LebRecord is a website dedicated to the visual arts in Lebanon and how they interact and relate to the visual arts at large. It is an online art and culture magazine.

You can read the interview Mr. Maroun Kassab did with me as the features lebanese artist for this week.

I did some Arabic Vernacular T-Shirts design in my spare time.
I would appreciate your comments on them.
You would buy any? There is a style you prefer against another? or…

The number of Arabic letters that creates the Arabic script is 29.
29 letters in Arabic will be “29 حرف”
It can be an educational t-shirt about the Arabic script.
It is also the name of my website and future company.
Graffiti style was implemented.

The word ENOUGH is written in Arabic in Graffiti style. Enough in Arabic is “بكفي”.
It is a social and political statement for the Arab politics and leaders.
Done in black & white to give a serious and gloomy feel.

The slang Lebanese sentence “شو في ما في؟” is used as “What’s Up?” in English.
It is used in the everyday life of the Lebanese people.
Graffiti style with happy fresh colors.

I Love … , I Love Taboulé, I Love Mankoushé, I Love my neighbor…
I love in Arabic is “إنا بحب”.
The I Love NY visual is done in Arabic.
It can be only I Love. And the owner can write what he wants under it.
Or some Arabic loveable items and food can be written below it.

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Comments and Suggestions are most welcomed

I give a lecture on Arabic type at AUS (American University of Sharjah) on the 28th of April 2009. Design professionals and students from the UAE attended the lecture and participate in the Arabic type discussions that followed. A kufi workshop followed on the 29th and 30th of May for the seniors of AUS.

Mrs. and Mr. Kufi Monsters. ;)
Najla did the left pattern and Dina the right one.

Below are few pics of the lecture and workshop.
Photos were taken by Nesma Ahmed a student at AUS.

Below the posters done by the 2nd year students for my lecture and workshop.

Poster designed by Abir from AUS.

Poster designed by Reem & Iman from AUS.

AlWatan typeface is a corporate Arabic headlines typeface for Al Watan newspaper in Saudi Arabia KSA. The font is exclusive for 1 year for the newspaper starting from 2009. The brief was to create a new, young and crispy Arabic type that will appeal to young Arab readers.

Specs of the type:
AlWatan Headlines is an elegant and sturdy Arabic typeface based on the Naskh mastari style with a medium contrast, condensed letterforms, strong baseline, large Loop/Tooth heights and short Ascender/Descender heights. Traditional pen stoke are preserved but drawn in a modern feel. This characteristic of the font can be clearly seen in the “heh”, “waw”, “lam” and other glyphs. The letterforms are balanced with the heavy baseline unlike old styled headlines fonts where the baseline is too thick and the letterforms are so weak and light.

Credits of the involved companies that were behind the creation of the new design and layout of the newspaper:

• The new design/ layout of the newspaper was created by Ryan Bowman from Shakeup Media, UK.

• AlWatan Headlines typeface is used for the headlines and main titles in the newspaper and it is created by Pascal Zoghbi.

• TheSans Arabic typeface is used for the secondary titles in the newspaper and it is created by Lucas Fonts.

• The new masthead was created by Saatchi & Saatchi, Beirut.

The first Arabic typeface in the FontFont library, Pascal Zoghbi’s design was originally called Sada, the Arabic word for “echo”. Accordingly, this face is the echo of FF Seria by Martin Majoor. FF Seria Arabic is a young crispy type based on the Nasekh style. The Regular and Bold are text typefaces, the Light is both display and text type, while the Black is purely a display typeface. Besides FF Seria, this Arabic face works well together with all modern serif fonts that share similar proportions and characteristics. FF Seria Arabic also functions independently as a modern Arabic type.

The intro text was taken from the FontShop newsletter.

SeriaArabic is an improved version of Sada.
Below is a list of the changes:
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1. SeriaArabic is a bi-script Arabic/Latin type-family and not only Arabic fonts as in Sada.

2. SeriaArabic is an OpenType Arabic type-family compared to TrueType fonts in Sada.

3. SeriaArabic type-family contains Light and a Black weight besides the Regular and the Bold of Sada.

4. Some Arabic glyphs in SeriaArabic are improved and changed from Sada.

5. Advanced Spacing/Kerning and Hinting are added to SeriaArabic which are not present in Sada.

6. SeriaArabic works on all applications that support Arabic script on Macintosh and Windows unlike Sada that only works in Adobe CS ME applications.
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Seria Arabic Light, Regular, Bold and Black.

Comparison of some of the glyphs that were improved.

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For more info about the fonts, click here.
For downloading PDF samples of the fonts, click here.
For purchasing the fonts, click here.

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p.s.
The interactive typesetter at FontFont and FontShop does not yet work properly for non-Western fonts. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. The interface will be updated soon to display the Arabic and all other non-Western fonts properly.

This is the 3rd Team in the TypoMatch 02 project. Latin type designer Mr. Erik van Blokland, Architect Mrs. Joumana al Jabri and myself as the Arabic type designer.

