطوط السنوية، إنّهم يوافقون على أنّ التصاميم المقدّمة تحتاج الى الكثير من الابتكار والتنفيذ التقني بعد. ولقد بدا ذلك من خلال ترددهم في تحديد فائزين بالمراتب الأولى. من خلال اختيارهم للفائزين، لقد عبّروا عن هدفهم في مكافأة وتشجيع حسّ الإبداع في مجال تصميم الخطوط العربية واللاتينية وفي مجال التصميم ككل.

On the whole, the Horouf Competition as initiated by Nuqat and 29 Arabic Letters models the intention to create more engaging and beautiful dual-language media and to stimulate the Arabic type design community.

باختصار، تم إطلاق مسابقة حروف من قبل نقاط و٢٩حرف من أجل خلق وسائل إعلام جديدة تتميّز بالتفاعل وثنائية اللغة ومن أجل تحفيذ المجتمع على التصاميم العربية.

Goals of Horouf Competition as a social design initiative:

أهداف مسابقة حروف كونها مبادرة تصميم إجتماعية :

• Give the recognition for professional non-latin type designers.
• Encourage talented designers to pursue their type design skills and passion.
• Enable amateur designers to finalize their fonts and publish them professionally.
• Increase the number of professional Arabic/Latin fonts in the MENA region.
• Spread awareness about the type design profession and the importance of typefaces in the visual communication field.

•  تقدير المصممين المتخصصين في تصميم الخطوط الغير اللاتينية

• تشجيع المصممين الموهوبين على تطوير شغفهم ومهاراتهم في التصميم

• ًإعطاء الفرصة لمصممين غير محترفين كي يتمموا خطوطهم وينشروها رسميا

• زيادة عدد الخطوط العربية/اللاتينية في منطقة الشرق الأوسط

• نشر الوعي عن مهنة تصميم الخطوط وأهميتها في مجال التواصل البصري

Judging criteria معايير التحكيم :

As agreed upon by the jury, a winning font will achieve the following criteria:

بحسب ما تم الاتفاق عليه من قبل لجنة الحكم، يجب على الخط الرابح أن :

• Clearly legible and pleasing to the eye in both Latin and Arabic iterations
• Demonstrate a creative, fresh and relatively new take on typography (especially in Arabic)
• Technically sound, proportional and consistent in its typographic elements including: kern, use of serifs, spacing, stems, tails, etc.
• Latin and Arabic font iterations are visually complementary and cohesive in their design
• Encourage and inspire further experimentation in the field of type and graphic design

• يكون سهلا” للقراءة ومريحا” للنظر في اللغتين اللاتينية والعربية

• (يتميّز بخصائص مبتكرة في مجال تصميم الخطوط (خاصّة باللغة العربية

• تكون بنيته منطقية ومتناسقة في ما يتعلّق بمختلف العناصر المطبعية

• يظهرالأحرف اللاتينية والعربية وكأنّها تكمل بعضها بصرياً في طريقة تصميمها

• تشجيعوإلهام المزيد من الاختبارات في مجال تصميم الخطوط وتصميم الغرافيك

Winning designs التصاميم الفائزة :

Change by Sultan Mohammad (2nd place Type Design)

Baldufa by Ferran Milan (3rd place Type Design)

(The following text and images are from the participant)     

Baldufa is a charming typeface with strong personality, which looks very comfortable in text. There is a search to obtain complicated curves and detailed features, which give the typeface a touch of beauty and elegance. However, this is also a self-conscious design that claims appreciation for quirkiness and human imperfection through the rounded serifs and irregular vertical stems.

The typeface family is also a multi script project, containing Latin and Arabic scripts. The Latin consists of Regular, Bold and Italic styles, including Small Caps and many other typographic features. Whereas Arabic Naskh includes Regular and Bold weights. The whole family has been designed to work harmoniously together to help to produce catalogues and small publications of cultural content. We believe that Baldufa is a tiny but nice contribution to build bridges between cultures and this make us very happy.

The letterforms in the Latin are inspired by the slight distortions and idiosyncrasies that came with old printing methods. It has distinct, features such as rounded serifs, irregular vertical streams, ink traps and extremely thin junctions. In the Italic, serifs have been removed to enhance movement and expressivity. These experiments in form have not come at the cost of legibility: The typeface remains suitable for both small and display text.

To certain extent, the design of the Arabic gathers the same interest for experimentation than its Latin companion. Baldufa Arabic respects the basic features of Arabic script such as thick stokes in the baseline, multiple vertical axis, genuine stem modulation and good linking between words.  However, it steps away from traditional Calligraphic Style. It has rounded top terminals and the traditional contrast between curves and straight stokes has been softened. Letter shapes sometimes slightly differs from tradition in order to obtain more expressivity. Overall, Arabic has been designed to acquire the same elegant and quirky aspect of the Latin.

Zamalka by Ahmad Al Hindi (3rd place Graphic Design)

(The following text and images are from the participant)

Zamalka is initially a bilingual (Arabic – Latin) typeface, most probably will extend to (Farsi). The Arabic font is Kufi based and combines elegance, originality, strength, and modernity in its construction. The Latin font is a condensed sans-serif with crisp, straight cuts. The font has three weights (Light, Regular, and Bold), and it takes its name from a lovely place in Syria that is very dear to me.

One of the features of traditional Arabic letters is that some letters have an almond-like or leaf-like shape. To capture that, I have tilted some of the edges of the letterforms and closed shapes. These little angled lines that are incorporated throughout most of the letters are probably one of the things that give the Zamalka font a new touch or look. Having said that, the font still maintains straight, elegant, modern, and clean cuts at an overall level.

With little inspiration derived from a few Latin fonts, Zamalka Latin was actually built based on the Arabic letterforms, but used less of the slanted lines common to Arabic due to the nature of the Latin type used. Still, the match between the two  worlds works quite well in terms of density, flow, attitude, and overall personality.

I believe that when the font is ready and published, graphic and brand designers will thoroughly enjoy using this type, as it is very suitable for bilingual typographic design and for corporate brand visual communication.

فونت زملكا مبدأياً هو فونت (عربي-لاتيني)، وسيتم على الأرجح توسيعه ليشمل (فارسي)، الفونت العربي مبني على أساس «كوفي»، ويجمع في تركيبته بين القوة والأصالة، مع الأناقة والحداثة، بينما الفونت اللاتيني هو فونت مطاول، ذو حواف نضرة مستقيمة أنيقة.

هناك ثلاث أوزان للفونت (رفيع، عادي، عريض)، واسمه مستوحى من بلدة في سوريا عزيزة على قلبي.

إحدى معالم الأحرف العربية التقليدية هو الشكل المغزلي أو اللوزي الذي يميز بعض الأحرف، لهذا حاولت إمالة بعض حواف الأحرف والأشكال المغلقة، وربما تكون هذه الحواف المائلة الموجودة في أغلب الأحرف هي سبب تميز خط زملكا بهذه النكهة الجديدة. وبناءً على ما سبق نستطيع القول أن الفونت في مظهره العام يحافظ على الاستقامة والأناقة والحداثة والحواف المهذبة.

أما فيما يخص اللاتيني، فقد تم إنشاؤه بناءً على الأحرف العربية بالمجمل، مع الاقتباس البسيط من بضع فونتات لاتينية حديثة، ولكن تطلب الأمر تخفيف من الحواف المائلة عن العربي، وذلك ليخدم طبيعة الأحرف اللاتينية، ولكن النتيجة كانت انسجام وتناغم جيد جداً بين العربي واللاتيني على عدة أصعدة كالكثافة البصرية، وانسياب الأحرف وحركتها، وشخصيتها البصرية بشكل عام.

أعتقد أنه عندما يتم إنهاء الفونت ونشره سيرغب الكثير من مصممي الغرافيك والـ «branding» في استخدامه، ولاسيما أنه مناسب جداً للتشكيلات الحروفية باللغتين، وللكثير من التصاميم الاحترافية غيرها.

