29ArabicLetters is publishing 2 of its new bi-script Arabic/Latin fonts with the start of 2012 and promises many more to come in the future.

Bukra Typeface (5 Weights)

Baseet Typeface (4 Weights)

and do not forget about Droid Arabic Naskh that can be downloaded from Google Web Fonts for free.

Happy New Year

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 all online web usage and mobile applications.

The current mobile/web versions of the fonts have very short descenders to meet up with the technological limitations on the mobile and web platforms. The descenders of the Arabic letters “Ha’” & “Ain” are slightly shorter then the traditional calligraphic proportions, which might make them look un-proportional with the large open-counter base glyphs. A print version of the fonts is being developed at the moment with more calligraphic proportional ascender and descender heights. The Latin counterpart Droid Serif will be incorporated within the fonts to allow bi-script typesetting.

At the moment both the Arabic and Latin Droid Serif fonts can be downloaded separately from Google Web Font page and used alongside each other in bi-lingual publications.

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

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Saif Abdulla Al Ghurair

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Saif Abdulla Al Ghurair Group is the holding firm for several construction and oil companies in the UAE. The identity needs to be corporate and simple. A monogram for the name SAIF was created and simplified to become the icon of the mother company.

Several calligraphic options were created and presented before the final option was selected.
Fedra Arabic and Optima were used to typeset the company name beside the created logotype.

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Lulua Publishing House

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Lulua Publishing House is a new publishing house in the Gulf and Middle East for contemporary Arabic books. The final logotype selected is a representation of a shell with pearls in it. The circle represents the shell while the loops of the Arabic letters “waw” and “heh” represent the pearls.

Several calligraphic options were created and presented before the final option was selected.
The Sans Arabic was used for typesetting the company name beside the created icon.

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Suwaidi Engineering Group

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Established in Abu Dhabi, 1982, Suwaidi Engineering Group has grown to become one of the leading engineering firms in the United Arab Emirates. Our firm has established long-standing relationships with international engineering companies to supply services and products across the Oil & Gas, Petrochemicals and Commercial Building sectors.

An abstract form of the Arabic letter “seen” creates the logo of the company. Several attempts were done on abstracting the letter “seen” and create an icon that represents energy, fire, oil or engineering. Different alternatives were created until the final fire like “seen” structure was chosen to represent energy and organic architecture.

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Thamaniya

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Eight is an expression of abstract, is not linked to calculations or direct language, it tends to aesthetic and symbolic connotations, and take the language of the triangles base to launch the emotional, cognitive and cultural features.

Thamaniya is an online platform for Arab artists to showcase their work and interact with each other and the cultural audience.
The word Thamaniya, which means eight in Arabic, contains eight diacritic dots. Based on some philosophical and artists writings about the figure eight, the logo is created of eight triangular dots that create one rhombic Arabic dot.
The lettering is created based on the same triangular and rhombic concept. Hence a simplified Arabic script which is based on the archaic Kufic calligraphic style.

The coming morning on the 22nd of September, the graffiti is being painted over with black. The operation is being ordered and watched carefully by the Lebanese police.

The stencils shows a Lebanese police man opening the vest on his chest to uncover a t-shirt written on it ” i Love Corruption”. It is a critical sentence that is mimicking the political “I Love Life” campaigns that took place between the two main rival political parties in Lebanon during 2007 and 2008. Read more about this topic in this post>>

The Square Kufi graffiti stems for the Egyptian revolution and the hopes of the young Arab people that is part of the Arab Spring movement.

It is one of the few times that a graffiti is removed in Beirut so quickly and it seems the Lebanese police were eager to do the removal as quickly as possible since one of the graffiti targets them. Usually the Lebanese police do not stop graffiti artists at night or in broad day light. As long as the graffiti is not sectarian or targeting a certain political leader or drawn in a restricted area, it is ok for the artist to freely draw what he/she wants. It seems that the stencil Ali did hit the police hard and proves to be a true fact.

Below is the process the artist did to complete the graffiti:

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.

This Naskh style is optimized for reading Arabic script on screen. The large ‘loop height’ and ‘tooth height’ help prevent readers from having to zoom web pages to a larger size in order to read them.

The traditional Naskh forms are softened for less formal documents such as periodicals and journals. The letterforms structures are based on the calligraphic grammatical rules of the Naskh writing style while drawn with a contemporary feel.

Below are few glyphs from the Droid Naskh font compared with traditional Naskh calligraphic letters. The glyphs in Droid Naskh follow the rules of the Naskh style with modifications to the loop size, contrast, and width of the glyphs which lends the font to be legible in small size on mobile or screen.

Droid Naskh was designed by 29ArabicLetters in collaboration with Ascendercorp and Google to ensure that all the requirements for a screen and web font are met. Google performed several surveys and tests on the fonts during the design and development process.

Sketches in primary design stages.

The Arabic letters were designed by Pascal Zoghbi while the Latin Letters were designed by Steve Matteson from AscenderCorp.

Droid Naskh covers all the basic and extended Arabic glyphs set to cover all the languages that use the Arabic script like Persian, Urdu, Pashto and others.

Droid Kufi was initially design by Steve Matteson and i was to consult on the design and create the final version of the font. Below is one of the sketches made to the Kufi glyphs to improve the letterforms.