The Khatt Foundation launched the project in February 2009 at Mediamatic in Amsterdam. The launching was a set of workshops, lectures and site seeing in Amsterdam. I gave a lecture about the history and development of the Arabic type alongside other lectures given by the other participants.

Below are sketches of Erik and I giving our lectures, drawn by Mr. Max Kisman.

Team work and brainstorming for the design approach that we will undertake. I will post further info about our design approach once we are in an advanced stage.

Since I was in the Netherlands for the launching and the workshop of the TMM2 project, I took the opportunity of visiting the Type & Media MD course at The Royal Academy of Arts [KABK] in The Hague and gave a small lecture for the students there. It was nice to come back after 2 years to the academy where I did my Masters of Design and give a lecture as a professional practicing type design.

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In March, and during the art fairs (Art Dubai Festival, Bastakiya Art Fair, Sharjah Biennial) in Dubai and Sharjah, The Khatt Foundation was exhibiting the TypoMatch 02 project in one of the villas in Bastakiya. The Villa in the photo is the Khatt Villa.

The Villa was used to exhibit the concepts and design works of all the teams in the Typomatch02 project, and at the same time it served as a working space during the day and give presentations and lectures to visitors in the evening.

The image below shows the design posters of our team.

A beautiful red tape info and signage system was applied in the villa. Mr. Rene Knip and some students from AUD did the design of the villa in collaboration with Mrs. Huda Abi Fares of course.

In Dubai our time was divided between teamwork and site seeing in Dubai and Sharjah. We also gave presentations about the project in our villa in the Bastakiya Art fair, and in Art Dubai festival at the Bidoun Lounge.

Check out the Bastakiya Art Fair article on De51gn website.
You can also watch the little promo film Jan and Ans made for the Typographic Matchmaking project 2.0.

Erik was not able to be with Joumana and me in the Dubai week, but he was in our sketches and thoughts. ;)

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On a side note, not related to the TMM 02 project, but part of the Bastakiya Art fair; Mrs. Nadine Kanso (Bil Arabi) made a photo installation called “wil’ané Beirut” in one of the other villas in Bastakiya. Her concept was to photograph the Arabic graffiti in Beirut and pair them with photos taken from Beirut’s bars and nightclubs. I was happy to see my “how is the arab; man howa al arabi” graffiti that I did in Beirut last November in one of the photo-collages she did.

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Below this the brief info about the project from The Khatt Foundation:
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Text written by Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFares.
Image created by Edo Smitshuijzen.
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The Khatt Foundation is launching the Typographic Matchmaking sequel — Typographic Matchmaking in the City V2.0 project — which focuses on typography’s use in placemaking within an urban context.

The design teams consist of carefully “matched” Dutch and Arab designers, who are to create expressive type designs and their applications (exploring different material or virtual applications). Translating cultural ideas into concrete design products: digital fonts and 3D prototypes that could be exhibited outdoors or indoors at the specific sites in order to enhance a sense of place. The idea is not only to match the Latin and Arabic scripts harmoniously therefore stimulating cultural dialogue through design, but also to take the idea a step further and start a dialogue between two iconic cities from these two cultures. Cities that may have a shared history and traits but that are also sufficiently different. The two parallel cities are: Dubai and Amsterdam. More specifically the Creek in Dubai and the area around the river IJ in Amsterdam.

The participating designers:

TEAM 1
Max Kisman (Netherlands),
Naji El Mir (Lebanon/France),
Hisham Youssef (Egypt/UAE)

TEAM 2
Rene Knip (Netherlands),
Jeroen van Erp (Netherlands),
Reza Abedini (Iran/Netherlands)

TEAM 3
Erik van Blokland (Netherlands),
Pascal Zoghbi (Lebanon),
Joumana Al Jabri (Saudi Arabia/Syria/UAE)

TEAM 4
Artur Schmal,
Wael Morcos (Lebanon),
Richard Wagner (Germany/UAE)

TEAM 5
Melle Hammer (Netherlands),
Yara Khoury (Lebanon),
Stealth: Ana Dzokic (Serbia) & Marc Neelen (Netherlands)

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more details will be updated as the project progresses, so stay tuned.
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Baseet is a hybrid Neo-Naskh / Modern Kufi geometric typeface. It is a mixture of straight vertical, horizontal and diagonal pen stokes incorporated in-between curved corners and edges.

The font work perfectly with mono-spaced Roman fonts that share the same characteristics like Simple, T-Star MonoRound, Module etc…

The font was initially created for the ContempArabia event in the Gulf Region. I worked on the font in collaboration with Ben Wittner from <strong>eps51.

Logotype of the ContempArabia event. I worked on the Arabic type in the logo in collaboration with Ben Wittner from eps51. The design of the icon, website and publication are the work of eps51

The type is now only used for the ContempArabia website and publications. The Baseettype family from light to black is in the making at the moment.

Baseet Regular

Baseet Bold

We hope it will be published soon.