Strengths and weaknesses of winning designs قوّة وضعف التصاميم الفائزة :

Change by Sultan Mohammad (2^nd place Type Design)

Strength قوّته :

• Proposes an original new Arabic font
• Demonstrates innovative point of view
• Possibility for wide range of popular applications
•  خط عربي جديد وخلّاق
•  يظهر نظرة مبتكرة
• إمكانية كبيرة لتطبيقه في مجالات شعبية

 Weakness ضعفه :

• Arabic and English versions could be more complementary
• English version needs more technical work: jury suggests the tails on
• Latin letters be shorter OR cursive.
• ًكان  من المستحسن جعل الحرفين العربي واللاتيني أكثر تكاملا
• تستوجب النسخة الانكليزية المزيد من التدقيق التقني: تقترح لجنة التحكيم أن تكون الذيول على الأحرف
• اللاتينية أقصر أو مخطوطة

Baldufa by Ferran Milan (3^rd place Type Design)

Strength قوّته :

• Strong and clear concept with highly legible and friendly font
• Demonstrates creative point of view
• فكرة قوية وواضحة مع خط مقروء ومريح للنظر
• يظهر نظرة مبتكرة

 Weakness ضعفه :

• Accents on Latin letter are disproportionately large
• Arabic version is too close in style with pre-existing fonts
• الحركات على الحروف اللاتينية كبيرة بشكل غير متناسب
• ًالنسخة العربية متشابهة كثيراً مع خطوط موجودة مسبقا

Zamalka by Ahmad Al Hindi (3^rd place Graphic Design)

Strength قوّته :

• Latin and Arabic scripts are generally complementary
• Demonstrates creative point of view
• الحروف العربية واللاتينية متكاملة
• يظهر نظرة مبتكرة

 Weakness ضعفه :

• Latin version has problems with some letter heights, widths and slants, especially the w’s
• Arabic version is missing the serifs that the Latin font has
• مشاكل في النسخة اللاتينية بخصائص بعض الأحرف من ارتفاع وعرض وميول
• غياب الخطوط الرقيقة من النسخة العربية بينما هي موجودة في النسخة اللاتنية

Particular remarks ملاحظات عامّة :

• The diversity of candidates was noted, with the jury appreciating the participation of designers from a number of different levels of expertise applied, including university students and design firms.

  لوحظ تنوّع المشتركين كما قدّرت لجنة التحكيم مشاركة المصممين من مختلف مستويات الخبرات التطبيقية بما فيها تلاميذ الجامعات وموظّفين الشركات.

• The pool of graphic design entries lacked boldness on the whole, and suggestions were made that some of the entries should be considered as type designs and NOT as graphic ones.

  افتقرت التصاميم ككل الى الجرأة كما أنّه بعض الأعمال المقدّمة تتناسب أكثر مع فئة تصميم الخطوط وليس تصميم الغرافيك.

Outstanding debates مناقشات قائمة :

• Does collaboration make final products too neutral? Are individual signatures lost in when large teams are behind font designs, due to compromise and negotiation of differing design visions and aesthetics?

  هل يجعل التعاون من المنتج النهائي معتدلا”؟ هل تُفقَد لمسة كل فرد عندما يتشارك عدد من المصممين على عمل ما بسبب التنازلات والتفاوض في ما يخص اختلاف وجهات النظر؟

Further hopes for next year’s competition تمنّيات للمسابقة في السنة المقبلة :

• Participation from more professional and qualified type designers, design firms and teams

  مشاركة أكبر من قبل مصممين متخصصين وشركات تصميم وأفرقاء

• Replacing the existing categories (type vs. graphic design) with alternative categories: Arabic type design vs. bilingual, unified Arabic/Latin type design

  تبديل الفئات الحالية (تصميم خطوط وتصميم غرافيك) بأخرى: تصميم خطوط عربية وتصميم خطوط ثنائية اللغة أي عربية/لاتيية

• PresentationoftheHorouf exhibition to accommodate a larger pool of entries with a larger exhibition with accompanying catalog

  عرض أعمال حروف لاستقطاب مشاركة أوسع مع معرض أكبر مرفق بكتالوغ

Jury Bios عن أعضاء لجنة الحكم :

Huda AbiFarès هدى أبي فارس

Khatt Foundation (LB/NL) منظّمة خط (لبنان/هولندا)

Creative Director مديرة إبداع

Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès is the founding creative director of the Khatt Foundation (www.khtt.net). Author of Arabic Typography (2001), Typographic Matchmaking (2007), Typographic Matchmaking in the City (2011), and Arabic Type Design for Beginners (2013). She holds an MFA in graphic design from Yale University School of Art and a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design. She taught typography and design in the US, Europe and the Middle East since 1994. She specializes in typographic design and research. She is currently pursuing a PhD at Leiden University.

إنّ هدى سميتشويزن أبي فارس هي مؤسِسة منظّمة خط (www.khtt.net) ومديرها الإبداعي. ألّفت كل من (Arabic Typography (2001 و Typographic Matchmaking (2007 و (Typographic Matchmaking in the City (2011 و (Arabic Type Design for Beginners (2013 . حازت على شهادة الماجستير في التصميم الجرافيكي من جامعة ييل للفنون وشهادة البكالوريوس من كلية رود آيلاند للتصميم. علّمت تصميم الخطوط في الولايات الماحدة وأوروبا والشرق الأوسط منذ عام 1994. إنّها متخصصة في تصميم الخطوط والأبحاث. إنّها تعمل في الوقت الحاضر على شهادة الدكتوراه في جامعة ليدن.

Mouneer Al-Shaarani منير الشعراني

Arabic Calligrapher & Artist (SY) خطاط باللغة العربية وفنان (سوريا)

Born in 1952, Mouneer Al-Shaarani studied calligraphy since he was ten, by the most important Syrian calligrapher, Badawi Al Dirani. He later continued his studies in the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus. Having numerous exhibitions east and west, and showcasing his works in several museums around the world, such as the Malaysian Museum for Islamic Arts and the British Museum, Al-Shaarani gave birth to a new era of contemporary Arab Calligraphy and became its master by creating new techniques and developing some kinds of traditional old calligraphies. Al-Shaarani’s artistic calligraphies seek a perfection rarely attained by usual dimensions. Al-Shaarani worked as a calligrapher, book and print letter designer. In addition, he published tutorial booklets for six kinds of Arab calligraphy. As an art critic, Al-Shaarani wrote a number of articles, some of which are about the Arab Islamic art. He also worked as consultant for the International Arab Encyclopedia supplying it with information and materials on Arab writing, calligraphy and famous Arab calligraphers.Al-Shaarani had a solo exhibition in Ayyam Gallery in January 2008 and released a book depicting his works and experience.

ولد منير الشعراني عام 1952 وبدأ بتعلّم تصميم الخطوط في العاشرة من عمره على يد أهمّ خطّاطي سوريا، بدوي الديراني. أكمل دراسته في كلّية الفنون الجميلة في دمشق. تعرض أعماله في معارض في الشرق والغرب وفي متاحف في مختلف أنحاء العالم منها متحف ماليزيا للفنون الإسلامية والمتحف البريطاني. بدأ الشعراني عصرا” جديدا” للخط العربي المعاصر إذ أنّه أتقنه باحتراف وأضاف عليه الخط التقليدي. عمل الشعراني كمصمم خطوط وكتب كما أنه نشر كتيّبات عن أنواع الخطوط العربية الستة. كونه ناقد فني، كتب الشعراني عدد من المقالات منها ما يتضمّن مواضيع عن الفن الاسلامي. عمل أيضا” كمستشار في الموسوعة العربية العالمية مقدّما” معلومات ومواد عن الكتابة العربية والخط العربي والخطاطين العرب. أقام الشعراني معرضا” في كاليري الأيام في يناير 2008 كما أنّه نشر كتابا” يتضمّن أعماله وخبراته.

Patrick Giasson باتريك جياسون

Loose Atom (UK) لوز أتوم (المملكة المتحدة)

Type Designer مصمم خطوط

Born in Montreal, Canada, Patrick trained as a graphic designer before focusing on typographic design. He relocated to London, UK, in 2001 to join the branding agency Wolff Olins as in­house Type Designer. After completing a MA in Typeface Design at the University of Reading in 2004, he joined the UK office of Monotype where he worked as a Senior Type Designer for the following eight years. He set up his own type design studio in 2012.

ولد باتريك في مونتريال في كندا وتعلّم التصميم الغرافيكي قبل التركيز على تصميم الخطوط. انتقل الى لندن، المملكة المتحدة في عام 2001 ليلتحق بشركة التصميم “وولف أولينز” كمصمم خطوط. تخرّج من جامعة القراءة في عام 2004 مع شهادة الماجيستير في تصميم الخطوط ثم التحق بمكتب مونوتايب في المملكة المتحدة حيث عمل كمصمم خطوط لمدة ثماني سنوات. أسس في عام 2012 استديو التصميم الخاص به.

Peter Bil’ak بيتر بيلاك

 Typotheque (CS/NL) تيبوتيك (تشيكوسلوفاكيا/هولندا)

Type designer and professor مصمم خطوط وأستاذ

Peter Biľak has created typefaces in various scripts including Latin, Arabic, Cyrillic, Greek and Syriac for a variety of clients including Google, Al Itihad, Turner Broadcasting, the Times of London and the Serpentine Gallery. Peter works in the field of editorial, graphic, and type design, teaches at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague. He started Typotheque in 1999, Indian Type Foundry in 2009, and *Works That Work* magazine in 2012. For his contribution to non­Latin typography, he was named one of the 12 Game Changers by Metropolis magazine in 2012.