Other mock-ups of Android phones sing Droid Arabic Naskh:

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 >>

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

From Here To Fame Publishing proudly presents:
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Arabic Graffiti
Whether on the freight trucks of Lebanon, along village alleyways in Bahrain, on the bullet-riddled walls of Palestine, or adorning the walls of Western metropolises and designer bags, Arabic script has experienced a revival. Graffiti writers are increasingly experimenting with calligraphy on walls, and young designers are creating new fonts and type designs in books, galleries and public spaces. At times, Arabic graffiti voices the suffering of a nation, while in other contexts it serves as a quest for identity. Regardless whether the writing is in Beirut, Gaza, Tehran, Paris, London, Berlin or Montréal, Arabic graffiti cries out personal and national ideas in expressive calligraphic and typographic words.

“Arabic Graffiti” brings together artists, graffiti writers and typographers from the Middle East and around the world who merge Arabic calligraphy with the art of graffiti writing, street art and urban culture. In addition to a rich assortment of photos featuring Arabic graffiti and street art styles, it includes essays by distinguished authors and scene experts, in which they explore the traditional elements, modern approaches, and the socio-political and cultural backgrounds which have shaped Arabic graffiti movements in the Middle East.

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Authors & Artists:

“Arabic Graffiti” curated and authored by Lebanese typographer Pascal Zoghbi and German graffiti writer and publisher Stone aka Don Karl, is an extensive and valuable reference on contemporary graffiti, urban calligraphy and type design in the realm of Arabic letters.

With contributions and essays by: Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès, Rana Jarbou, Tala F. Saleh, Houda Kassatly, Siska and William Parry.
Includes the artwork and thoughts of: Hassan Massoudy, Malik Anas Al-Rajab, eL Seed, Hest1, Julien Breton, L’ATLAS, Aerosol Arabic, Native & ZenTwO, Zepha aka Vincent Abadie Hafez, Typism, Akut and many more.

Pascal Zoghbi, Arabic type designer and typographer, is the founder of 29 Arabic Letters, an Arabic type design and typography firm in Beirut. He earned his master’s degree in type design at KABK (The Royal Academy of Arts) in the Netherlands. His work ranges from creating contemporary Arabic fonts and corporate identities to print publications and other ventures. Pascal teaches typography courses in graphic design departments at AUB (American University of Beirut) and LAU (Lebanese American University). He frequently gives lectures and workshops and runs a highly regarded blog about Arabic type and typography.

www.29arabicletters.com
www.29letters.wordpress.com

Stone aka Don Karl is a graffiti writer, author and publisher in Berlin. He started to write graffiti in 1983 and published his first book on train writing in 1986. Many books and articles have followed since. He has participated in and curated various international urban art exhibitions and projects, such as Cubabrasil. Stone runs the publishing house From Here To Fame and the Common Ground Gallery in Berlin.

www.cubabrasil.net
www.commongroundgallery.de
www.fromheretofame.com

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Images for the book events:
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12th of May – Arabic Graffiti Book Release in Beirut
from 7 pm. Art Lounge, Beirut
Karantina, , River bridge, http://www.artlounge.net
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19.-21. May 2011 – Berlin
Typo Berlin, International Design Conference
Arabic Graffiti Exhibition / lecture by Pascal Zoghbi
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21th May – Berlin – Common Ground Gallery & HKW
Arabic Graffiti Exhibition, www.commongroundgallery.de
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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. The project have proven to be highly inspirational for the participating designers; it brought together designers from different cultural backgrounds to intensely collaborate, over a period of 2 years, on creating coherent products with groundbreaking results. This project shows the important role that design can play in initiating cultural change, assimilation and integration—by simply using our daily basic communication mode: the written word.

The project consisted of 5 teams of 15 Dutch and Arab designers (type designers, graphic designers, architects, and industrial designers) who collaborated on designing new bilingual typefaces conceived for 3-dimensional/architectural design applications. The end result of this project is 5 new bilingual font families (Arabic & Latin) that are inspired by and made for the urban public space, one book and a documentary film about the design process and the people behind it. The designers included designers such as Max Kisman, Melle Hammer, René Knip, Jeroen van Erp, Erik van Blokland, Artur Schmal, Pascal Zoghbi, Naji El Mir, Hisham Youssef, Joumana Al Jabri, Yara Khoury, Wael Morcos, Reza Abedini, Khajagh Apelian, and STEALTH.

The event will consist of a symposium and presentations of the research projects, a screening of the documentary film, a book launch/signing and some refreshments.

The symposium
Moderated by Max Bruinsma (editor, Items Magazine), the symposium will consist of short presentations by the project designers and a select group of the book’s authors, closing with a roundtable discussion with the designers and film maker.

The book
The Typographic Matchmaking in the City book offers a highly illustrated account of the project and the design research of each of the 5 teams. This forms the heart of the book, and in a sketchbook style it presents the design process and end results of each team. The design research is framed and contextualized by a range of brief essays that discuss the complex topic of public space, shedding light on the function and role of text and monumental typography in architectural/public spaces. The book discusses the implications of designing for “public space” in multicultural communities.