Creating Arabic adaptations for existing Latin logotype is not a matter a copy pasting (chopped-up & collage) letter parts from the Latin to create the Arabic, but a real understand of both Latin and Arabic script and the ability to work professionally with both of them. The Arabic adaptation should be drawn from scratch keeping in mind the proportions and characteristics of the Latin logotype.

Mike, LAU Byblos — Sketches for Chaos Arabic logotype adaptation.

Four major typographic key points must be respected in-order to achieve a professional Arabic type/logotype adaptation:

1. What are the typographic aspects of the Latin type/logotype? Analyze the Latin type and understand its characteristics.

2. Which Arabic calligraphic style works best with the feel of the Latin? Geometric SansSerifs work best with Kufi based Arabic fonts, Humanist SansSerifs work best with modern Naskh based fonts, Serifs work best with cursive Naskh, Thuluth and Diwani, so on…)

3. What will the Arabic typographic guidelines be according to the Latin? Since there is no x-height in Arabic, you need to decide on the heights of the loop, eye and tooth heights for the Arabic letters. The ascenders and descenders remain the same, but some additional descenders or ascenders might be added.

4. How to transfer the stroke weight, contrast and endings shape from the Latin to the Arabic logotype.

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Bellow are some case studies from projects I worked on, my students’ work at LAU and images from UAE and KSA showing Arabic type adaptations:
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Jumeirah Arabic Case Study:
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Jumeirah Arabic is an exclusive corporate type for Jumeirah International in Dubai. It is a descriptor type for the main Jumeirah Logotype in-order to typeset the names of all the luxurious resorts and hotels in Jumeirah. The type might also be used as display and signage type for all the publications and facilities of Jumeirah International.The type was created in collaboration with Huba AbiFares.

Jumeirah Arabic is created to be typeset alongside the Latin typeface Cronos Pro.

Below is an illustration of the previously done Arabic adaptation for Cronos Pro:

• The design shows no consistency in the stroke contrast, no respect for the proportions or shapes of Arabic letters.
• The Arabic letters are not based on the proper styles of the Arabic writing system and so some letters (like the Jeem, could read as a totally other letter, the Sad or Meem).
• This Frankenstein type of design, known as LATINIZED ARABIC, shows little understanding for the art of Arabic lettering and lack of respect for the Arabic script or culture (most probably not intended as such).

The wrong creation process that was used to create the old Jumeirah logo descriptor font. WHAT NOT TO DO.

Arabic type created from parts of Latin letterforms without any respect for the stroke contrast or proportionality of the letters. The type is not based on any Arabic calligraphic style like Kufi or Naskh. The Arabic letters are created from the Latin letter directly using the process of cut and past with rotation and flip. Notice how the “o” becomes the “meem”, the “b” becomes the “jeem”, the “q” becomes the “heh”, etc.

Below are my sketching alternatives for the new Jumeirah Arabic type:

Kufi based sketch with proportional guidelines, contrast and guidelines as the Latin. Kufi type is chosen since the Arabic needs to work with the Capitals of the Latin

Kufi based construction sketch with a straight baseline and the letters are very close to the old letter-forms. The “dal” is redrawn since the previous one was so obvious as a “h”. The other letters where redrawn with a Arabic feel to them but keeping as much possible the old shape.

Same as the second sketch but here the baseline is not straight and there is up-strokes at the ending of each letter.

Simplified Naskh construction sketch. Notice the “dal” now is open, the “meem” and “heh” have more a Naskh based construction, and the “jeem” has a curvy lower stroke on the right side to make it look more as a Naskh “jeem”. This option is more calligraphic and based on the pen stroke rather then the first two option where the Letter-forms are constructed of geometric kufic forms.

Same as the forth sketch but even more Naskh or even Diwani based constructions. Notice the shapes of the “meem”, “heh” and “jeem”.

The final analysis of the new font is:
Jumeirah Arabic is a Neo-Kufi type with large open letterforms and short ascenders and descenders. The starting and ending strokes of the pen have a free and fresh feel to them. The type renders the characteristic and atmosphere of the Jumeirah resorts and hotels. Since Jumeirah International uses Cronos Pro as their Latin corporate type, Jumeirah Arabic is created to work side by side with Cronos Pro and it has the same feel and structure to it.

Kufi based Arabic type with proportional guidelines, contrast and guidelines in relation to the Latin font (Capitals) of Cronos Pro. That is why the font has a large loop, tooth and eye heights and very short ascenders and descenders.

Jumeirah Arabic was created as a replacement to the previous Latinized Arabic type that they were using. We were asked to created a TRUE Arabic type that works with the Latin type and not like the previous Latinized Arabic type which was created from collaging parts from the Latin letters of Cronos Pro font.

The type has calligraphic traits but is based on the upright geometric Kufi style, which gives a contemporary sans serif look but maintains the legibilty. Kufi style was mostly used for monumental inscriptions and large texts, due to its high and clear letterforms. This gives the arabic font an elegant, majestic and authoritative look that matches the latin Cronos font. The type has some mixed letter shapes from the Naskh style (to match the handwritten flavor of the Latin font).