صمم بيتر خطوط في مختلف اللغات منها اللاتينية والعربية والسيريلية واليونانية والسريانية لمجموعة كبيرة من العملاء بما فيها غوغل وشركة الاتحاد وتيرنز للبث وتايمز أوف لندن ومعرض أفعواني. يعمل بيتر بيلاك في مجال التحرير وتصميم الغرافيك وتصميم الخطوط، كما أنّه يعطي دروسا” في الأكاديمية الملكية للفنون في لاهاي. أسس تيبوتيك في عام 1999 ومؤسسة الخط الهندية في عام 2009 ومجلة “وورك ذات وورك” في عام 2012. ظهر إسمه من بين من ساهم في تصميم الخطوط غير اللاتينية وذلك في مجلة ميتروبوليس في عام 2012.

Facilitator ميسّر :

Pascal Zoghbi باسكال زغبي

Pascal Zoghbi, Arabic Type Designer and Typographer, is the founder of “29 Arabic Letters”, an Arabic Type Design and Typography firm in Beirut. His design work ranges from creating new Arabic fonts, corporate identities and print publications. Since 2006, after his graduation from the Type & Media course at The Royal Academy of Arts in The Netherlands with a Master of Design, Pascal was involved in an impressive collection of new Arabic type design projects. He has created contemporary Arabic fonts for leading Middle Eastern Newspapers, urban places, art events & magazines, software and several other companies. Pascal took part of the Typographic Matchmaking 01 and 02 projects organized by The Khatt Foundation. He has been teaching typography and type design courses at graphic design schools in American University of Beirut AUB, Lebanon at Lebanese American University LAU and Notre Dame University NDU and since 2006. He frequently gives lectures and workshops about Arabic type and typography and he runs a blog about Arabic type and typography. He recently co-authored and edited the “Arabic Graffiti” book that is published by “From Here To Fame” in Berlin.

باسكال زغبي هو مصمّم خطوط عربية وخطّاط، أسّس شركة 29 Arabic Letters لتصميم الخطوط العربية في بيروت. تتضمّن أعماله تصميم خطوط عربية جديدة وابتكار هويات للشركات والمنشورات المطبوعة. منذ أن حاز على شهادة الماجستير في التصميم في العام 2006 من كلّية الخطوط ووسائل الاعلام في الأكاديمية الملكية للفنون في هولندا وهو يعمل على ابتكار خطوط عربية جديدة رائعة. صمّم خطوط عربية معاصرة لأهمّ الصحف في الشرق الأوسط ولأماكن حضرية ونشاطات فنية ومجلات وبرامج وغيرها من الشركات. شارك باسكال في مشروع «المزاوجة التيبوغرافية للخطّ الطباعي العربي» بجزئيه الأول والثاني الذي نظّمته مؤسسة خطّ. يعطي باسكال صفوفاً في تصميم الخطوط والتخطيط في مدارس التصميم في الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت والجامعة اللبنانية الأميركية وجامعة سيدة اللويزة منذ العام 2006. كثيرا” ما يلقي محاضرات ويقوم بورش عمل حول تصميم الخط العربي، كما أنّه خلق صفحة إلكترونية موضوعها الخط العربي. شارك باسكال مؤخرا” في تأليف وتحرير كتاب “Arabic Graffiti” الذي أصدرته دار النشر From Here To Fame (من هنا الى الشهرة) في برلين.

29LT Kaff multilingual typeface in 8 weights (Thin, Ultra Light, Light, Regular, Medium, Bold and Black)

29LT Kaff is a contemporary typeface family designed by Pascal Zoghbi of 29Letters (29LT) and Ian Party of Swiss Typefaces, in which the Arabic and Latin letterforms were created simultaneously. Its name is taken from an Arabic word meaning ‘adequate, sufficient, necessary and essential’. Kaff’s family of eight weights (Thin, Ultra Light, Light, Regular, Medium, Bold, Semi Bold and Black) is designed to be the suitable typeface that answers the need of designers and publishers in most of their typographic projects.

29LT Kaff multilingual fonts each includes 1150-plus glyphs that accommodate Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Western and Eastern European languages.

It is the corporate typeface as well as a sleek fashionable typeface. A font set suitable for the everyday use for any kind of project. A realist design approach in a sense of creating a neutral Arabic and Latin typeface. Each weight includes 1150-plus glyphs that accommodate Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Western and Eastern European languages.

29LT Kaff multilingual typeface in 8 weights (Thin, Ultra Light, Light, Regular, Medium, Bold and Black)

The Arabic character set, designed by Zoghbi, is inspired from the Naskh calligraphic styles, while the Latin, designed by Party, is based on a neo-grotesque sans serif roman style. It is type family created for maximum legibility and easy usability. The letterforms are drawn with extreme refinement and low contrast between the thick and thin pen strokes.

29LT Kaff multilingual typeface is suitable for the everyday use for any kind of project. A realist design approach in a sense of creating a neutral Arabic and Latin typeface.

A number of elements bring both scripts together: the design approach, proportions, weight and contrast. Zoghbi and Party didn’t want to sacrifice the value or esthetics of one scripts to the other, hence they approached the same design brief of an adequate typeface from the different aspects of Arabic and Latin scripts. They acknowledged the differences between the two scripts and respect them instead of compromising one for the other.

The Arabic set contains an extensive set of ligatures in addition to stylistic sets and alternates to give the font a more calligraphic character.

The Arabic set contains an extensive set of ligatures in addition to stylistic sets and alternates to give the font a more calligraphic character. These are derived from the Naskh features that calligraphers used for filling the space between words when the text is justified, or simply because it is more aesthetically satisfying. These were added to enhance the script’s ‘essentiality’, and essential is, after all, what Kaff means.

The Arabic set contains an extensive set of ligatures in addition to stylistic sets and alternates to give the font a more calligraphic character.

Since most documentation and references about the Arabic script stem from the calligraphic methodology, this article will tackle the problem of allocating typographic terms to Arabic type and typography.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The following typographic demonstrations compare the anatomy of Arabic type to that of Latin type. The diagrams show a contemporary Naskh / Sans Serif typeface, called 29LT Kaff  that comes in eight (8) weights designed by Pascal Zoghbi and Ian Party (SwissTypefaces) . It  was published in the Spring of 2015 at which time it became part of 29Letters commercial fonts library.

Latin type conventionally sits on a baseline, with five main vertical levels of reference: baseline, x-height, ascender, descender, and caps-height. By contrast, Arabic type is less constrained, with more invisible typographic levels at the type designer’s disposal. A humanistic typeface inspired by the cursive Naskh scripts, such as this one, may make use of up to twelve imaginary typographic levels, whereas a typeface based on a geometric Kufic script may require only four or five levels. This means that it is essential for Arabic type designers to possess expert knowledge of Arabic calligraphic styles and systems in order to be creative and to translate the calligraphic rules into typographic guidelines for their typefaces.

For each of the cursive Arabic calligraphic styles (Naskh, Thuluth, Diwani, etc.), the proportions of the letters are governed by several systems—dot, circle and similarity—which act as guides for Arabic type designers. There is no one set of typographic levels in Arabic type anatomy as there is in Latin type anatomy. Type designers decide on the number of levels needed for the typeface they are designing, and according to the calligraphic style that the typeface is based on.

Instead of one mean-line—in Latin typefaces, the x-height—there may be several: tooth-, loop-, and eye-heights. Instead of a single ascender, there may be two, called the ‘Sky’. In place of a single descender, there may be two or three, called the ‘Earth’. In between the previously mentioned guidelines, there are two further invisible lines that define the baseline’s position and thickness.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

A summerised and edited version of this article was firstly published in Eye Magazine issue #90 within the “Beyond Latin: Type design panel” article published in June 2015. This brief article on Arabic type anatomy is the fruit of my experience from the past years in: 1. Designing Arabic fonts; 2. Lecturing about Arabic typography; 3. Discussing the Arabic script with calligraphers and colleagues; and 4. Reading and researching about Arabic calligraphy. Hopefully I will be able to publish a comprehensive detailed article or book on this topic and other Arabic typography topics in the near future.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Arabic Type Culture / Typo Cultura Árabe / ثقافة الخط العربي
Lectures at Casa Árabe Madrid & Córdoba.
Part of the Brief Festival

Madrid on 28Oct at 7:00PM
28 Octubre 19:00 h Madrid

The award-winning design studio, 29Letters (29LT), is pleased to announce that we have completely redesigned our website to give font lovers a vastly improved user experience.