This book and the design research project, provide concrete observations on differences as well as shared principles between the Latin and Arabic scripts, and on cultural and architectural conventions for the use of typographic design in three-dimensional urban space in different cities and cultural contexts. It raises thoughtful questions and provides useful tools that designers can use in creating new works for interventions in their own cities.

Edited by Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFares Khatt Books, Amsterdam 2010 Highly illustrated 396 pages in color Languages: Dutch, English, Arabic Size: 21 cm x 28 cm, soft cover with flaps

The Film
A documentary film directed by Jan de Bruin
Jan de Bruin Productions and the Khatt Foundation
Shot on several locations in Amsterdam, Dubai (UAE), Sharjah (UAE), Pingjum (Friesland), and Doha (Qatar), Typographic Matchmaking in the City : the Film follows the 5 teams of Dutch and Arab designers that participated in the project over a period of 18 months while they were traveling, working together, and presenting their work in progress to culturally and professionally diverse audiences. The film makes visible not only the design process, the struggles and challenges of the designers, but also addresses the larger topics of bringing two cultures into a dialogue through design. The personalities of the designers show through their collaborative process, discussions, interactions and the final design outcomes. the film gives a very humane and personal portrait of the process of creation and creativity.

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.

An ultra thin font lends “Mathaf” a contemporary corporate image. A strong tension materializes when the curvy pen strokes meet up with the sharp cuts and corners of the letters. A hybrid modern Kufi-Naskh Arabic letterforms complement an edgy lowercase Latin letters to present a unique bilingual Arabic–English type.

Wolf Olins NY are behind the whole corporate images for the museum. I was asked to create an Arabic/Latin font that they will incorporate in the whole corporate identity of the museum starting with the logotype, signage, publications, advertisings, website, promotional items, etc…

The Arabic and English logotypes of the museum are created using the corporate Mathaf font with the “ ha’ ” in the Arabic logotype and the “a” in the English logotype replaced by hand doodle.

Standard and unique Latin ligatures were drawn in the font in order to make the Latin as mush as possible coherent with the Arabic. Latin ligatures with horizontal letter connections amplified the coherence between the Arabic and Latin script.

Sample letters with Caps, Initial, Medial and Final glyphs.

The font is based on the same concept as of an Arabic font. Each of the 26 Latin letters has Caps, Initial, Medial and Final shape enabling the letters to connect as in the Arabic script. The font is an attached Latin type. The drawing of the letters was all done using the Arabic calligraphic bamboo stick and based on the Naskh Calligraphic Style. The challenge was to keep the Latin letters legible while trying as much as possible to implement the Arabic calligraphic pen strokes and letterform structures.

Special ligatures were created for the letters (like the o and v) that connect from the top and not the bottom. The font was tested; modified and additional ligatures were added until all the connectivity of the letters was flawless.

Sample ligatures with Initial, Medial, Final and Isolated connections.

The renowned Dutch type designer Erik van Blokland developed the OpenType features that allowed the letters to connect properly and for problematic connecting pairs to be replaced by unique ligatures.

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. Like tatami mats, it is composed of modular elements that combine to form a long islamic carpet. It combines old and new techniques: concrete inlaid with mother-of-pearl. It uses the Arabic script to create Haiku-like ‘concrete’ poetry, dedicating each of the 28 panels to one letter of the Arabic alphabet where all words starting with that letter are arranged to create a visual and musical rhythm.

The meaning of the carpet lies in its negation of a didactic meaning, and in Nada’s words: ‘it is what it is, it is grounded in the present moment. The font used in the design was developed in collaboration with Pascal Zoghbi as a corporate font for Nada Debs, and is presented for the first time in this design piece. It mixes the calligraphic tradition of Kanji and Arabic calligraphy in a contemporary geometric design, and in this sense is a true signature of Nada Debs.

Paragraph written by Huda AbiFares / Khatt Foundation.

Nada Debs’s Concrete Poetry on Concrete Carpetwas exhibited in the Khatt Foundation section of the exhibition entitled Letters Off the Page.

Nada Debs. Concrete Poetry on Concrete Carpet. 2010.
9m x 3m concrete slabs with mother of pearl.

Nada Debs. Concrete Poetry on Concrete Carpet. 2010.
9m x 3m concrete slabs with mother of pearl.

Nada Debs Arabic font is a simplified Kufi font with high contrast between the vertical and horizontal pen strokes.

Nada Debs design studio is a modern interior and industrial design house focusing on eastern patterns and geometry in the design of their furniture and spaces. The type is directly inspired from the diamond Arabic dot shape as well as the geometric Kufi script that is in close relationship with arabesque and eastern patterns.

The structure of the type allows it to be implemented easily into the eastern furniture. The letters can by carved into wood structures or imbedded into cement pieces…

The font reflects the identity of Nada Debs furniture which are elegant and modern pieces and at the same time based on the eastern arts and structures.

Karim Joreige designed the Latin letters in the font prior to the Arabic.

In return for the Arabic type design, Nadine Hajjar at Nada Debs design studio designed the desk and shelving system for my new studio.

The desk was designed with open drawers and metallic arabesque pattern imbedded into the black painted wood.

The shelving system is a large black wooden structure standing from the floor to the ceiling. The shelves and sections in it are created from the indic figures 29 referring to the name of my design studio.