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ContempArabia Case Study:
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ContempArabia is a cultural event in Dubai and Qatar. I was responsible for the Arabic type in the design of this project. The work was done in collaboration with eps51 in Berlin, Germany.

We presented two options.

In the first option the English was typeset using a humanistic SansSerif type, so I decided to create the Arabic of it based on the modern Naskh style. Notice who the letters are all flowing and the baseline is not straight. The letterform of the “Meem.medial” and the curved vertical pen stroke shows clearly the resemblance to the Naskh Style.

In the second option (which was chosen and developed for the final) the English was typeset in a geometric SansSerif type, So I decided to create the Arabic of it based on the modern Kufi Style. The rounded letterform of the “Meem.medial” and the straight vertical pen strokes shows clearly the resemblance to the Kufi Style.

If you are wondering about the small arabic type that is translating the words “Gulf Art Week”, this is a new Neo-Naskh Arabic typeface that i did for the event and I am developing the whole type-family at the moment in collaboration of Ben Wittner from eps51.

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Al HEMA Arabic Case Study:
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The following two Logotypes are my own proposals for the HEMA Arabic Logotype. Since the HEMA logotype is written with Helvetica Bold, I decided to draw the Arabic version of it based on the Geometric Kufi style. The four letters where based on the kufi letter structures and proportionate to the four Latin HEMA letters.

The first has a straight unbroken baseline which makes it look more even with the Latin capitals. On the other hand, the “Meem.medial” looks more like a “Meem.initial” and might be less legible than the “Meem.medial” that is found in the second option. In the second option, the baseline is broken but it keeps its stiffness. The “Meem.medial” descends below the baseline as a standard medial Kufi “Meem” is drawn. This improves legibility for the “Meem” and makes the Arabic Logotype look more “Arabic”. ;)

The HEMA logotype is composed from Helvetica Bold. Since it is all Caps, I analysed the Characteristics and the stroke flow of the Capitals in Helvetica Bold. The “H”, “E” and “M” were used to define the horizontal and vertical weight of the stroke for the Arabic version, while the “P” and “U” were used to determine the curved corners and the links between straight and curved strokes.

Since Helvetica is a neutral sans serif, I experimented with Kufi Arabic letterforms. I Sketched different alternatives for the “heh.initial” & “meem.Medial”. The Arabic letters need to be straight and stiff as the Latin capitals but at the same time preserve the curved characteristic of the Arabic script.

I drew four different shapes for the “heh.initial” and five different shapes for the “meem.medial”. For the “heh”, I have drawn the open Kufi initial “heh” and the closed Kufi initial “heh”. As for the “meem”, I drew a “meem” standing on the baseline while the other descends below the baseline as the usual Kufi medial “meem” is drawn. Finally, I experimented between standing upright glyphs and curved glyphs.

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FOO Case Study:
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FOO is a new Lebanese/International software solutions company. I was asked to create the FOO corporate identity in English and Arabic. Creating an Arabic adaptation logotype for the existing English logotype is not valid in this study case. The creation of both Arabic and English logotypes needed to be done at the same time. The concept of the logotype stamps from the binary 010101 visual and the typing screen cursor that appears in scripting applications. The two OO can also be seen as two 00 and two 11; while the dash after the FOO word represents the typing cursor.

The logotypes have a sturdy strong feel and scientific feel to them. The Latin is based on geometric black type, while the Arabic is based on geometric old black Kufi script.
A print and screen version of the logotypes was created.

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Mirna Al Jourdi Case Study:
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This project shows the creation of a Latin Logotype from an existing Arabic typeface.

Mirna Al Jourdi is a beauty house centre in downtown. The brief was to link Lebanese ornaments and arabesque with modern visuals. Therefore, an ornamental Kufi Arabic font was chosen for the Arabic writings, as for the Latin logotype, it was produced from the Arabic letters. Arabesque shapes and outlines of relaxing women were used to finalize the identity for the centre.

The development of the Latin Logotype from the Arabic Kufi letters.

The Latin logotype borrows from the kufi typeface the ornamental feel and respects the construction method of the Latin type at the same time.

Arabesque pattern and visuals used with the logotype.

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Arabic logotype and type adaptation exercises are always integrated into typography courses.

Bellow are some samples of my students’ work from LAU [Lebanese American University]:
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Manal Hamed, LAU Beirut — KENT Arabic.

Lynn Amhaz, LAU Beirut — MINI Arabic.

Mouhamad jesper Ramadan, LAU Beirut — SEGA Arabic

Carine Haidar, LAU Beirut — MONDO Arabic

Rasha Sayegh, LAU Beirut — Vigin Arabic

Lynn Amhaz, LAU Beirut — Swatch Arabic.

Eyad Tohme, LAU Beirut — Facebook Arabic.

Rend Shamma, LAU Beirut —Dunkin Donuts Arabic.

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Whenever I am traveling in the Middle East, I always try to capture the Arabic type adaptations in the shopping areas and try to analyze them.

In UAE and KSA, the government have a bilingual policy that requires each international brand to appear in English and Arabic.