Our new, bilingual Arabic and English responsive website showcases 29LT fonts with rich, vibrant colors and photographs. The site features an interactive type tool that lets you visualize the Arabic and Latin fonts of your choice in selected design project, side by side with its pure typographic form. As you click through the 29LT fonts, you can display each one at the size you need and in the language you prefer.

From the Fonts Catalogue, we invite you to “type your text” so that you can match and compare several fonts of a specific typeface within its respective page.

Once you are in a specific typeface page, you can preview and try all weights present in the type family; read about the font specs and features; know more about the type designers behind the fonts; and finally view the fonts is use by our esteemed clients.

The simple Cart takes you through the selection and purchase process of the fonts in a seamless manner. 29Letters offers its clients a multi-purpose font license in all formats (OTF, TTF, WOFF, EOT) covering various usages and applications such as Print, Web, App, Publishing, Broadcast and any other media.

ONE-TIME CHARGE

NO MONTHLY FEES

LIFELONG LICENSE

NO BANDWIDTH RESTRICTIONS

NO LIMIT ON WEBSITE VISITORS

In the Custom Fonts section, you can read about our type design services and browse through our showcased bespoke typeface and fonts done previously by 29LT team.

You can also access and fill out the 29LT Custom Typeface Order Form and we will get back to you with our quotation and design services options within 24 hours.

In the Design Projects section, you can browse though the graphic design and typography projects we have undertaken in the past years. You can also contact us through the 29LT Design Project Order Form if you need to hire us for a design project.

Finally, registering on the site will give you access to our trial fonts, which are the basic set at Regular weight.

Download and Discover 29LT Fonts.

Name Meaning معنى الإسم

Strong, robust, bold قويّ، وصلب، وجريء 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Category الفئة

Text and display type خطّ عرض ومحتوى 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Arabic Style الطّراز العربيّ

Alnasikh Massari نسخ مسطري 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Latin Style الطّراز اللّاتينيّ

Sans Serif خطّ سان سريف 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Weights لأوزان

Thin, Ultra Light, Light, Regular, Medium, Semi Bold, Bold and Black

رفيع، وخفيف جدًا، وخفيف، وعاديّ، ومتوسّط، وشبه داكن، وداكن، وأسود

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Scripts/Languages الخطوط/اللّغات

Arabic and Latin scripts covering the Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Western European languages

خطوط عربيّة ولاتينيّة تناسب اللّغات العربيّة، والفارسيّة، والأردية والأوروبيّة الغربيّة 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Features المواصفات

Arabic Ligatures and a stylistic set for elongated elegant letters endings

حروف عربيّة مدمجة ومجموعة أسلوبيّة لنهايات حروف ممدودة راقية 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Number of Glyphs عدد الرموز

1200+

_____________________________________________________________________________________

مصمّمو الحروف Type Designers

Pascal Zoghbi and Khajag Apelian باسكال زغبي وخاجاك أبيليان 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The Story of 29LT Zarid

The story of 29LT Zarid starts back in 2007 when the daily Dubai newspaper “Emirates Today” approached 29Letters to create and develop a new Arabic typeface for headlining and titling for their updated tabloid. The newspaper requested a modern and crisp font that would appeal to their newly targeted younger readers as well as to be agreeable to their existing readers who were used to Naskh Mastari traditional fonts. A black display font was created covering the Arabic language for the newspaper. The font created back then, named “Imarat Headlines,” was an Arabic display font exclusively used by the newspaper from 2007 to 2014 when it was replaced by another typeface. For more than seven years, “Imarat Headlines” gave a unique image to “Emirates Today” before competing newspapers started adopting the same look and feel by producing similar alternates of it.

In 2014, 29LT started developing 29LT Zarid based on the “Imarat Headlines” font. The Arabic black letters got a contemporary design uplift by Pascal Zoghbi who also handled the development of the extended character set covering Farsi and Urdu languages. Additionally, a broad set of ligatures and stylistic sets were added to the font to give Zarid a strong calligraphic aspect while retaining its modern spirit.

After the fully extended Arabic character set was completed for the black weight, in 2015 Zoghbi approached the designer and colleague, Khajag Apelian, for the creation and development of the Latin counterpart of Zarid. The Arabic got revised while the Latin was in creation and refinements were undertaken on both scripts to make them come as close together as possible. A strong wedge serif Latin echoed a sturdy Arabic character set stemming from a thoughtful and bold attitude from both designers. From just a black weight, Zarid evolved into eight (8) weights (Thin, Ultra Light, Light, Regular, Medium, Semi Bold, Bold and Black) over a work frame of one year.

It is hard to say how much time 29LT Zarid took for the completion of its present type-family status. It has been eight (8) years since its inception as “Imarat Headlines” font in 2007; two (2) years from the revamping of the black weight in 2014 by Zoghbi; and one (1) year since the joint efforts of both designers, Apelian and Zoghbi, in 2015 for the realization of the whole type family in eight (8) weights covering all Middle Eastern, North African, Eastern European, Central European, Western European, North and South American languages.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Description of 29LT Zarid

29LT Zarid letterforms are drawn with extreme refinement and varying contrast between the light and heavy weights of the type-family. The letters in the light weights (Thin, Ultra Light, Light and Regular) are drawn in low contrast and smooth curves, while the letters in the heavy weights (Medium, Semi Bold, Bold and Black) are drawn in high contrast with crisp cuts and sharp pen strokes. The typeface is suitable for a vast array of literature and educational publications besides branding and design projects. 29LT Zarid is a combination of an Arabic Naskh Mastari accompanied with a unique serif Latin counterpart that makes it reliable for both content and display text.

رسم زين بقلم عالي التباين وبحرفية راقية وشديدة ما يعطيه اسلوبا خاصا ومعاصرا. إن حدود الأحرف المصقولة لهذا الخط تجعله مناسبا لإظهار الثقافة الرفيعة التي تتطلبها الماركات والمشاريع الراقية. لقد صمّم كل حرف بطريقة تضمن الحفاظ على ضربات القلم الرفيعة كما السميكة كما هي في فن الخط. هذا التناقض في سماكة الخط استخدم مع زوايا حادّة وحدود بارزة لإضفاء طابع معاصر.

It retains a balance between calligraphic angular cuts and unadorned construction. The contrast in the letters was coupled with strong cuts and edges to give the font it vigorous attitude. The letterforms are inspired by calligraphic makeup but drawn with a modern-day feel. The Arabic ligatures and elongated stylistic sets give the typeface more calligraphic characteristics. These were meant to provide the script’s robustness, and robust is, after all, what Zarid means.

بوحي من فن المخطوطة، سكبت الأحرف الجديدة بإنسجام تامّ في أشكالها، لكنها رسمت بحرية خط اليد. الهابطات المشكّلة بضربة قلم مفتوحة في بعض الأحرف، بدل ان تعود لتنغلق على الحرف ذاته، بالاضافة الى اشكال الدوائر في أحرف اخرى، هي جميعها ابداعات جديدة الهدف منها التأكيد على الهوية الفنية المخطوطية لهذا الخط ما يزيد من أناقته، وهذا هو بالضبط ما أردنا خط زين أن يعني، أنيق.

The design approach, with open counters, the terminals and finials, and the weight and contrast, are all elements that bring the Arabic and Latin scripts together: No surprise there as both scripts were created in synergy and were inspired from each other simultaneously.

لقد ولد النصّان العربي واللاتيني بشكل متزامن. فالعناصر التي تجمعهما معا كمقاربة التصميم بذاته، والفراغات المفتوحة في الاحرف ونِسَبها، التيجان والنهايات، والاوزان والتباين، استوحياها من بعضهما البعض.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

29LT Zarid Features

The RTA Dubai bespoke multilingual typeface is composed of a distinct contemporary Naskh style Arabic accompanied by a humanistic and symmetric Sans Serif Latin. It is a font family that was created with unique design characteristics while putting legibility first. The typeface was designed to function perfectly in all transportation systems and communication mediums of RTA Dubai. With its open spirit and clear outlines, the typeface is easy to spot and read on road signs and all kinds of transportation vehicles. It is also unique and fully legible on RTA website, RTA application and on all of RTA social media platforms.