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

My talk during the ATypI 2010 conference.


My talk during the ATypI 2010 conference.

Introduction:
Though the graffiti scene in the Arab world is still young, over the past few years it quickly took over the streets of its cities. Due to the bad political, economical and social situation in Lebanon and Palestine, the graffiti art is spreading rapidly and voicing out the pain of its people. On the other hand, political leaders and militia use graffiti to voice out their propaganda and news. In other Arabic nations like Jordan, Egypt, Syria, etc… the underground movement is still very shy and not as present due to the tight political regime and the strict rules against public expression. In Lebanon graffiti is not yet seen as vandalism and against the law. As long as the message of the graffiti that is sprayed by the artist does not imply any direct political meaning, even though it is not a legal act, graffiti artists are still spraying on walls even in broad daylight. In Palestine, graffiti is a very risky act of vandalism. The graffiti artists are active members in political Palestinian factions like “Hamas” or “Fatah”. They are trained, and when ready, they are asked to spray big murals while risking their lives in front of Israeli soldiers. Analyzing the written graffiti words or sentences and tracing back the political, economical or social reasons behind them, lends the art piece a different perspective.

“Kaf-Boom” poster for the lecture at NDU, City Street Conference.

أبو الزلوف, Karantina, Beirut.

فن شارع, Karantina, Beirut.

“BEIRUT 961 UNDERGROUND”, Gemeyzé, Beirut.

[1] ARABIC GRAFFITI IN LEBANON

During the last 30 years, most of the urban graffiti in Lebanon was political or sectarian. The voice of the Lebanese people was not manifested in the street writings; instead, the slogans of the political leaders were covering all the walls. During the Lebanese Civil War from the 1975 till 1990, Lebanese, Palestinian and Syrian soldiers and militias used graffiti as the main media to spread their slogans and propaganda. Each party had its own logo or icon and stencils which they used to mark territories in Beirut and all over Lebanon. The icons created an encoded map of Beirut and towns all over Lebanon.

Sample of sprayed political slogans during the civil war.

Sample of stencils of political parties sprayed during the civil war.

Graffiti by nature is an underground act originated from the people to voice out their worries and needs, to rebel against a situation, or to carry a cause. Since 2005 onwards, the number of political writings on the roads started decreasing since the politicians took over the billboards and the TV stations. At the same time, the graffiti and rap underground movement’s influence on the Arabic artists was increasing. Since then, the artistic underground graffiti art became more present on the streets of Beirut, and the uprising of small Arabic rap and hip hop bands followed. Hip Hop and graffiti art go together, and most of the Lebanese Arabic Hip Hop bands are also graffiti artists.

Karantina, Beirut.

أجمل بلد, Karantina, Beirut.

أشكماند, Jisr Al Basha – Karantina Highway, Beirut.

هيب هوب, Jisr Al Basha – Karantina Highway, Beirut.

إهانة حرفية, Jisr Al Basha – Karantina Highway, Beirut.

مدمن بس مش مجرم, Jisr Al Basha – Karantina Highway, Beirut.

شعب نعسان, Jisr Al Basha – Karantina Highway, Beirut.

بيروت ما بتموت, Jisr Al Basha – Karantina Highway, Beirut.

موتك سلامك, Jisr Al Basha – Karantina Highway, Beirut.

غزة في قلبي, Jisr Al Basha – Karantina Highway, Beirut.

When Lebanese graffiti groups started drawing in Lebanon, they first chose hidden walls and surfaces in old neglected factories or train stations. These places were their practice ground. They are hidden from the public view, and the law cannot spot them in action. When the Lebanese graffiti artists got more confident of their writings, they went unrestricted by the police, and took over the walls around main highways and old train stations. There are several graffiti groups nowadays in Lebanon, and it seems like each group took over a certain area as his own to tag and draw on it. The most present graffiti areas in Beirut are the “Naher Al Mot” highways, Karantina-Hazmiyé highway, the seaside road from Antelias to Beirut, Monot side alleys, Gemeyzé side roads, Marina in Dbayé, Hamra side streets, Bliss Street and other places.

The most known graffiti groups in Lebanon are Ashekman, Rek, Katiba Khamsa and P+G Group. Ashekman and Katiba Khamsa are also Arabic rap artists.

<em Jasr Al Waté, near BAC, Beirut.

Before the underground graffiti started in Lebanon, graffiti was always present in the calligraphic writings on the trucks and shop signs (not forgetting the previously mentioned political sprayed writings that existed during and after the civil war). The calligraphy work done on the trucks with vernacular Lebanese sayings and icons are a unique aspect. The Arabic calligraphy is a flowing expressive writing, and it lends that unique Arabic oriental characteristic to wherever place or item it is applied on.

During the last few years, several Arabic graffiti workshops took place in Lebanon. Two workshops one in Tripoli in November 2006 and another in Beirut November 2008 were the most prominent. A five-day workshop entitled “Spray Can Art, Culture is Dialog – Graffiti Workshop for young local artists” was given by the German graffiti artist Claudia Walde in collaboration with “The German Dialog Centre / Tripoli” and the “Goethe Institue” on the 29th of November 2006. Claude introduced the participants to the techniques, cultural history and social relevance of Graffiti art in the first day. The following two days were drawing and sketching for the young artists to express their thoughts on paper. During the last two days the workshop participants created graffiti on a public wall “Mal’ab al-Muharram, Bahsas” in Tripoli. The theme of the joint artwork was “Culture is dialog”.

