Censored. Why now? Graffiti in Beirut post Arab revolutions.

Since the publication of the Arabic Graffiti Book in 2011, which I co-edited with Don Karl, the scene and stance of graffiti in Beirut has changed drastically. With the development of the Arab Spring across the neighboring Arab nations such as in Syria and Egypt, Beirut has experienced a new Arab graffiti scene and a new censorship aspect that was not present in the previous years. Alongside Lebanese socio-political stencils and murals, Beirut is being bombarded with Syrian, Egyptian and as usual Palestinian political and revolutionary writings.

عذرا إن أزعجنا أحد، إننا في سوريا، نبني وطن
Sorry for disturbing anyone, We are in Syria, Building a Nation

Shawati’ Magazine Corporate Type

An elegant contemporary Arabic and Latin type characterize the new corporate identity of Shawati’ Magazine, Abu Dhabi. The new design and layout of the magazine was complemented by the creation of a unique Arabic and Latin Display type.

Type Workshop, AJWA’, Riyadh

Arabic Type Workshop with AJWA’ organization in Riyad for profesional graphic designers and calligraphers.
The event was organized by Fawaz Al Wzala.

The workshop focused on the type design process and technical aspects of generating Arabic fonts through lectures and start up drawings of prospective contemporary typefaces. Square Kufic patterns were also practiced.

Arabic Type Talk & Arabesque Workshop at NUQAT Design Conference Dubai 2012

There was an array of interesting speakers at NUQAT Design Conference 2012 this year. Talks concerning contemporary use of Arab Islamic Art and Arabesque were addressed from Graphic Design, Type Designers, Products Designers, Jewelry Designers, Industrial Designers, Photographer, Calligraphers, etc.

From my part, I gave a talk about my journey in the Arabic Type Design field and gave a workshop about Kufic Arabesque constructions.

Happy New Year with New Arabic/Latin Fonts

May you have a Happy New Year with New bi-script Arabic/Latin Fonts.

Droid Arabic Naskh fonts / Google Web Fonts

Droid Arabic Naskh is now shipping with the latest Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich. It is the default font for the Arabic script in the smart phones using the latest Android operating systems.

Droid Arabic Naskh can be downloaded from Google Font Directory for web and mobile usage.

Arabic Logos from 29ArabicLetters for 2011

Selected Arabic Logos created by 29ArabicLetters in the year 2011.

The Khatt Foundation Type Design Workshop

The Khatt Foundation Type Design Workshop
Hosted by Tashkeel & Pavilion Downtown Dubai, 21 – 25 October 2011

5 Days workshop, 3 Days Lecture Series by several renowned Arab designers.

Workshop leaders:
Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFares, Lara Assouad Khoury, Pascal Zoghbi

Guest speakers: Wissam Shawkat, Sheikha Bin Dhaher, Salem Al Qassimi
1 Poster Exhibition (outcomes of workshop)

FF Seria Arabic Updated

FF Seria Arabic has been updated with improvement to the horizontal metrics.
Every customer that have purchased the fonts before September 2011 can contact FontFont and ask for the updated version for free.

I Love Corruption / Union of the Arab people / Graffiti Erased / Beirut

Stencil “I love corruption” by lebanese artist Ali & graffiti “Soon the Union of the Arab people” by Egyptian artist Ganzeer drawn on the evening of the 21st of September, in Hamra, Beirut.

Droid Arabic Kufi & Naskh for Google™

Droid Arabic Naskh & Kufi Typefaces were designed in 2010 for use in Google™ products such as Google Chrome™ and Android™.

Sample mock-up for the fonts used within Android phones.

Designed to complement the Latin, Greek and Cyrillic provided in the Droid Type Family, the Arabic matches the color, alignment and design detail of the Latin allowing them to be used together for multi-lingual typesetting.

Interview with Khatt – Love your letters, they are your babies!

Interview with Pascal Zoghbi by Huda AbiFares from the Khatt Foundation.
Part of the Multiple Baselines series.