إنّ الخطّ الطباعيّ المتعدد اللغات المصمَّم خصّيصاً لهيئة الطرق والمواصلات بدبيّ، هو عبارةٌ ــ في شكله العربيّ ــ عن نوعٍ حديثٍ وفريدٍ من خطّ النسخ العربيّ، يرافقه خطّ لاتيني غير مذيّل، متماثلٌ وأقرب ما يكون للخطّ الانسيابي. هو نمطٌ من عائلةٍ من الخطوط ذات مواصفاتٍ فريدة في التصميم، ابتُكِرت مع تقديم اعتبارسهولة القراءة على غيره. لقد أوجِدَ هذا الخطّ ليعمل بصورةٍ مثاليةٍ في جميع أنظمة النقل ووسائط التواصل التابعة لهيئة الطرق والمواصلات في دبيّ. وبفضل ما يعكسه هذا الخطّ من روحٍ منفتحةٍ ووضوحٍ في المعالم، فإنّ النظر يلتقطه بيُسر، كما تسهل قراءته على إشارات الطرق وكلّ أنواع مركبات النقل. وهو كذلك فريدٌ ومقروءٌ بشكلٍ ممتازٍ على الموقع الإلكترونيّ لهيئة الطرق والمواصلات، وعلى التطبيق التابع لهيئة الطرق والمواصلات، كما على جميع وسائل التواصل الاجتماعيّ التابعة لهذه الهيئة

The typeface purpose is to give a modern feel and look to RTA’s signage and visual communication systems. It truthfully reflects the highest tech transportation platforms that are being made available to Dubai commuters nowadays. RTA Dubai covers: Dubai Metro, Dubai Tram, Dubai Bus, Dubai Taxi, Dubai Water Bus, Dubai Car, Dubai Water Taxi, Dubai Ferry, and Dubai Abra.

كان الهدف من خلق هذا الخطّ إضفاء طابعٍ ومظهرٍ حديثَين على أنظمة الإشارات والتواصل المرئيّ لدى هيئة الطرق والمواصلات. وهو يعكس صورةً صادقةً لما توفّره الهيئة للركّاب من التقنيات الأكثر تقدّماً في وسائل النقل. وتشمل هيئة الطرق والمواصلات في دبيّ: مترو دبيّ، وترامواي دبيّ، وباص دبيّ، وباص دبيّ المائيّ، وسيارة دبيّ، وتاكسي دبيّ المائيّ، ومعدّية دبيّ، وعبّارة دبيّ

The type family is composed of 4 weights (Light, Regular, Bold & Black) covering both Arabic and English languages. It contains an extended set of ligatures to strengthen readability. Pascal Zoghbi, from 29LT, designed the Arabic and Swiss Typefaces crafted the Latin. The project was set in collaboration with the branding agency Wolff Olins that was behind the creation of the new brand identity of RTA Dubai.

تتألّف عائلة الخطوط هذه من أوزانٍ أربعة (خفيف وعاديّ وعريض وأسود) في كلا اللغتَينِ العربية والإنكليزية، وتحتوي على مجموعةٍ واسعةٍ من الروابط لتعزيز سهولة القراءة. وقد نفّذ التصميم العربيّ باسكال الزُغبي من محترَف «٢٩حرف»، بينما صممت مؤسسة «سويس تايبفايسز» الشكل اللاتينيّ. تمّ تنفيذ المشروع بالتعاون مع وكالة العلامات التجارية «وولف أولينز» التي كانت وراء ابتداع الهوية التجارية المميِّزة لهيئة الطرق والمواصلات في دبيّ

In present-day, you can visualize the fonts in use by visiting RTA website and RTA social media platforms: RTA Facebook, RTA Twitter, RTA Instagram. In the near future, the new fonts of RTA will be progressively implemented on all transportation systems in Dubai to replace the old visual identity.

بإمكانك، حالياً، الاطّلاع على أنواع الخطوط المستخدَمة عن طريق زيارة الموقع الإلكترونيّ لهيئة الطرق والمواصلات وكذلك وسائط التواصل الاجتماعيّ التابعة للهيئة: فيسبوك، وتويتر، وانستقرام. وستُطبَّق، في المستقبل القريب، مجموعة الخطوط الجديدة الخاصة بهيئة الطرق والمواصلات في دبيّ تدريجياً، حتى استبدال الهوية المرئية القديمة بشكلٍ كامل

The Arabic version of Hard Rock Cafe and Hotel word-mark is created in collaboration with Duncan/Channon and Hard Rock’s internal design team.

The Arabic logotype had to echo the characteristics and proportions of the English logotype. The Kufi script was chosen as the reference for the development of the Arabic letters in the Logo. The slant in the Latin was kept in the Arabic version of the mark but in the opposite direction from right to left.

Standard, and outlined versions of the Arabic logotype are designed. The colors orange and dark-red were used for the Hard Rock Café logo, while the blue-violet and yellow were used for the Hard Rock Hotel logo.

Bukra typeface from 29LT type collection is adopted as the corporate type for the Arabic brand. The description and name of the cities will be typeset using Bukra Type family.

The Arabic word mark is going to be implemented in the coming months/year in the Arabic nations. Current Cafes in the Middle East are in : Bahrain, Hurghada, Sharm el Sheikh, Kuwait, Beirut, Dubai. The first Hard Rock Hotel in the region will be Abu Dhabi and other cities will follow.

Primary sketches for the Arabic brand.

Creation of the Arabic logotype based on the same proportions of the Latin and the flipped slant.

The English and Arabic word-marks side by side.

The talk and workshop I gave at NUQAT Design Conference, Kuwait 2012, revolved around the topic of reviving traditional Arabic script into contemporary Arabic typefaces, patterns/arabesques and design applications for our everyday life. The traditional is not lost but being redefined.

LECTURE, 5th October, 2:00 pm:
Reinventing The Arabic Script / Contemporary Out of Archaic
——————————————————————————————-

Lecture Description
The talk is a journey between archaic/traditional Arabic calligraphy and contemporary Arabic typography and typefaces. Old calligraphic manuscripts were compared with contemporary Arabic typefaces from the 29LT Arabic type collection to showcase the inspiration and creative process of developing innovative Arabic fonts that are in reference to archaic calligraphic writings.

WORKSHOP 7, 7th, 8th & 9th October, 2:00pm to 6:00pm:
Square Kufic / Arabesque Patterns
——————————————————————————————-
Workshop Description
The workshop granted the participants the comprehension of Arabic Kufic patterns and enabled them to create their own Kufic patterns. The workshop introduced the three main Kufic calligraphic styles: Archaic Kufic, Floral Modern Kufic and Square Kufic, and then moved on to become a Hands-On drawing session of arabesque patterns.

Participants started with sketching words, to creating Kufic arabesque patterns, and finally transforming the 2D pattern into a design element that can be used in our everyday modern life.

Below are some of the design items created by the participants:

Square Kufic TABLE:
——————————————————————————————-

Square Kufic KITE:
——————————————————————————————-

Square Kufic DOOR HANGER:
——————————————————————————————-

Archaic Kufic CERAMIC PLATE:
——————————————————————————————-

Modern Kufic BRACELET:
——————————————————————————————-

Modern Kufic T-SHIRT:
——————————————————————————————-

Square Kufic iPHONE COVER:
——————————————————————————————-

Square Kufic INTERIOR MURAL:
——————————————————————————————-

Square Kufic BOOKMARK:
——————————————————————————————-

Modern Kufic GLASS LANTERN:
——————————————————————————————-

——————————————————————————————-

29LT Baseet Type System: 

29LT Baseet type system consists of 16 styles; 8 Standard styles and 8 Slanted styles. The styles are: Thin, Thin Slanted, Extra Light, Extra Light Slanted, Light, Light Slanted, Regular, Slanted, Medium, Medium Slanted, Bold, Bold Slanted, Extra Bold, Extra Bold Slanted, Black, and Black Slanted.

The standard Arabic style is inspired by the Modern Kufic and Naskh calligraphic styles; while the slanted Arabic style is instigated by the Eastern Kufic and Naskh calligraphic styles. The Latin counterpart is based on mono-spaced style.

29LT Baseet Description:

29LT Baseet is a simplified typeface drawn with extreme care and attention incorporating a mono-linear structure that permits casualty within a relaxed atmosphere. The letter structures are a mixture of straight vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines fused in between curved smooth corners and sharp edges, together they give the typeface a dynamic characteristic and energetic feel that fits seamlessly in today’s world. Its round terminals and mono-spaced Latin letters lends the typeface a young and friendly image that makes it suitable for diverse projects ranging from fun and urban to serious and corporate.

It is a type family with maximum legibility and ease of use. The Arabic letterforms arrangement represents modernity while retaining its calligraphic traditional. Whereas the Latin is drawn based on the mono-spaced or mono-type fonts from the early 20^th century for typesetting machines and typewriters. The fonts were designed within a simplified Arabic character set and a mono-spaced Latin design to enhance the script’s simplicity, and simple is, after all, what Baseet means.