Claude introduced the participants to the techniques, cultural history and social relevance of Graffiti art in the first day. The following two days were drawing and sketching for the young artists to express their thoughts on paper. During the last two days the workshop participants created graffiti on a public wall “Mal’ab al-Muharram, Bahsas” in Tripoli. The theme of the joint artwork was “Culture is dialog”.

The other workshop was given by “STONE” (Don Karl) in collaboration with “Goethe Institut” and “SoundBomb” and it was held at Zico House. It was a three-day workshop. The first day STONE gave presentations about graffiti. Later, people started thinking of the graffiti they wanted to make and proceeded with sketching and drawing what will become the graffiti artworks that are now present on the road from “Mat7af” to “Karantina” facing the “Peugeot” showroom. Some artists made delicate tags while others created graffiti with strong messages concerning the Lebanese political or social problems. As long as the artworks did not mention or attack any political leader, the Lebanese police did not have a problem with the artists; they even enjoyed watching the process.

Some artists made delicate tags while others created graffiti with strong messages concerning the Lebanese political or social problems. As long as the artworks did not mention or attack any political party leader, the Lebanese police did not have a problem with the artists; they even enjoyed watching the process.

After both workshops, new paintings from local graffiti artists started appearing on the walls long after the workshop was over. Graffiti is a street art with a social integration with the urban life of the people.

Hamra, Beirut.

حائط ذو شعارات فنية, Hamra, Beirut.

Bliss, Beirut.

نحنا معك, Bliss,Beirut.

بوس الواوا, Bliss,Beirut.

تعي ع قلبي, Bliss, Beirut.

شرشور عميتني بالشعارات السياسية, AUB wall, Bliss, Beirut.

مجنون في بيروت , AUB wall, Bliss, Beirut.

عم بتعيش حلمك؟, AUB wall, Bliss, Beirut.

Bliss, Beirut

يا ست الدنيا يا بيروت , Bliss, Beirut.

Hamra-Bliss Road, Beirut.

يا شارع الحمرا يا شارع الألوان, Hamra, Beirut.

غرافيتي من بيروت, Hamra, Beirut.

[2] ARABIC GRAFFITI IN PALESTINE

The graffiti writing grew out increasingly throughout the Intifada, since it was the quickest method to spread out the news of the Intifada. All the Palestinian factions, without exception, employed it. In the beginning it was limited to quick sketches gradually evolving into a beautiful artistic visuals. What is outstanding about the graffiti in Palestine is the fact that the artists get Arabic calligraphy training by their respective political factions until the time comes for them to start creating murals. The use of traditional Arabic calligraphic styles in the creation of the graffiti lends the Palestinian urban street art a unique Arabic style. Compared to the Lebanese graffiti that is inspired from the western graffiti styles, we can say that the Palestinian graffiti is a true Arabic urban art intervention.

The six common Arabic calligraphic styles are visible throughout the graffiti in Gaza.
Photo taken from the book “Gaza Graffiti” for Mia Gröndahl.

“المقومة” “The Resistance”, Gaza. Photo taken from the book “Gaza Graffiti” for Mia Gröndahl.

The graffiti artist are trained and protected by the Palestinian factions while the Israeli soldiers hunt them. The graffiti artists are accompanied by Palestinian fighters who guard them form the Israeli soldiers. Since graffiti is one of the fastest and cheapest media, the Palestinian factions can use it to spread their news, morn a martyr or spread propaganda. Israeli soldiers are ordered to shoot any graffiti artist in action.

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

“حماس” “Hamas”, Gaza. Photo taken from the book “Gaza Graffiti” for Mia Gröndahl.

Graffiti in Palestine, which is mostly expressionist drawings dealing with the population’s struggle and pain, is strongly present in Gaza. Various drawings can be seen symbolizing holiday wishes such as during Ramadan, celebrations of Palestinian organizations’ activities and martyrs’ eulogies. The expressions were of various styles: religious, poetical, or even in zajal forms and were predominantly colored red and black.

“حماس” “Hamas”, Gaza. Photo taken from the book “Gaza Graffiti” for Mia Gröndahl.

“شهداء” Martyrs, Gaza. Photo taken from the book “Gaza Graffiti” for Mia Gröndahl.

The popularity of this communication medium, which transformed a wall into a channel not less important than newspapers, was due to the confidence that people attributed to graffiti. Certain factors contributed to the popularity of some locations among graffiti artists more than others. Typically, the safest regions gave them more freedom for work. The graffiti painting would be conducted by groups; people to paint and others to guard. However, other less secure locations were explored; depending on the occasion, artists would paint on occupant’s headquarters, army posts or even their vehicles. Sometimes even on certain shops to warn their owners for violating directives. Another preferred location for artists would be the populated areas, as these would guarantee a wider reach.

“Free Marwan”, Israeli-Palestinian Wall.

Happy childish figures, Israeli-Palestinian Wall.