Bellow are GOOD samples of Arabic logotype adaptations from KSA and UAE:
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Bad Arabic adaptations were given the name of “Frankenstein Arabic” by an Arabic type colleague Nadine Chahine.

Unprofessional Arabic adaptations can be recognized from:
1. Visible cut and past parts from the Latin into the Arabic.
2. Serifs are still present in the Arabic logotype. Arabic Does not have serifs. Arabic is a cursive script. Only the ornamental Kufi have some serif like pen strokes.
3. Disproportional letterforms. No proper typographic guidelines.
4. Pen strokes are broken and not continuous.
5. Some Arabic letters are so deformed that they can be misread.
6. Bad spacing and kerning of glyphs.

Bellow are BAD samples of Arabic logotype adaptations from KSA and UAE:
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“Al-Shamas Abdullah Zakher” founded the first Arabic printing press in Lebanon in 1734. The press is located in “Deir Mar Youhana” in “Khinshara”. The printing press operated from 1734 till1899. It was the first Arabic script printing press in Lebanon, but it was the second printing press in general since in 1610 the first Syriac Script printing press was established in “Deir Mar Antonious” in “Quzhayya” near the valley of the saints in the North of Lebanon. The printing press of “Deir Mar Antonious” was the first printing press in the Middle East.

I have visited the press with my students from LAU [Lebanese American University] and took some pictures of the tools, Arabic letters and books found there. Below is a brief description of the printing process that was used back then, and the books that were printed there.

Book Samples:
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More then 16 books were printed in this press starting with the book of “Mizan al Zaman” (The Balance of Time) which you can see photos of it below.

It was lovely to feel and look at old printed books. The letters are de-bossed inside the paper and you can the texture left by the imprint of the ink. Just beautiful.

The Arabic type was drawn and cut by “Al-Shamas Abdullah Zakher” himself. It is a unique type that is only present in this Arabic press. The type has humanistic rough edges and was drawn by “Al Zakher” himself. There is no information if “Al Zakher” was a professional Arabic calligrapher or not, but for sure he did take some Arabic calligraphy classes during his youth. This shows in the type he created. It somehow follows the rules of the “Tuluth” Arabic style, but it is not there yet. This is to conclude that “Al Zakher” was a great craftsman working with Arabic letters. “Al Zakher” comes from the city of “Aleppo” in Syria and he is from the renowned jewelry making family “Al Sayégh”. He has inherited the detailed crafting hand from his family, and then used this craftsmanship to start the first Arabic printing press in Lebanon instead of making jewelry.

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Metal Cuts
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Before explaining the technical process of developing the Arabic letters, here are some examples of carved lead, metal and woodcuts used for the titles or decorations of the books.

The titles were carved as one piece since the words were written more calligraphically and the letters were intertwined together. The titles were also used often in the books and not only once, so it was faster and wiser to carve the titles and not typeset them each time using separate letters.

Close up on a hand carved lead word. The strokes of the chisel are clearly visible. Amazing.

Woodcut pattern.

Squarish metal ornament.

Metal frame ornament.

Line pattern stamp.

Icon pattern stamp.

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Letter Punches / Punchcutting:
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In traditional typography, punchcutting is the craft of cutting letter punches from which matrices were made in hard type metal for type founding in the letterpress era. Cutting punches and casting type was the first step of traditional typesetting. The cutting of letter punches was a highly skilled craft requiring much patience and practice.

The punchcutter begins by transferring the outline of a letter design to one end of a metal bar. The outer shape of the punch could be cut directly, but the internal curves of a small punch were particularly difficult as it was necessary to cut deep enough and straight into the metal.

In Arabic, the punches are called the fathers “Al Obahat”.
The punch creates the be-bossed letter in the brass matrices.

A set of Metallic Arabic letters punches. Unfortunately, you can notice that they are bit rusting due to the humidity. But you can be sure that the punches are made of metal and not lead. The matrices are brass. Sine metal is stronger then brass; the metal punch can de-boss the letter shape in the brass matrices.

Arabic figures punches with wooden handle.

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Matrices:
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An example of a set of de-bossed letters that were created from the punchcutting process described previously.

In Arabic, the de-bossed brass letters are called The Mothers “Al Omahat”. From each matrice several lead letters will be created.

The matrice will be placed unto the letter frame mold to create the lead letters.

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Letter Frame Molds:
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This is the Letter Frame Mold that was created by “Al Zakher” to cast the lead Arabic letters.

Notice the upper opening of the mold where the hot lead will be poured in.

Notice how the curved metal string on the bottom part of the mold holds the letter matrice in place.
Lead will be purred into the mold and the Arabic letter cast will be formed which are known as Sorts.

The mold opened and seen from the inside.

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Letter Composing Stick
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A composing stick is an instrument used to assemble pieces of metal type into words and lines which are later bound into a forme, set in a galley and printed.

An example of a wooden composing stick that were created by “Al Zakher”.

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Composing Galley
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A Composing Gally is used to arrange all the sentences to make the layout of the page that will be ready for printing.