The Slanted fonts are categorized as what is known as “true Italics” in the sense that the glyphs were redrawn based on the Eastern Kufic style and not just slanted from the standard style. The traditional Eastern Kufic style is written with a left incline in the pen. Some letters change radically between the Standard and the Slanted styles, while other just acquired a slant. The name “Slanted” was adopted instead of “Italic” for the 8 inclined styles since in Arabic typography and calligraphy there is no such term as an italic style.

A number of elements bring both Arabic and Latin scripts together: the design approach, open counters, proportions, terminals and finials, weight and contrast. Both scripts were created in synergy and were inspired from each other simultaneously.

29LT Baseet Story:

The story of Baseet starts in 2009. The graphic design studio EPS51 in Berlin approached 29Letters for the creation of an Arabic font as a companion to Simple Typeface from Lineto Type Foundry. The font was initially created for the ContempArabia event in the Gulf Region. The initial work done on the font was a collaboration between Pascal Zoghbi from 29LT and Ben Wittner from EPS51. Basic Arabic Regular and Bold fonts were created and used throughout the visual identity of ContempArabia.

In 2010, 29Letters was launched as a digital type foundry and 29LT Basset was one of the first published typeface. Ben Wittner and Pascal Zoghbi embarked on the development of the Arabic character to cover Arabic, Farsi and Urdu scripts, while Swiss Typefaces took on the challenge on creating a new mono-spaced Latin companion. The type family grow from 2 to 4 weights and it covered all Middle Eastern and Central and Western European languages.

In 2016, after 6 years since the first set of 29LT Basset was published, 29Letters took the challenge of growing the type family from 4 into 16 fonts. The change of technology and the advanced support of the Arabic script in the past 6 years required a complete transformation of the old font files into newly developed files using the latest type design software. The main character set was revised and updated to cover more languages, and a set of ligatures were added to the Standard set. After the 8 new Standard fonts were created, it came the time to think of what would be the best way to approach an Italic set for both the Arabic and the Latin. For the Latin it was straight forward since it was based on the Italic Mono-type style, but it was challenging for the Arabic since Italic doesn’t exist in the Arabic script. After research and several trials of design options, it was decided to base the Arabic Italics on the Eastern Kufic calligraphic style as explained above in this post. Hence the design of 8 Slanted styles was created making the Baseet type family complete.

From 4 to 8 to 16 over the past 6 years!

29LT Baseet Features:

Below are the set of features present in 29LT Baseet typeface in both the Standard and the Slanted styles:

1. Latin Character Set

Extended Latin Character Set covering an array of Western languages

2. Arabic Character Set

Extended Arabic Character Set covering Arabic, Farsi and Urdu languages

3. Vocalization

Arabic vocalization mark positioning

4. Ligatures

Ligatures inspired from calligraphy

5. Figures

Arabic, Indic, Farsi and Urdu Figures

29LT Bukra type system currently consists of 94 styles, 47 Standard styles and 47 Slanted styles ranging from Hairline to Black in Condensed, Semi Condensed, Normal, Semi Wide and Wide.

The styles in each width category are:

[1] Hairline, [2] Hairline Slanted, [3] Thin, [4] Thin Slanted, [5] Extra Light, [6] Extra Light Slanted, [7] Light, [8] Light Slanted, [9] Regular, [10] Slanted, [11] Medium, [12] Medium Slanted, [13] Semi Bold, [14] Semi Bold Slanted, [15] Bold, [16] Bold Slanted, [17] Extra Bold, [18] Extra Bold Slanted, [19] Black, and [20] Black Slanted. (p.s. The Semi Condensed doesn’t have Black and Black Slanted, and the Condensed doesn’t have Extra Bold, Extra Bold Slanted, Black, and Black Slanted)

All of the above styles make 29LT Bukra the biggest multilingual Arabic and Latin typeface to-date.

29LT Bukra Description:

Contemporary geometric letterforms drawn with extreme refinement and sleek structure that unveils the bold and clean 29LT Bukra typeface. Its modern simplistic form makes all of its typographic styles suitable for a wide range of design applications. Corporate identities benefit from the fonts’ clean and polished outlines; while strong headlines and slogans profits from the fonts’ crisp structure. In big size, it works well in display type applications, while in small size it can be applied for short content text. The light weights of the type family give the notion of elegance and refinement, while the heavy weights imply strength and seriousness. Furthermore, the condensed styles are narrow and tall while the wide styles are round and heavy. It’s a type family with endless visuals representations allowing it to be applied in an infinite number of graphical applications.

Bukra Standard is a type family created for maximum legibility and ease of use. The Arabic letterforms were designed based on the Abbasid & Modern Kufic styles with large open proportions and short ascenders and descenders cut to a minimum length. Whereas the Latin character set was designed based on the Geometric Sans Serif structures with a large main body height and minimalistic and original design aspects that lends the typeface a unique feel and a futuristic structure. After all, Bukra means ‘Tomorrow’.

Bukra Slanted fonts are categorized as what is known as “true Italics” in the sense that the glyphs were redrawn based on a new design approach and not just slanted from the Standard fonts. The Arabic Slanted is based on the Eastern Kufic style since the Arabic Standard is based on the Modern Kufic style. The Eastern Kufic style is written with a left incline in the pen and contains straight diagonal letterforms and cuts. Comparing the Standard and Slanted character set, most glyphs changed radically between the two sets while others just acquired a slant. The name “Slanted” was adopted instead of “Italic” for the inclined styles because in Arabic typography and calligraphy there is no such term as an italic style.

Straight and round structures define the Standard styles while diagonal and edgy structures outline the Slanted styles. Both answer the same design approach while being strictly distinctive from each other.

Like all of 29LT fonts, many elements bring the Arabic and Latin scripts together, whether it’s the design approach, or the use of open counters, the proportions, or the terminals, finials, weight and contrast. We created both scripts in synergy and allowed them to be inspired by each other and be inspired by them ourselves, as we are sure you will be as well.

29LT Bukra Story:

The story of Bukra started in 2007. Pascal Zoghbi was contacted by Dr. Huda AbiFares to collaborate with her on the creation of a new Arabic font for “Ibn Battuta Mall” in Dubai, UAE. The client was asking for a strong and bold Arabic font to echo Futura Extra Bold typeface. Since Future is a geometric sans serif font, Zoghbi started looking for inspiration into Arabic calligraphic styles that are structured and geometric within the Kufic realm. Eventually a black geometric font immerged with extremely small counters and heavy geometric black pen strokes. This design aspect achieved the desired feel and look the client was asking for and granted the mall a distinctive visual identity and a sharp voice. The font was used as the main display type on huge banners informing the visitors about the latest deals and slogans of the mall. Additionally, it was used for all print applications such as ads, posters, fliers alongside online visual graphics on their website.

After 5 year in 2012, 29Letters was launched as an independent digital type foundry and 29LT Bukra was one of the first published typeface. Zoghbi embarked on the development of the Arabic character set to cover Arabic, Farsi and Urdu scripts; while Swiss Typefaces, 29LT design partners, took on the challenge of creating a new open feel Latin companion. During this time, the type family grew from 1 to 5 weights and it covered all Middle Eastern, North African and European languages.

In 2017,5 years after the first release of 29LT Bukra typeface, 29LT took on the challenge of growing the type family from 5 to 10 weights and they expanded into 5 width categories, growing the type family from 5 to 47 styles. The development of technology with the additional support of the Arabic script in the past 5 years required a complete transformation of the old font files into newly developed ones using the latest type design software. The main character set was revised and updated to cover more languages, and a set of ligatures and stylistic sets were added to the Standard set. After the creation of the 10 new weights in the Normal Bukra set, the time came to think about what would be the best way to approach the Condensed and Wide versions of the type family. New design decisions were needed to guaranty a smooth transition between the 5 different width categories while keeping the same typographic characteristics across the type family. The letterforms in the condensed styles were drawn in a slim and elevated manner, as opposed to the letterforms in the wide styles which were drawn in a curved and plump manner. Eventually the type family grew from a basic standard set of weights into a unique type system covering different weights, widths and design variations granting the type family a huge array of design possibilities in graphic applications.

In addition to the expansion of the weight and width axes of the type family, the new fonts include advanced typographical support with features such as ligatures and stylistics sets inspired from calligraphy to improve the legibility of the fonts. The number of glyphs per font grew from 550+ to 1000+.

Once the Standard 47 styles were developed, another set of design decisions was needed in order to create the slanted sets for both the Arabic and the Latin. In order to make these decisions Zoghbi conducted a research about Arabic and Latin scripts to answer the design problems they faced. After several slanted design trials were conducted for both scripts, we opted for a hybrid Geometric Gothic solution for the Latin and an edgy hybrid Eastern & Modern Kufic for the Arabic. In result the Bukra type family grew from 47 to 94 styles.