The text below expresses the thought of active Palestinian graffiti artist:

Several expressionists believe that the graffiti is quite an important, modern and cultural tool.

Most agree that graffiti is the quickest and best method for directly communicating with the public; it allows live interaction with the people as they do not need to go into a gallery to appreciate the work.

Most artists are excited when groups gather around them to see the work evolving into beautiful artistic piece, and they can instantly grasp the feedback of the population to their work. An additional appeal of graffiti to artists is the fact that it is a collective work, which opens up more creative expression for them.

Finally, artists are able to express the population’s concerns, worries and even joys, while transforming blocks of concrete into works of art. Since the graffiti is intended to be seen by all layers of society, its language, design and content must be clear, simple and legible; which, naturally, guarantees its increasing popularity.

“I am a Berliner”, Israeli-Palestinian Wall.

There are several international graffiti artists who have visited Palestine or Israel especially to make their graffiti on the Wall and express their thoughts about the crisis between the two nations. In August 2005, Banksy, a quasi-anonymous British graffiti artist, painted nine images on the Israeli West Bank barrier, including an image of a ladder going up and over the wall and an image of children digging a hole through the wall. Besides international acclaimed graffiti artists drawing in Palestine, there was a number of graffiti workshops happening for children and young artists organized by the UNERWA. The workshops were aimed to make the children and the young artists to express their pain and feelings through the drawings.

“Flying over the wall”, Israeli-Palestinian Wall.

[3] ARABIC GRAFFITI IN JORDAN, EGYPT & OTHER ARAB NATIONS

The graffiti scene in other Arabic nations besides Lebanon and Palestine is very shy. Part of it is due to the fact that most Arab nations have quasi-dictatorship political systems and the people are afraid to express their thoughts publicly, and the fact that they do not have any underground cultural movements. Another reason might be that Lebanon and Palestine are nations with chaotic, unstable political, economical and social environments that the artists took to the streets to express their frustrations.

In Jordan there is one young graffiti artist named ARO who is tagging his name all over the capital Amman in different styles. There are not yet any social or political graffiti present there. In the coming years when the underground movement is more mature and more graffiti groups start tagging the city, it is probable that Amman will witness a true graffiti scene.

“ARO”, Amman, Jordan.

In Egypt the graffiti scene is likewise. Few stencil graffiti can be found in Cairo. Some collages can be seen in Alexandria. Usually, the Graffiti is done on the old ruined walls in the streets. Most of the questions or imagery shown are of social context and not of political nature. It just makes people think and wonder about the new graphics on the old ruined wall towards which they probably would never have glanced.

“Man with a camera”, Alexandria, Cairo.

REFERENCES

Books:
[1] Mia Gröndahl, Gaza Graffiti, Messages of Love and politics, The American University of Cairo Press, 2009.
[2] Tala F. Saleh, Marking Beirut – A City Revealed Through Its Graffiti, 2009.
[3] Dr. Moussa Ali Taleb, The Palestinian – Israeli Conflict in the Media.
[4] DropDrop, The Book of Tags, Kitchen 93, 2005.
[5] Palestinian Graffii Artists:
Fayez Al Sersawi, Samir Al Hallak, Rima Al Zain, Maha Al Daya, Hazem Harb.

[6] Website:
www.pelistia.net
www.wikipedia.org/
www.banksy.co.uk
www.madc.tv
www.fromheretofame.com
www.thebookoftags.com
www.29letters.com

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

In the Arab nations, transliteration is adopted when a certain foreign word cannot be translated into Arabic; but it seems in the present Persian language, transliterated words are taking over the language and becoming part of it.

Motorcycle Parking

The Persian language has four additional letters to the Arabic language, and that enables the transliteration from English and French to be easier and faster. The four letters are “Peh”, “Tcheh”, “Gaf” and “Jeh”.

The presence of these extra phonemes enables the Persians to write words like “Parking”, “Police”, “Post” and many other words easily in the Persian script without the need for translation. It seems that most of the transliterated words do not exist at all in the Persian language, and the rest of the words are being imposed on the Persian language because of their common use in everyday speech.

Ascenseur

Bank

Personally I thought the Lebanese spoken language was the most bastard language in the Arab world. French and English words are used together in one sentence alongside with the Arabic. But it seems the Iranians have managed to combine foreign words along with their native tongue, in both their spoken and written language. Maybe the present Persian written language is a glimpse of the future of the Lebanese written language. I heard several Lebanese linguists talk about the possibility of the development and creation of the written Lebanese language in the coming 10 to 12 years. Maybe French and English words like “Merci”, “Ca va”, “Hello” and many other words that the Lebanese people use in their everyday speech will be written using the Arabic script.

Musée , Park

Parking

Police

Post

Sandwich

This is a big linguistic topic and it requires research and studies to comprehend all of its aspects. I am only sharing my own amazement in the transliterated Persian words in this post.

It is a bit ironic to see how Iran has a closed society and is not dependent on the west as most of the other Arab nations are, and on the other hand to realize that the western words have invaded their language so much, to become part of their everyday life.

And the weirdest transliteration of all:

Scrambled Eggs

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

LamasaTech is a multiple touch screen developers firm. They develop all kinds of complete bespoke multi-touch solutions, from point of sale tables to exhibition walls. They asked for an iconic logo inspired from Arabic calligraphy and culture and at the same time have a futuristic touch screen feel to it.