Pascal Zoghbi is one of the young generation of Arab type designers. He has participated in two of the design research projects of the Khatt Foundation: ‘Typographic Matchmaking’ and ‘Typographic Matchmaking in the City’ respectively. This interview will focus on his Arabic type design—mainly work that was inspired by hand-made lettering, calligraphy and street art.

Read the interview on the Khatt Website >>

“Arabic Graffiti” Book

200 pages full color |Hardcover 28.5 x 21cm | 325 photographs & illustrations | English edition
Price: 34.95 $ | ISBN: 978-3-937946-26-9

Typographic Matchmaking in the City / Symposium, Film screening & Book launch IN BEIRUT

Location: Beirut Art Center [BAC] Date: Monday, 11 April 2011 Time: 19:00 – 22:00
Free Entrance but registration is required. RSVP to khatt.foundation@gmail.com

Illustration by Naji El Mir: the Hamsa Project by Erik van Blokland, Pascal Zoghbi & Joumana Al Jabri.

The Typographic Matchmaking in the City project is a design research project investigating new approaches for bilingual lettering and poetic narrative for public space.

Mathaf Corporate Arabic–Latin Font

Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art opened its doors to contemporary Arab art lovers in December 2010 in Doha, Qatar. The museum hosts exhibitions, programs and events that explore and celebrate art by Arab artists. It is an inspiring space for dialogue and scholarship about modern and contemporary art in the region and the Arab diaspora.

UAE Embassy Corporate Type

UAE Embassy corporate font is based on the composition of the traditional Arabic Naskh Calligraphy. The font is created for the United Arabic Embassy in Washington, USA.

Nada Debs Arabic Kufi Type

This piece was created specially for “the future of tradition – the tradition of future” exhibition at hausderkunst in Munich. It challenges our perception of delicate islamic carpets. Following the trademark signature of Nada Debs, it combines elements of the Middle and Far East.

Urban Arabic Graffiti within Political Arab Crisis

My talk Urban Arabic Graffiti within Political Arab Crisis at AtypI Dublin 2010 was a continuation of the lecture about Arabic graffiti in Lebanon that i gave at Notre Dame University part of the City Street Conference on the 18th of November 2009.

“فتح” “Fateh”, Gaza. Photo taken from the book “Gaza Graffiti” for Mia Gröndahl.

Present Persian Language

During my last trip to Tehran, I was amazed by the amount of transliterated words from English and French, in the present Persian language.

Today Posters

I was invited by The Iranian Artists Organization to be one of the international jury members for selecting the winning posters for the Today Posters competition. Detailed info about the exhibit and the winners can be found on the Today Posters Website.

LamasaTech Logo

Simplified abstract calligraphy of the word “Lamasat”. It is the logo for LamasaTech interactive firm. (The word “lamasat” is Arabic for several touches.)

1st Printing Press in the Middle East

The Printing press of Saint Antonius in “Quzhayya” is the first printing press in the Middle East. It is located in a monastery in the Valley of the Saints in the mountains of the north Kaza of Lebanon. According to historians, a movable type printing press was imported from England to the Saint Antonius Monastery in 1585. The first publication was the book of “Mazameer” dated from 1610, and now present in the University of the Holy Ghost in Kaslik, Jouniyé, Lebanon.

29Letters featured on Guide to Art School’s list of the Top 50 typography blogs

29Letters has been featured on Guide to Art School’s list of the Top 50 typography blogs. The typo blogs were hand-picked to be the list of the favorite typography blogs and outlined the unique reasons why SR Education Group think they’re great. 29letters site is a unique tool for designers looking into Arabian typography and typography-related news in Arabic countries.

Arabic Chocolate Cookies

I moved in my new studio this week, and we had a small cooking party. It was fun to make Light Arabic cookie letters by hand and have them come out from the oven Extra Bold. The Arabic chocolate letters tasted great and also looked fat and awesome!

Arabic Chocolate Letters “Ghain”, “Jeem” and “Yeh”

Art Reoriented Logo / Corporate Identity

Art Reoriented, a curatorial and art consulting practice specializing in contemporary art from the Middle East, was founded by Till Fellrath and Sam Bardaouil.

Art Reoriented logotype. The word Art reads when the logo is straight, and once flipped/reoriented the word becomes Art in Arabic (فن).