1 to 5 to 47 to 94 over the past 10 years!

29LT Bukra Features:

Below are the set of features present in 29LT Bukra typeface in the Standard styles. The Slanted styles have the same features except for the stylistic sets:

1. Latin Character Set

Extended Latin Character Set covering an array of Western languages

2. Arabic Character Set

Extended Arabic Character Set covering Arabic, Farsi and Urdu languages

3. Vocalization

Arabic vocalization mark positioning

4. Ligatures

Ligatures inspired from calligraphy

5. Stylistic Set

Stylistic Sets to emphasis the scripts fluidity

6. Figures

Arabic, Indic, Farsi and Urdu Figures

Lining & Tabular Figures

Fractions

29LT Azal is a sturdy geometric font with contemporary Arabic features that are inspired from the old Eastern Kufic manuscripts and drawn in a modern-day approach, and old is, after all, what Azal means in Arabic. It is a display font with prominent and sturdy design characteristics. Each letter structure is designed to create a balance between solid base forms and elegant terminals. The font structure is a mixture of: high contrast between thick and thin pen strokes, diagonal skeleton, small counters, thick baseline and sharp edges contrasted by circular dots.

The font corresponds to the old manuscripts that were hand drawn by the “qalam”– which is a type of pen made from a dried reed, used for Islamic calligraphy. To emphasize on the usage of this technique, each set of novel letter structures has a different angle that gives the typeface a dynamic feature.

أزل هو خط هندسي متماسك مع ميزات عربية معاصرة مستوحاة من المخطوطات الكوفية الشرقية القديمة ومرسومة بنهج حديث. فعلى أي حال، تعني كلمة « أزل » باللغة العربية قديم. إنه خط عرض يتميز بخصائص تصميمية بارزة ومتماسكة. إن هيكلية كل حرف مصممة من أجل خلق توازن بين أشكال القاعدة الصلبة والنهايات الطرفية الأنيقة

تُعد هيكلية الخط مزيجًا مما يلي: تباين كبير بين ضربات القلم السميكة والرقيقة، ومخطط هيكلي قطري، وعلامات صغيرة، وخط قاعدة سميك وأطراف حادة تتناقض مع نقاط دائرية. يتوافق هذا الخط مع المخطوطات القديمة التي كانت تُرسم يدويًا بواسطة «القلم» – وهو نوع من الأقلام، مصنوع من القصب المجفّف ومستخدم للخط الإسلامي. ومن أجل التشديد على استخدام هذه التقنية، تتمتع كل مجموعة من هيكليات الحرف العصرية بزاوية مختلفة تمنح الخط ميزة ديناميكية

PROCESS

Azal was created within the duration of one month by the American University of Sharjah (AUS) students in the College of Architecture, Art and Design (CAAD) enrolled in the “Arabic Typography” course that is given by Professor Pascal Zoghbi. At the start of the project letters were distributed among 17 students to be worked on, they were curated every week by the professor to review their progress, and provide feedback on the changes that were needed to be made to achieve the final result of the font Azal.

In the beginning of the process, the font was first based on rough and geometric edges. After some revision, it was decided to take a more curved direction until a balance of the two was achieved. As the sketches progressed, changes on the previous constraints were altered depending on each of the letters’ characteristics; in order to achieve satisfactory final forms.

After the drawing phase, type design digital techniques were discussed in class which enabled each student to draw their letters on the Glyphs App. All the letters were compiled on one file and recurrent design and feedback sessions were conducted in class to make the necessary alterations that made Azal come together.

Alongside the finalization phase of the font, students experimented with different design mediums to showcase the font, varying from posters to 3D models.

The 17 students that worked on this font were a combination of sophomores, juniors and seniors: Ahmad Geaissa, Layal AlGain, Malak Kobaisi, Mariam El-Ashmawy, Felwa Alhouti, Tala Khalil, Shaikha AlMaazmi, Lama Murad, Deena Khatib, Kinda Waisi, Nada Aldash, Aisha Almuhairi, Dima Khalayli, Sali Mallat, Shahdan Barakat, Aliaa Elhammamy, Afnan Al Dimasi.

Khajag Apelian and I were the last workshop leaders in the 4th phase of the Khatt Foundation Arabic Type Design Workshop Series 2012 that took place at Tashkeel, Dubai. You can read more about the workshop process and the leaders at the Khatt Foundation website.

Khajag and I tackled the advanced type drawing techniques with the participants after they had started drawing their letters in the previous phases of the workshop. In addition to refining the drawing of the Arabic glyphs, we introduced to the participants all the technical aspects for developing and generating Arabic fonts.

The topics covered were:
1. Unicode system / Arabic Unicode character sets.
2. Spacing individual glyphs and using some metrics scripts or actions.
3. Metric and Opentype Classes.
4. Opentype Features, focusing on the Arabic features.
5. Naming Fonts.
6. Generating Fonts.

Type offers so many possibilities to give depth and atmosphere when reading a book– just like our voices would when telling stories. In designing Riwaya I set out to create a family of type suitable for comfortable continuous reading, as well as eloquent storytelling; a typeface that would not be neutral, but lend a pleasant voice to the author.

I questioned the existing Latin convention of complimenting roman styles with subordinate italics. Instead I focussed on forming a family of styles that would suit each other, that would harmonise in colour yet differ in texture, both in the Latin and the Arabic script.

Most of the Latin typefaces follow a conventional family structure: the regular style is accompanied by a secondary italic or a slanted style. Arabic script traditions offer a wealth of styles – from Naskh and Nastaliq to Kufi and Ruqa to name just four – that trigger different associations and express different emotions. While they are sometimes combined, they do not have the hierarchy the Latin roman-italic pairing has, and are rarely combined within one typeface family.

Rather than just offering a secondary slanted style, rooted in Latin italic traditions, Riwaya explores the concept of complementary, but equal styles differing in tone and texture. It offers a regular style, a Latin italic, and an informal style across both scripts, thus honouring both scripts’ typographic traditions.

The letterforms of each style are based on different skeletons where possible to differentiate them clearly. I carefully weighed slant, density and modulation of the Latin italic, and of the informal Arabic and Latin next to the regular styles to create a very different texture at paragraph level, yet a similar colour on the page. This results in italic and informal styles which can be harmoniously used in combination with the regular style. The styles are neither darker nor more condensed and as such offer comfortable readability even for longer passages.

Similarly to the styles, I also considered the relationship of the scripts very deliberately. Intended for books the typeface needed to guarantee great legibility in each script, while fitting well in combined use and expressing a similar tone. This meant judging the Arabic and Latin both on their own as a bookface, and together for their tone of voice. Neither script’s legibility should be compromised to fit a certain style – so modulation, features and stylistic details where not matched across scripts. Both scripts have their own traditions, and a characteristic such as modulation is not a stylistic feature, it is intrinsic to the writing system. It was important to me to treat each script by acknowledging its own traditions and attributes, and thus create great legibility and a pleasant texture for either native reader.

I matched the feel and expression of the style, and the origin of it: the regular style in both scripts follows conventional book face models, while echoing calligraphic broad nib traditions of either script. Riwaya Arabic follows Naskh proportions to cater to most Arabic users’ expectations for a book face. It offers full vocalisation and a multitude of ligatures to create a beautiful texture on the page. The informal style in both scripts is based on contemporary handwritten shapes with returning strokes, reflecting the use of felt tip pens and pencils. However, it does not simulate handwriting, but rather gives typographic Naskh shapes a more casual expression.

As a result of this design process Riwaya is highly legible and pleasant to read in either script. The textures of both the Latin and Arabic are fitting the application and use, while the overall colour and scale matches. And most importantly, the expression, the tone of voice, of each style is the same across scripts. The regular style – Old Style in Latin, Naskh in Arabic – feels formal and traditional, yet calligraphic; the informal style expresses a more casual and contemporary feel, while still following typographic models.

For a designer working on long texts, Riwaya’s styles offer the chance to typeset with different levels and to visualise written as well as spoken text. And to do so with one typeface family, with styles that are made to be combined.

With Riwaya you can tell many stories, in different scripts and languages, in different voices. Or you can tell a story, within a story, within a story.

For some more detail on the development of Riwaya, see my presentation at the tgm, the typographic society of Munich (in German language):

This article is written by Katharina Seidl, the type designer of 29LT Riwaya.

29LT Azer type family consist of 14 styles, 7 Standard styles and 7 Slanted styles, covering the following weights: Thin, Extra Light, Light, Regular, Medium, Bold, and Black.

The Arabic and the Latin mirror each other’s appearances much like fraternal twins with compatible attitudes. Azer Latin is earnest and sincere; Azer Arabic is direct and austere.