An example of a wooden galley created by “Al Zakher”.
Notice that most of the tools were created from wood and not metal.
This is the prove that the tools were created by “Al Zakher” himself in his workshop in the monastery and not imported from europe.

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Ink:
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The ink was also created locally by “Al Zakher”.
Below are examples of ink spreaders that were used to spread the ink evenly on the letters before printing the page.

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Press:
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The first press that “Al Zakher” created.
It is a simple press made of wood and metal.

The below is the second press that “Al Zakher” created.

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That was a brief article about the process of traditional metal type printing with images from the first Arabic printing press in Lebanon; “Al Zakher Press”.

p.s. The printing press can be visited daily in the monastery.

The opening of Beirut Art Center is in February 2009. I have participated in the design pitch for the corporate identity for the art center. A different design approach was chosen by the comity of the center, but below is a sneak preview of what I presented to the center.

This is the corporate identity of Beirut Art Center that was proposed by 29letters.

Below is the rational behind my proposal:
The search for simplified Lebanese/Arabic visuals or objects that can be generated into modern graphical elements was the basic drive the concept; what could be found in the Arabic script by itself, and what could be found in the Arabic pattern art. The challenge was giving the center a modern Arabic feel to it without making it traditional or Islamic?

The visual identity is bilingual (Arabic/English); the Arabic type will give the unique Arabic/Lebanese identity of the center, while the English acts as a secondary language.
After a thorough research and alternative sketches, the use modern Arabic “square kufi patterns” and the “Art space” concept seemed like an appropriate solution of the design of the graphical identity of the center. The concept is simple, strong, elegant and flexible. The proposed design takes into consideration the simplicity for future application of the identity and its consistency through out different mediums.
When treated with a contemporary design approach, square Kufi Arabic patterns lend a unique and modern feel that can be compared to Swiss graphic design style with an Arabic flavor to it. The Arabic name of the center is drawn in modern square kufi, while the English name is simply typeset inside a black space that is aligned with the Arabic. The black space is inspired from the shape of the center building area, and represents the art/design space in general. The slight tilt on the left of the space gives a unique feel to it, and can also represent the tilt in contemporary arts (as in an artistic twist). The space can be black, white or any other color. The design identity is so flexible to adapt to any art event at the center. The Arabic kufi pattern can be used alone in some cases as a small signature, and the space symbol can be resized or elongated to act as a design element used in all the application for the center like the signage, posters, tickets… It also makes the development of all the needed application for the center very fast and easy to create, which will in term reduce design and development costs.

Images of traditional square kufi patterns and the architectural drawing of the center were the starting point of inspiration for the creation of the Logotype.

List of alternatives for the Logotype.

Business Card and Letterhead design. Simple and straight forward. Strong and elegant. One color printing. The die-cut in the Business card is based on the tilt in the logotype.

Envelope and folded letterhead.

Corporate Brochure for the center. Folder wrapper that also acts as a promotional poster for the center and a cover when wrapped around the brochure.

Poster design using the black space element of the logotype as a graphical element in the poster. This shows the flexibility and strength of the corporate concept.

Examples of additional applications to show the direct adaptation of the corporate image. The entrance ticket of the center has a tilted perforated die-cut like the logotype.

Website design of homepage and some internal pages. As in the previous design applications, the black space creates the basic design element for the layout of the website.

Signage applications. The black space becomes the shape of the signage plates with info on them. The Arabic kufi part of the logotype is used alone as signature on the plates or on the walls. The signs can be created from metallic plates, directly painted on the walls using stencils, or cut as vinyl and stuck on the wall.

I will be giving a lecture about the present state of Arabic Type and Typography at The Royal Library in Stockholm organized by A4.

The lecture will take place on the 5th of december at 14:00 part of the Typographical Friday Lectures of A4.

Here are some pics from the lecture:

On the 4th, 5th and 6th of November I took part of an Arabic graffiti workshop which was given by the German graffiti artist Mr. Don Karl. It was great to finally meet up with Lebanese graffiti artist and get to know the people behind the graffiti and tags in Beirut.

Don Karl is known as the STONE. He is one of the pioneers of European Graffiti. Two years ago he did a workshop in Cuba and Brazil, and this workshop in Beirut is only the preparation for a bigger graffiti event that will take place in Beirut soon.

This rooster character is like Don Karl’s signature.

The wall that was bombed with beautiful Arabic graffiti is on the road from “Mat7af” to “Karantina” facing “Peugeot” show room.

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I learned a lot from the workshop about the graffiti process. Before going to workshop, I thought all the graffiti was done by spray and directly on the wall… but it turned out there is a whole design process behind good graffiti as any other design project. Below are pics of the steps of graffiti and shows the progress of my first Arabic graffiti in Beirut.

1st: Sketching the graffiti on paper after finding an idea. Mine asks the question: How is the Arab?

2nd: Drawing the design on the wall using chalk.

3rd: Filling up the design with epoxy colored paint using the roll or brush.

Here you can see the design all colored but there is still no outlines to it.

4th: Adding the outlines and highlights using the spray.

I am getting some help from Don with the outlines since in needed a professional graffiti hand.