Simplified line art inspired from the persian calligraphy of the word Lamasat.

From the research made about multi-touch screens, two main visuals stood out.
1st the interactive flowing motion of the graphics on screen,
and 2nd the human hand which is interacting with the screen.

Abstract interactive calligraphy was created to resemble hand motion on a touch screen.

Traditional calligraphy was created and inserted into a Hamsa Hand. The Hamsa hand was drawn in a simplified iconic style to resemble the Arabic tradition in a modern way.

After several logo design options and trials, the client was asking for a simple icon that is inspired from Arabic calligraphy without having a strong oriental feel to it. Hence the simplification and abstraction of the “Lamasat” word calligraphy and trying to create a screen like icon that incorporate the abstract calligraphy and the interactive multi-touch screen visual.

Sketches for the screen like icon with abstract calligraphy integrated in it.

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

It was fun!

Making the Arabic letters by hand in a Light weight.

Putting them in the oven.

The letters come out Extra Bold and Yummi!

The cycles goes one for another set of letters.

& the cookies are served.

Welcome Lebanon!
(quoted from the the waiter Charbel at Le Chef restaurant in Gemeyzé, Beirut)

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

Text from Sam Bardaouil (co-founder of Art Reoriented with Till Fellrath):
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Art Reoriented is a curatorial and art consulting practice specializing in contemporary art from the Middle East. Since our inception, it was important to achieve a brand identity that highlights our area of expertise and reflects our equal grounding in museum practices, contemporary art developments and cultural management. Furthermore, it was essential to create a visual language that reflects our cultural interests.

Our Logo and overall corporate identity, developed in close collaboration with Mr. Zoghbi, manage to achieve all of these objectives. The typographic play on merging the words “Art” and “Fann-Art in Arabic” speaks clearly of our juxtaposition of East and West, without allowing one to upstage the other. The superimposing of diamond glazes on our business cards makes subtle references to a more traditional Middle Eastern aesthetic. Yet, the design steers away from the stereotypical visual language that is generally associated with that region. Moreover, the overall design sensibility from Logo and business cards to letterheads, stationary and Website is referential yet contemporary, creative yet functional and meets every goal we had hoped to meet with our branding. Pascal: no one could have done it better!

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Business card with UV-Spot diamond shape pattern.

Business card and Letterhead.

Primary options and alternatives for the logo before the final form was chosen.

Below are some pages from the website:
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The Typographic Matchmaking 02 promotional/teaser posters were displayed in the Khatt Foundation section at the Waqif Art Center in Souk Waqif, Doha, Qatar. The exhibition was part of the Doha Calligraphy Biennale.

Here is a link to a small article written about the exhibit in the Gulf Times.

Below is a close up on the promotional/teaser poster for Hamsa type that i am working on with Erik van Blokland part of the Typographic Matchmaking 02 project.

Students in the Advanced Typography course at the Lebanese American University [LAU] were asked to experiment with textures/patterns and try to apply them on existing bi-script Arabic/Latin fonts in-order to create their own experimental fonts. The students were handed the outlines of Seria Arabic and Fedra Arabic.

After I gave a lecture about type anatomy and the type design process, each student was asked to apply the following 4 phases:

Phase 1: Research and mood board
Choose one of the three bi-script fonts.
Research and analyse the outlines of the letters by tracing them. Each letter should be traced within a 10×10 cm size.
Study their application in design, and understand their strength and weakness.
Create a mood board based on a certain topic. Create a collages on an A1 board in which you will express visually everything that relates and conveys your theme. Experiment with different media and styles (pictures, drawings, illustrations, print, rubbing…)

Phase 2: Letters Mutation, Creation of hybrid ornamental/structured type
After tracing the letters and selecting the graphic elements from your mood board, start experimenting with the possibility of merging the outlines of the letters with the graphical elements.

Phase 3: Creating Arabic and Latin words from the experimentations done.
Choose an Arabic and English word based on the topic you chose. Start writing the words using your created experimental type.

Phase 4: Finalizing the whole Latin and Arabic
After experimenting with the words and finalizing the design approach to the letters, all the remaining letters in the Arabic and the Latin set should be created. All the letters should be harmonious and proportional in look and weight.
It is very important that all letters are equal in reference to their presence on the page.
No letter should over power the rest. Place all letters on their baseline on a grid with x-height, ascender line, descender line and try to level them so that they fit proportionally on the grid in a uniform manner.

Bellow for some of the fonts created in the workshop.
Each student wrote his/her own text about the fonts presented.

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1. Inki Type; Ziad Rawas:
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Inki Type Poster, Ziad Rawas, LAU Beirut, Fall 2009.

Inki is a handmade font made out of natural ink strokes, blown manually by month through a blowing straw. This font was made entirely by a simple blowing straw and a bottle of black ink without any use of brushes or black markers. Each letter is unique with its strokes and thickness. Inki font was originated by Seria Arabic.

Inki Type created from Seria Arabic type, Ziad Rawas, LAU Beirut, Fall 2009.
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2. Dantelle Type; Sarah el Nahhal:
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Dantelle Type created from Seria Arabic type, Sarah El-Nahhal,LAU Beirut, Fall 2009.

The dentelle font is considered as an elegant font since the original dentelle fabric is known as a very expensive and an elegant material. The floral elements that this font has gives it a more refined appearance, in addition to the different thicknesses that it has. The Dentelle font is basically made out of the concept of laces or «dentelle».The characters of this font are found in boths languages Arabic and English that were constructed out of the original Seria font designed by Martin Majoor, and the Seria Arabic font designed by Pascal Zoghbi.

Design Process from Seria Arabic to Dantelle type.

Dantelle Type created from Seria Arabic type, Sarah El-Nahhal,LAU Beirut, Fall 2009.
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3. Folded Type; Reem Kassem:
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Design process from Fedra Arabic to Folded Type.
Folded Type created from Fedra Arabic, Reem KassemLAU Beirut, Fall 2009.

The newly designed serif typeface “Folded” is not a face for all purposes. Carrying an arabic adaptation to it in addition to the outline version of it, it has been tailored for display usage. “Folded” is based on the all-known sans-serif Fedra regular lowercase and arabic typeace. This results in a metal based typeface, with minimal details yet both flexible and distinctive. Through the process of its creation, Folded has reached the final stage of an outline of the folded metal stripes. The outline maintains the folds that are clear in the metallic 3D phase.

Folded metallic sheets creating the 3D letters.

Folded Type created from Fedra Arabic, Reem Kassem, LAU Beirut, Fall 2009.
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4. Kahwa Type; Nour Aghar:
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Kahwa Type created from Seria Arabic type, Noor Aghar,LAU Beirut, Fall 2009.

The Kahwa font is based on the stains of the Turkish coffee combining the dregs, the coffee itself and all. The Kahwa font is characterized with its stainy and non clean counters and edges. The Latin Kahwa font is characterized with long descenders and ascenders. As for the Arabic Kahwa font it is based on the Nasekh type.
The Kahwa font is a informal type and in particular a strictly display font.
The coffee inspired font gives you the perfect mood to grab a cup of coffee and directly gives the message that is needed. The informality of the font preserves its messy details such as the dregs and the liquid feel. The type of beans used for this font is the Turkish coffee blend in which we use and abuse in all of our Lebanese regions.
The Kahwa font is developed from the original Seria Latin font designed by Martin Majoor in 1996 and the Seria Arabic font designed by Pascal Zoghbi in 2007.

Detailed image from the hands one coffee stains phase.

The text was written by Huda AbiFares for the 2nd issue of the Oryx Magazine in its new look.

Al Maha (Oryx) Logotype
The Elegant Lightness of Arabic Calligraphy

When Agency Fish was commissioned to re-design Qatar Airways’ Oryx (Al Maha) in -flight magazine, for the logotype the company collaborated with talented Arab designers, including Pascal Zoghbi, to propose an expressive logotype that exuded modern elegance and youthful dynamism, combined with a unique Arabian travel mood.

Under the creative direction of Qatar Airways, primacy was given to handwritten Arabic calligraphy with the English name and font secondary in hierarchy. Pascal Zoghbi’s design, which was chosen for the final logo, is representative of how the designers’ approach offers an insight into how the Arabic script can be used. Zoghbi proposed two directions: one using traditional fluid calligraphy as a starting point, the second using modern Kufic letters. The latter approach proved too rigid and was dropped early on in the process. In his early sketches, Zoghbi tried to incorporate the image of the oryx’s head either by adding an illustration, or by twisting the letters to form this image (a well-known old Arabic calligraphy trick). Later he reverted to a more abstract calligraphic approach using the ‘heh’ (Arabic letter H) in the ‘Al Maha’ word to experiment with different forms and ways of linking it to the letters before and after it. After the rough sketching phase, Zoghbi consulted the Lebanese calligrapher Ali Assi for guidance from a seasoned and professional viewpoint. Zoghbi and Assi conducted several trials in various calligraphic styles, such as Naskh,Thuluth, Diwani, and Ruqaa, finally settling on the Diwani style. Zoghbi then reworked the logo, under the direction of the magazine’s designers Stephen Peaple and Florian Schubert, digitally transforming it into an open and continuous line with long ascenders, giving the overall image a resemblance to the oryx’s black stripes and long horns. The Al Maha/Oryx logotype carries the seeds of tradition transformed to meet the needs of contemporary branding design from the Arab world. It gracefully brings together the Arabic and Western scripts in a final harmonious cadence of the emblematic image.

Al Maha Logotype for Oryx Magazine , Qatar Airways:

Corporate Identity/ Branding for Oryx Magazine for Qatar Airways in collaboration with Agency Fish, London, UK.

Viceroy Hotel Group Logotype.

Corporate Identity/ Branding for Viceroy Hotel Group in Dubai in collaboration with Marque Creative, London, UK.

Jabria Industrial Logotype:

DNK Art Consulting Logotype:

Middle East International Film Festival 2009 Logotype:

Corporate Identity/ Branding for MEIFF, Middle East International Film Festival in Abu Dhabi, UAE in collaboration with Shawati’,UAE.

Browse through the Corporate Identity, Logotype Design, Branding WebPage on 29letters Website.