29LT Azer Description:

29LT Azer is drawn with extreme refinement and low pen contrast that conveys a modern and friendly outlook. The typeface combines simple lines with careful detailing to create a serious yet approachable mood. Azer is amicable and serious without being conformist. The typeface combines charm, simplicity and consideration. The light weights of the type family are easy to read in long blocks of copy, while the heavy weights imply strength and seriousness which makes them suitable for display-text such as titles and slogans. The slanted styles give the type family an added typographic voice for highlight or emphasis.

The standard styles retain a balance between calligraphic angular cuts and unadorned construction. The contrast in the letters was complemented with strong cuts and edges to give the font a crispy robust attitude. Letterforms were given innovative letter structures inspired the calligraphic makeup but drawn in a contemporary approach. The Arabic ligatures are intended to enhance the script’s ‘friendliness’, and friendly is after all, what Azer means in Arabic.

The slanted styles are the casual siblings of the standard styles in the type family. The slanted letters were redrawn based on fast hand-gestures and not merely slanted from the standard letters. The stems are slanted while the counters are round and smooth. In the Arabic character set, the terminals are curvy with an open-ended bowls and the baseline links are smooth. They are a set of free-spirited styles that can accompany the standard set for change of text tone, or stand alone as a causal copy text or delightful display text. The slanted styles are a cursive set of fonts that is known as “true-italics” which are based on a stylized form of quick calligraphic handwriting. The name “slanted” was adopted instead of “italic” for the inclined styles since in Arabic typography and calligraphy there is no such term as an italic style.

A number of elements bring the Arabic and Latin scripts together; the overall design approach, open counters, proportions, weight, contrast, terminals and finials, as well as a diamond-shaped diacritic dot. Both scripts were created in synergy and were inspired from each other simultaneously. The Naskh calligraphic style of the Arabic is complemented by a calligraphic broad nip pen technique in the Latin, creating strong pen strokes: crisp broken cuts with open and fluid letter structure. Azer Latin was drawn with conic shaped stems, inspired by the Arabic Alef glyph. The two scripts are like twins, with different attitudes.

Where Arabic typefaces have a strong horizontal structure because of baseline letter connections, Latin typefaces have a vertical rhythm because of an upright stem structure present in most glyphs. The thirty-degree angle of the broad nib pen increases the horizontal stress of the Latin letters, which brings the overall color of the Latin text closer to the Arabic Text.

29LT Azer Story:

In 2008, Azer was designed part of a branding project Pascal Zoghbi and Wael Morcos were collaborating on. When the Global Financial crisis took its toll on the UAE, the project was postponed indefinitely and the first outlines of the font remained unfinished.

There remained a strong need, however, to address the shortcomings of contemporary Arabic typography, which tends to be either too classical or too resistant to the aesthetic values of Arabic Calligraphy.

The design was resumed in preparation for the launch of the 29LT type foundry in 2012. As the Arabic design was taking shape, Swiss Typefaces, 29LT design partners, designed a sans serif Latin companion inspired from the Arabic letters structures.

The design progressed over a two-year period during which the three of them collaborated to bring the fonts to completion. Azer was one of the typefaces published as part of the official launch of the 29LT type foundry in August 2012. Back then it only existed in 5 standard styles; Thin, Light, Regular, Bold and Black.

In 2017, 5 years after the first release of 29LT Azer typeface, 29LT took on the challenge of growing the type family from 5 to 7 weights and to expand it into two design categories, standard and slanted, extending the family from 5 to 14 fonts. The development of technology with the additional support of the Arabic script in the past 5 years required a complete transformation of the old font files into newly developed ones using the latest type design software. The main character set was revised and updated to cover more languages, and a set of ligatures and stylistic sets were added to the original set.

After the creation of the 7 new weights, the time came to think about what would be the best way to approach the “italic” version of the typeface. New design decisions were needed and a calligraphic and typographic research was undertaken. Type designer Jan Fromm from Berlin was approached to create the italic version of the Latin, while Pascal Zoghbi tackled the solution for the Arabic counterpart.

In addition to the expansion of the weights and introduction of the slanted styles to the type family, the new fonts include advanced typographical support with features such as ligatures, alternates and stylistics sets inspired from calligraphy to improve the legibility of the fonts. Consequently, the range of western languages support grew to cover all Western, Central and Eastern European languages besides all American and African languages using the Latin script. Hence, the number of glyphs per font grew from 725+ in 2012 to 1625+ in 2015.

29LT Azer Features:

Below are the set of features present in 29LT Azer typeface in the Standard styles. The Slanted styles have the same features except for the stylistic sets:

1. Latin Character Set

Extended Latin Character Set covering an array of Western languages

2. Arabic Character Set

Extended Arabic Character Set covering Arabic, Farsi and Urdu languages

3. Vocalization

Arabic vocalization mark positioning

4. Ligatures

Ligatures inspired from calligraphy

5. Stylistic Set 01

Stylistic Sets to emphasis the scripts fluidity

6. Stylistic Set 02

Stylistic Sets for Persian and Urdu text

7. Elongated Teeth Alternates

When a tooth-letter is proceeded and succeeded by another tooth-letter, it is raised for increased legibility.

8. Figures

Arabic, Indic, Farsi and Urdu Figures

9. Figures

Lining, Tabular, and Old Style Figures

This spring, the elective course “Introduction to Arabic Type Design” at AUB [American University of Beirut] was introduced. It is given part of the Graphic Design program at AUB. Third and fourth year students who were interested in Arabic type and wanted to develop their skills in understanding and drawing Arabic letters, enrolled in the course. The course was an ongoing collaboration between the students and I. I had to evaluate what they could and needed to learn as opposed to what was too advanced for them.

The aim of the course was to teach the students the design and technical skills needed for developing professional Arabic lettering and logotypes as well as the beginning of an Arabic typeface. Students learned to analyze and identify the different Arabic type styles and their classifications.

They were taught the basic skills for creating their own typefaces through the type design process that consists of: 1. Sketching type, 2. Drawing type, 3. Tracing and creating outlines for letters, 4. Spacing the typeface and 5. Generating the font into a workable format.

Sample sentence of the fonts created during the course.

The course was divided into two main parallel approaches to the subject.
The first approach consists of hands-on exercises dealing with advanced Arabic typography and type design skills, including hand drawn lettering and Arabic calligraphy. The second approach consists of learning the computer techniques needed to digitize typefaces and generate basic Arabic fonts through lectures and introductory lessons on font editing applications.

Poster design by Ayman Hassan for one of the design lecture series at AUB. Kufayfar type in use in the poster.
Poster design was supervised by Reza Abedini.

Introductory lettering exercises were given at the start of the course to familiarize the students with drawing Arabic letters and words. Students were asked to create their own Arabic urban lettering and later Arabic logotypes before they embarked on the creation of their first Arabic font.

Below are some sample works of the urban lettering exercise:

‎فايتين بالحيط / Julie El Khoury

‎ضو الضو / Bassel Fatayri

‎شو معقدة / Reem Al Ayoubi

‎شي بقرف / Andrea Tohme

‎متأزّم / Salwa Faour

———————————————————————————-
———————————————————————————-

As for the Arabic Fonts created, below are some brief preview of the sketching and outlined final letters:

SAWA font created by Salwa Faour & Bassel Fatayri:
———————————————————————————-
The font is inspired from contemporary/free-style calligraphy.

KUFUQ font created by Nadia Deghayli & Andrea Tohme:
———————————————————————————-
The font is a revival of the Eastern Kufic calligraphic style found in old Qoranic manuscripts.

JEEM font created by Joelle Haddad:
———————————————————————————-
The font is based on the Naskh Mastari style. It is a type proposal for the Lebanese Army to be used for their badges and signage.

———————————————————————————-
———————————————————————————-
AUB- Faculty of Engineering & Architecture – Graphic Design Department- Spring 2012
———————————————————————————-

Khajag Apelian and I were the last workshop leaders in the 4th phase of the Khatt Foundation Arabic Type Design Workshop Series 2012 that took place at Tashkeel, Dubai. You can read more about the workshop process and the leaders at the Khatt Foundation website.

Khajag and I tackled the advanced type drawing techniques with the participants after they had started drawing their letters in the previous phases of the workshop. In addition to refining the drawing of the Arabic glyphs, we introduced to the participants all the technical aspects for developing and generating Arabic fonts.

The topics covered were:
1. Unicode system / Arabic Unicode character sets.
2. Spacing individual glyphs and using some metrics scripts or actions.
3. Metric and Opentype Classes.
4. Opentype Features, focusing on the Arabic features.
5. Naming Fonts.
6. Generating Fonts.