5th: Adding the last touches with spray and signing the graffiti

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Below are pics of the other graffiti that were done in the workshop:

“3amal Na7rikha” by the Arabic Rap band Katiba5. Jazar, Molotov & 3amro.

“Katiba5″ by Jazar from Kabita5.

Fish and spray character graffiti by Fish. Fish is part of the graffiti group REK

“Al Shari3″ by Kiméwé.

“6 kaf” by Siska also from REK.

“lim3além” by Ze M3alem also from REK.
you can also see the work of Ze M3alem on his facebook. Also the website Lebanese Street Art is coming soon.

Lebanese character with Tarboush.

Heart with wings by Rand Marzi.

“Mash3out”

and a cute littler girl how simply joined in.

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It seems that over the last two years the culture of graffiti is growing fast in Lebanon. You can become part of “Parekour + Graffitti” group on facebook to be in contact with most of the graffiti artists in Lebanon. Not all the Lebanese Graffiti groups were present in the workshop. Other groups like “Ashekman” who are also a Lebanese rap band, and other more like “P+G Group”…

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For all the Lebanese Graffiti artists that are not mentioned in this article please add your names and links to your websites or facebook. Thanks.

PAGE Magazine article on type design graduates from Type & Media and Reading.

After last year’s post of Lebanese Graffiti in 2007, the streets of Beirut were filled even more with new lebanese arabic graffiti. Below are some of the nice graffiti tags in the “Karantina” & “Gemeyzé” regions in Beirut.

I do not have credits info for the street artists that did the tags, but it is always a pleasure for me to go around and spot the new tags and take photos of them.

I am also getting the urge of doing my own Arabic graffiti tag. I hope it will be soon.

Ma7rousa ya 3arousa entry in the Mulsaq Project.
Cargo trucks in Lebanon and the Middle East are usually painted with Arabic calligraphy using vernacular Arabic words. The Arabic word “mahrousa” is literarily painted on every cargo truck in Lebanon mostly on the back of the trunk or above the back wheels. Alongside this word, there is always an eye figure drawn next to it or a baby shoes hanging from beneath it. The word and figures are meant to bring good luck to the truck and prevent it from the envy and jealous eyes. The words “mahrousa ya ‘arousa” is typeset using “Alef Caps” type, which is one of my fonts originally designed for Alef Magazine, chosen for the “mcharabiya” arabesque star-shaped pixel pattern, emphasizing the Middle Eatsern flavor of the design. The baby shoe can be stuck hanging from the mirror or directly from the arabesque letters.

Some pictures from the lecture and workshop that I gave at ATypI Conference this year. For Further info link to the ATypI website.

MoreCult is a new Dutch based fashion design firm working on creating cross cultural designs for casual youth clothing. Arabic Type and Calligraphy are integrated into their modern clothing designs. For the summer Collection 2009, I was asked to design for them some square Kufi patterns that will be used in the collection.

The Kufi Patterns were created from the English words “More Cult”
and the Arabic translation of it “أكثر ثقافة”.

Being an Arabic Kufi Script freak, i have lately designed a modern Square Kufi pattern for my car. :)

I have called my Mini Cooper S “Witty” since it is a smart car with all the newest technologies in it, and it is so cute and lovely; hence the name “witty”.

The word “witty” is written in Arabic as “waw, yeh, teh and yeh”. The square kufi pattern is created from two mirrored unites of the “witty” word. The two lines from the square kufi pattern continue to the front and back of the car.

Environmental design using the Vinyl technique is the latest, safest and cheapest way of applying design in interior \ exterior areas, sinage systems and vehicles.

Another interesting Vinyl design project is the Mulsaq Competition from Khatt Foundation. I have submitted a design and was selected from the winning designer. i will post my design once the winners are officially announced on the Khatt Foundation.

Rami Bin Khamis / Studio II A / LAU Beirut

I have also given my students in the summer course at LAU to create a vinyl cut type/image design for a specified space. Below is one of the examples. It is a scaled down model of a living room with the vinyl design applied on the wall where the TV is hanging phasing the living area.

For more links about Vinyl Designs, check out the Domestic website.

An article written on I Love Typography about the Type and Media Course at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague. You can also get more info about the course at the Type]Media and The Royal Academy of Arts KABK websites.

For the people interested to read about Latin Type and Typography, here are two websites dedicated to Articles, Movies and Links about Typography.

Type Culture
I Love Typography

Fundamental and advanced typograhy info can be found there.

Makram Daou (jawmas)

How to integrate Arabic Calligraphy into modern design layouts?
In the past few years the Arabic calligraphy was a comeback into modern logotypes and contemporary design layouts. That was mostly due to the international awareness of the Iranian calligraphic and typographic work. While most Arabic nation (especially Lebanon) were neglecting the Arabic calligraphy and preferring computerized Arabic fonts instead, Iranian typographers embraced the calligraphic heritage and incorporated the calligraphy into modern typographic layouts.

Fatima Karnib (shou fi ma fi)

For the past decade in Lebanon, Arabic calligraphy was seen as old stylish and not fitting with modern typographic layouts, most Arabic calligraphers in design and advertising firm were replaced with computerized Arabic fonts; whereas, skills of the talented calligraphers was neglected. In the past few years the awareness about Arabic calligraphy and Arabic type design began to grow again in Lebanon and graphic designers as well as Graphic Design schools in most of the Lebanese universities started to introduce again Arabic calligraphic and typographic work into their curriculum and encouraging the student to learn, understand and love Arabic calligraphy and not see it as an old fashioned art.

Jubran Elias (kifak tamém)

Personally I always try to introduce Arabic type and calligraphy into my typography courses and try my best to make the students interested in Arabic type and to be aware of the importance of Arabic calligraphy, which can be part of modern Arabic graphic design. Most of the students start the semester with a huge dislike to Arabic type and end up the semester excited to learn and experiment more with Arabic type and calligraphy.

Khaldoun Hamzeh (ahlan)

Here are some typographic posters by my students at LAU and NDU where they were asked to use the Arabic calligraphy and type as “display type” or “type as image” and the Latin type as “info text”. Upon launching this project an Arabic calligraphy workshop was made with Mr. Ali Assi (renown Arabic calligrapher in Lebanon) and each student created his/her own calligraphy (of-course with the help of the Arabic calligrapher and myself).

Marwa Kamaleddine (3eesh 7ayétak)

Afterwards, typographic posters were created using the calligraphy done alongside graphical elements like illustration, photos and type. Students experiments with three layouts:
1. Only Arabic calligraphy and Latin type
2. Arabic calligraphy, Latin Type, illustrations and kufi script
3. Arabic Calligraphy, Latin Type, Photography and Kufi Script.

Marwa Kamaleddine (3eesh 7ayétak)

The students weren’t asked to become professional Arabic calligraphers in one course, but now they have the notion that they can work with Arabic calligraphers and use Arabic calligraphy in their modern design layouts.

May Shaaban (al 7amid lil lah)

The “Arabesque” book that was out recently into the market is a good reference book for contemporary Arabic and Iranian design work.

Reem Itani (wala yhimak)

The visuals in this post are the work of some of my students. Students’ name are beneath each visual.

Davina Mouawad (mahwouss)

Alef Magazine 6th issue is out and the Alef Caps fonts are used in it. Here is some inside pages showing the font in use.

You can read more about the Alef Caps fonts on my website or the previous post about the font.

A modern simplified Naskh style corporate type.

An Arabic corporate typeface for a global shipping and transport company. The Arabic is intended to work with the Latin type “Univers”. Unfortunately, I can’t mention the name of the Company nor the design firm I did this Arabic type work for. I was the Arabic type consultant/specialist and associate type designer alongside “Leah Hoffmitz”. The font will used in all Arabic publications, ads and packaging for the company.

I was asked to create an Arabic Hip Hop style title for the Deen Tight Movie. The title is spelled in English but it should reflect the Arabic Square kufi style and incorporate the Hip Hop look in it.

The rough texture was added to the title to give it more vernacular feel. An outline version can be also used which makes the title look like graffiti.

The English letters were created from square kufi Arabic letter-forms. For Exmaple the “d” is the “tah”, the “e” are the base form of the “feh” and “qaf”, the “n” is the “noon” flipped and so on.

A “kasra” and “skoun” are added to the “d” and “n” respectively to refer to the origin of the “deen” word which is Arabic.

Below are some trials of different design approachs.

Primarily trials with Square and Floral Kufi options. Experimenting with Upper-Case and lower-case.

The logotype I created will not be used for the main title of the movie but might be used in secondary visuals for the movie or on items.

you can have a look on logotype of the main title for the movie on BOKSMATI GRAPHIX.

3D square Kufi workshop at LAU [ Lebanese American University]

Khaldoun Hamzeh’s work 3D Pattern, Word: 2ahlan

Khaldoun Hamzeh’s work 2D Pattern, Word: 2ahlan

The brief of this workshop was the same as the “Vernacular Kufi Workshop” but it was taken one step further of transforming the 2D square Kufi patterns into 3D objects.

Class pin-up and discussion

Linda Aridi’s work 3D Pattern, Word: ma ma32oulé

Linda Aridi’s work 2D Pattern, Word: ma ma32oulé

Creating the pattern from the module on the light table.

May Shaaban’s work 3D Pattern, Word: 2al 7amid lil lah

May Shaaban’s work 2D Pattern, Word: 2al 7amid lil lah

Sketching the pattern on tracing paper after module is finalized. Word: kteer jou3ané.

Jubran Elias’s work 3D Pattern, Word: kifak tamém

Jubran Elias’s work 2D Pattern, Word: kifak tamém

Constructing 3D pattern using separate small modules.

Creating square module on millimeters paper using the grid system.

Reem Itani’s 3D pattern using squarish modules to construct the whole pattern.

Interested more into 3D Square kufi applications? Check out the following links:

Har Design Kufi Table:

Sakal Kufi Project and survey: