Imarat is an Arabic newspaper type family consisting of “Imarat Headlines” & “Imarat Text”. “Imarat Headlines” is a display type for use in the headlines and titling of a newspaper, while “Imarat Text” is for the copy text of the newspaper. “Imarat Headlines” will be exclusive for 3 years for “Emarat Al Youm” newspaper in Dubai starting from 2008. The newspaper needed a new, young and crispy headlines type that will appeal to their young readers. You can see the font in use on the online e-paper version of “Emarat Al Youm” newspaper.

Imarat Headlines
Imarat Headlines is a young, strong and bold Arabic typeface based on the Neo-Naskh style (Naskh Mastari). It is a crispy type with a medium contrast (neither high nor low in contrast; in-between) and condensed letters to make long headline sentences fit on the tabloid. The stroke weight is balanced in the letters and not like other headline typefaces where the baseline is so thick and the letters are week and appear like small upper and lower strokes. Imarat Headlines has a strong baseline and the letters sit strongly on it without making the baseline thicker then the letters by themselves. What also gives Imarat Headlines the sturdy look is the very large Loop and tooth heights and short ascender and descender heights.

Imarat text
Imarat text is still in development and is intended for use in newspaper copy text. It is a condensed flowing Naskh style typeface with short ascenders and descenders in order to be set with a small inter-linear space.

The 12th issue of Idpure Swiss magazine of graphic design and visual creation was dedicated on young type designers work in the glob. I was the young Arabic type design interviewed for the 12th issue of the magazine alongside Nikola Djurek, Kai Bernau, Anton Koovit, Christian Schwartz, Frederik Berlaen, Xavier Dupré.

Snap shot of two spread from my section in the magazine.

COURSES:

When and Where did u grow up and study?
Which types of studies did you follow (artistic, technical, etc)?
I grew up in a small village called “Cornet Chehwan” in Mount-Lebanon, Lebanon. I completed my primary and secondary school studies at the Saint Joseph School in Cornet Chehwan then received my Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design from the Notre Dame University [NDU], Lebanon in 2002, and my Master of Design in Type Design (Type and Media postgraduate course) from The Royal Academy of Arts [kabk], in The Netherlands in 2006.

At what point did you realize that it was the typographical design that interested you?
I got interested in the Arabic letters while I was working on my graduation project during my BA program. Back then, I started to read and research about revolutionary Arabic Type projects like the work of Mr. Nasri Khatar (Unified type) and Mr. Saïd Akl (Lebanese Type). I was also fortunate to have MR. Saïd Akl, renowned Arabic Lebanese poet and philosopher, as a teacher in the Arabic Literature class.

When did you begin your professional career?
I started my professional Graphic Design career in 2002 and my professional Arabic Type Design career in 2006.

Were you independent or was this within the framework of a studio, or an agency?
Prior to my postgraduate studies, I worked in Beirut for several years as a graphic designer in print and web design agencies. I have been working independently as a type and graphic designer since August 2006 and I am currently a part-time instructor teaching graphic design and typography courses at AUB (American University of Beirut) and NDU (Notre Dame University) in Lebanon.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY:

How would you define your current activity?
Arabic type designer and typographer
Arabic typography instructor.

What is a typical working day for you?
Well it is: 1.Arabic Type Design work, 2.Writing articles about Arabic type and design related topics for my website and Blog, 3.Preparing for lectures and class sections and 4.Teaching typography courses.

On what kinds of projects do you usually work?
I work on Arabic Type design and typography projects. For the type work, it is either creating new Arabic typefaces for my own Arabic type library or creating Arabic corporate fonts for clients such as newspapers, publishing houses, etc. As for typography projects these or they can range from creating corporate identities to designing books. Mainly I work on all typography projects.

How do they come to you?
1. From my website and blog.
2. From colleagues of mine who have recommended me.
3. From my instructors at NDU and KABK who have recommended me.
4. From friends.

How do you manage these various types of projects?
It is all about time management. I do most projects by myself, but when I have several big projects that I need to finish at the same time then I ask some of my colleagues to help.

Do you work with other trade areas (programmers, graphic designers, etc)?
Naturally, I work with graphic and type designers when I am collaborating in a design project. I also work with programmers and font-mastering professionals when I need to add hinting to my fonts, write scripts to help me in the development process of my fonts (like python scripts for Robofab), or advanced OpenType features.

RELATION WITH TYPE DESIGN:

How would you analyze the current state of the Arabic typographical creation (influential tendencies, people, evolution…)?
There are three main directions in the Arabic type design word nowadays. Arabic type designers and typographers who are working on simplifying the Arabic script and making it detached represent the first direction. The second direction is backed up by conservative traditional Arabic type designers who state that the Arabic does not need to be simplified any more since the technology is now well developed to accommodate all the needs/problems of an Arabic calligraphic typeface. The third direction is represented by several contemporary Arabic type designers who’s work deal with creating modern Arabic typefaces which are legible and friendly to the everyday applications or to the need of their clients. All of the three directions are important for the development of the Arabic type design field and to expand the possibilities of different kinds of Arabic typefaces found in the market.

Professional graphic designers and students are always asking for new Arabic fonts. Before the launch of Adobe InDesign ME versions and the development of the OpenType Arabic fonts, most of the Arabic typographer used Quark AXt and were limited to AXt Arabic fonts. Until now the AXt fonts are the most used even-though the users of Quark AXt is diminishing. The reason for that is there are not so may new OpenType Arabic fonts for them to use instead of the AXt fonts. Over the last few years, the awareness about Arabic type and the need for new fonts was translated in the rise of Arabic Type Foundries and young Contemporary independent Arabic Type Designers. From the past three years there was Nadine Chahine, Titus Nemith and myself Pascal Zoghbi who have graduated with Masters in Type Design and are specialized in Arabic type. All three of us now are working and developing new Arabic fonts that are starting to appear in the Market.

Which are the directions that interest you the most?
Creating modern new Arabic fonts that meet the needs of the young Arabic graphic designer, corporate Arabic fonts, newspapers modern titling and text types, etc.

What is your relation with the area of graphic design and graphic designers? How does it influence your work?
I am an active Arabic graphic designer besides being an Arabic type Designer. My work ranges from creating new Arabic fonts, to designing layouts for books, to creating corporate identities, to designing and organizing events like exhibitions and other graphic design projects. My Arabic type design is directly influenced by the need of the modern Arabic graphic designers. There is a immense need for new Arabic fonts from graphic designers that will enable them to design modern layouts using modern Arabic typefaces, and there isn’t a big variety of proper Arabic fonts in the market. So that is why you always hear from Arabic graphic designers that they need new Arabic fonts or that there is not enough Arabic type options that they can choose from and work with. Since I am a young Arabic type designer, I am always trying to create new Arabic fonts that fill the needs of the modern Arabic graphic designer.

What is your relation with the abstract form?
The Arabic letters can be seen as abstract forms (especially to non-Arab individuals). When I’m drawing Arabic glyphs and trying to balance the black and white areas in each glyph by itself or between other glyphs, I am working with abstract forms.

Are you interested by Art and Theory?
Does it influence your design?
For Arabic type design, it is about Arabic calligraphic art and Arabic calligraphic drawing theories and techniques. The first step of starting an Arabic type design project is to choose what Arabic calligraphic style (Naskh, Kufi, Thuluth…) the design is going to refer to. So even though I am designing a modern font, I am always referring back to the artistic and theoretical information about the Arabic calligraphic style that my design is based upon.

The market of corporate typeface is fully expanding.
What do you think about the impact on type design?
The market of Arabic corporate typefaces is expanding rapidly in the Arab world in several categories: 1.All of the international companies who are opening branches in the Middle East that need Arabic companion fonts for their Latin Corporate fonts. 2.Local Arab companies who are newly opening and need a corporate typeface and identity or present local companies up-dating their identity. 3.New Arabic newspapers or present Arabic newspapers that are re-designing and upgrading their layout are asking for new corporate Headlines and text typefaces. Recently I created a headline Arabic typeface for an Arabic newspaper (the project is still confidential, so I will not be able to say the name of the newspaper until it’s launching in December 2008). The newspaper is present now in the market but they are now up-dating the layout and design of the magazine and they are looking for modern Arabic typefaces that will appeal to their young readers. As for Lebanon, through the past three years there were several new newspapers opening and new Arabic typefaces were developed for them form local and international type design agencies.

Regarding the impact, I think it is very positive and important for the development of the Arabic typefaces and the up-rise of new Arabic type foundries. Unlike the Latin typefaces, the Arabic type libraries are not that developed or as large as the Latin counterpart; the creation of modern corporate Arabic fonts that will be available in the market (after the exclusivity of the fonts is over) is extremely important to expand the variety of properly designed Arabic fonts in the market. With more awareness about the importance of typefaces in the Arab world, more typefaces will be produced and a larger variation of modern Arabic typefaces will be present for Arabic typographers and graphic designer to use in their designs.

For you which are the determining elements of your formal choices during the creation process of a corporate typeface.
The intended use of the typeface and the look it needs to portray are the two primarily elements for me to start sketching the letters. So if I am designing a corporate typeface that is going to be for a bank whose clients are big companies it will be completely different than designing a corporate typeface for an Arabic cultural magazine whose readers are between 16 and 28 years old.

Do you have around you particular people (colleagues…) to whom you submit your work for feedback or does everything occur with the client?
Usually all the feedback is done directly with the clients, but most often before sending my typefaces to the client I like to ask some of my colleagues about their own opinion. I am still in close contact with my former classmates at Type & Media and with our instructors from the academy like Erik van Blokland and Peter Bilack. I sometimes ask the opinion of Huda abiFares as an Arabic typographer colleague and finally my graphic design colleagues in Lebanon like my former boss at “Alarm Design” Mr. Bassam Kahwagé and my close graphic design friends like Youhana Houjaili.

How do you currently see the market of the typography?
The market of Arabic typography is bit poor at the present moment but the need for new design culture and new Arabic typefaces is expanding more and more and the awareness of the importance of Arabic typefaces will surely enrich the Arabic typography market in the coming years.

Which role has, according to you, hacking and copying fonts?
Are you interested in the legal aspects of selling fonts?
Hacking and copying Arabic fonts is a big problem in the Arab world. Besides hacking of fonts between Arabic type foundries, Arabic typographers and graphic designers do not see the need of buying fonts but consider it as data that needs to be available for them without the need to pay for it. It is part of our culture and social thinking. Even my graphic design students (who supposedly are the new generation and should comprehend the concept of purchasing Arabic fonts) still do not buy fonts but copy fonts from themselves or buy hacked fonts on a CD with hundreds of fonts on it for just around 3 USD. The other problem is whenever you buy a new computer in Lebanon, the company who is selling the computer installs hundreds of fonts for the future user as a service. So they think that they are doing a good service by installing fonts for their clients for free (and surely the fonts they have are copied or hacked and they did not pay for them initially). As an Arabic type designer, I am always worried about the future of my fonts, always worried that if I opened my fonts for sale in the Arab market then very few are going to be sold and then copies of them will be made and sold illegally. At the present moment I am only selling my fonts to corporate companies. One of my fonts SADA (beta version) was published with the Typographic Matchmaking book. I hope it will not be copied enormously but most probably it will be. So that is why it is beta version and only the regular and bold weights are available on the cd with the book. So if a design company or ad agency wants to have the proper final version of the font and with all the weights, then they need to buy it from me.

How do you establish the link between Arab and Roman typography?
Which are the principal similarities and differences? Up to which point is a particular character transposable from one alphabet to another?
The Typographic Matchmaking project organized by the Khatt foundation is a good example of how to establish a link between Arabic and Roman Typefaces. You can read more about this project on the Khatt Foundation website or in the Typographic Matchmaking book. I worked on Sada, the Arabic counterpart of Seria that is designed by Martin Majoor, and TheMix Arabic. The main concept is not to copy and paste glyph shapes from the Roman and convert them into Arabic glyphs, but to redraw all the Arabic glyphs from scratch while trying to keep the same feel and look of the Arabic type as close as possible to the Roman counterpart. The type designer must understand the characteristics of both Arabic and Roman scripts and respects them during the design process.

Besides keeping the same stroke width and contrast, and maintaining the same balance for the Loop heights, tooth heights (Loop and tooth heights are equivalent to the x-height for the Roman type), ascender and descender heights; seven main characteristics were used to create Sada and make it coherent with Seria: (I will just list the titles of the seven points and for more info you can link to my website or buy the Typographic Matchmaking book and read more about this.) 1. Borrowed characteristics and the slant angle from Seria Italic, 2.Sharp curves and endings, 3.Naskh and Kufi based structure for the Arabic letters, 4.Open counters, 5.Proportional glyphs, 6.Harmony in the color of the text and 7.No straight baseline. So you can notice that it is not about taking the lowercase “e” and flipping it to become the Arabic letter “waw”, but to study the characteristics of the Roman type and then try to transfer it to the Arabic type without Latinizing it.

The Arabic script and Roman script are completely different scripts that they are not comparable. No character can be transposable directly from the Roman to the Arabic. A proper Arabic typeface will be drawn all from scratch. Well the lowercase “l” can be transformed into and “alef isolated” with few modifications, and the lower case “m” rotated and transformed into a “seen”, but this can only happen in a sans serif Roman typeface and the Arabic counterpart is based on simplified Kufi structures.

Can you briefly give us some historical elements of the Arab typography?
Well I think I will not be able to write enough about the historical elements of Arabic Typography in this interview, but you can visit my website (www.29letters.com) and blog (www.29letters.wordpress.com) and read the articles I wrote about Arabic typography and the links to articles written by other Arabic specialists. You can also visit the newly launched Khatt Foundation website (www.khtt.net).

In what is the design of a font set for a newspaper different from a character of corporate (style, technical constraints, process)?
Imarat Headlines is a good example to compare it to my other Arabic typefaces and see the difference in the design and the proportions. The main points are: 1.Condensed letters and narrow spacing, 2. A sturdy straight baseline, 3.A bold strong letters and 4.A modern look with a classical feel to it. Newspapers are read by most of the people and you cannot make a big change between the old typefaces used and the new one because the readers will not accept it or at least the owners of the newspaper prefer a smooth long-term change instead of an overnight big change with the risk of losing readers. In brief, a modern newspaper type should be condensed in order to acquire a big amount of text in a specific area as well as to be highly legible for fast reading.

Moving on to the technical constrains, most of the Arabic newspapers still use Quark Arabic and did not make the shift to Adobe Indesign ME. Quark Arabic does not support yet Arabic opentype fonts and only works with AXt fonts that are initially produced by Layout type foundry. While finalizing Imarat for the Arabic newspaper, I had to transfer my opentype font to AXt format to enable it work with Quark Arabic. I underwent a big research about AXt fonts and learnt the technical aspects of how to generate proper AXt fonts before I was able to send the font to the client. Hopefully Arabic opentype fonts will be supported by the new versions of Quark Arabic.

Movable Metal Letters are just amazing. [Especially for type lovers like me ;)]

I have recently bought Arabic and Latin movable metal type. They were for an old Arabic printing press in the Shouf area in Mount Lebanon. The owner of the movable letters wanted to sale them as trash, and I was lucky to find out about them and save the valuable metal letters from being melted done or simply trashed.

9 Arabic fonts and 6 Latin fonts was what I got. Along with one Composing Stick.
What is amazing is that the Arabic mattress is twice as big as the Latin one.

For the Arabic, I got one Arabic Naskh typeface in 8pt, 12pt, 24pt Regular and Bold.
For the Latin I have Helvetica Italic in 48 pts, one Serif type named Romine and one Sans Serif type named Europe. Each of Romine and Europe are in 12 pt and 18pt.

I made a wooden closet for the Latin mattresses based on the traditional closet shape for the drawers…
 As for the Arabic mattresses, I am still thinking what is the best way to store or display them. I am thinking of a metallic shelves system to put the Arabic huge mattresses in since the wood will not be strong enough the hold them.

I am now in the process of cleaning them from dust, so this is taking me hell of a time. Whenever I have some time off or need to take a brake from work, I clean some letters.

My next step is to find and buy the traditional printing press, but this will take more time for me to put aside the price amount of it…


Then maybe open a small press for educational use where students can come and typeset type. And for sure I can use I to make some prints with it…

I would also like to know the names of the Arabic fonts and know their origins. When and where they were casted? Where were they before they got to the Shouf press?…

Through out November and December in Beirut, I had giving : 1. a lecture entitled “29letters” about my Arabic type project and type design process at AUB, 2. a presentation about EL HEMA project alongside the Arabic team (Wael, Kj, Maria & Raya) at NDU Zouk and NDU North, and 3. took part of the event, lecture and exhibition of the “Khatt Fonts: Matchmaking Amsterdam – Beirut” with Huda Abifares and the Arabic team.

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Khatt Fonts: Matchmaking Beirut – Amsterdam (Art Lounge)

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29letters Lecture (AUB)

The two typefaces: 1. Arabic “Al Rouiya Headlines” and 2. Latin “Alif Arabesque Pixel” are my latest projects that i am working on at the moment. I will write more about the new typefaces when they are published.

Happy New Year and may 2008 be a fruitful and successful year to all.

The New design of “Emarat Al Youm” newspaper in Dubai is out with its’ headlines set in “Imarat Headlines” typeface that i have created for them alongside “TheMix Arabic” which is used for the newspaper sections titles.

p.s. The Logotype is the same as in the old Layout of the newspaper. I did not do the logotype.

You can see the fonts in use on the online e-paper version of “Emarat Al Youm” newspaper. And if you live in Dubai, you can just buy the newspaper. ;)

For more info about the fonts, you can read the previous posts about “Imarat Headlines” and “TheMix Arabic”.

Here are some snap shoots from the new design with “Imarat Headlines” & “TheMix Arabic” in use. The new Layout was designed by ‘InnovAtion Media Consulting’. You can also read about the project on their website.

This pic is a close up from a page from the newspaper where they explain the new changes in the design and typefaces. Here is the description of the new headlines font, “Imarat Headlines”, that replaced the old one. The phrase translate to english as: “The newspaper chose a new typeface that is modern and active”.

Here is some other snap shoots of the newspaper.

A Drop Initial Caps typeface for Alef Magazine. Alef Caps is a pixel font inspired from the arabesque “Msharabiyé” eight-star shape. It will be first in use in the 6th issue of the magazine. The magazine asked for a Roman Drop Intial Caps type inspired from Arabic culture. I worked on this type in collaboration with Huba AbiFares.

Alef Caps is a pixel font inspired from the arabesque “Msharabiyé” eight-star shape. It is a Mono-spaced (all the letters have the same width) with seven pixels in width and eight pixels in height. Three fonts are present in the type-family. 1.Alef Caps A, the pixel letters are reserved out on an eight-star shape serving as a background for the letters, 2. Alef Caps B, the letters are created from the eight-star pixel matrix and 3. Alef Caps C, same as “Alef Caps B” but the negative space is filled with the inner circle of the eight-star pixel. All three fonts are based on the same concept, but each gives a slightly different feel when typeset. The font is intended for use as a Drop Initial Caps and not for Titling, though some words with specific letter combination look nice when typeset with Alef Caps.

You can download the font for free from my website. Enjoy ;)

Alef Caps A:

Alef Caps B:

Alef Caps C:

The Pixel Type concept was proposed to the client alongside two other concepts. The first concept was a Latin type inspired from Floral Kufi with ornaments around the letters, and the second concept was a Latin type inspired from the Square Kufi patterns and Arabesques.

Here is some outlined and sketched letters that i worked on for the presentation:

Latin type inspired from Floral Kufi

Latin type inspired from the Square Kufi

Al Rouiya is a corporate Arabic titling typeface for “Al Rouiah” newspaper in Kuwait. The font is exclusive for 5 years for “Al Rouiah” newspaper in Kuwait starting from February 2008. The newspaper needed a new, young and crispy type that will appeal to young readers.

Al Rouiya is an elegant and sturdy Arabic typeface based on the Naskh 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 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.

A pdf of the main page of the newspaper with the type in use.

A small workshop in the “Type Design” course at NDU involving the creation of hybrid Latin words using basic letter components from Arabic letter-forms. English and French words created from Arabic letters.

“bonjour” word created by Michel Issa

Hang-up of some of the words created during the workshop.
The words from Left to right: “amanda” by Amanda El Kaddissi, “Karen” by Karen Toutounji, “Zeina” by Zeina Baaklini, “Sabaho” by Celine Doumit, ” Maria” by Mariam Der Mosessian, “Pamela Ego” by pamela Ego, “Joanna” by Joanna Assouad, “Rana” by Rana El Maddad, “Jad Eid” by Jad Eid.

sketch book of Stephanie Eid. The words from top to bottom are: Pascal, Leban and Elie.

“Zeina” created by Zeina Aoun.

Sketches of Jad Eid

“Joanna” created by Joanna

“Pascal” created by Stephanie on her sketchbook

Dissecting letter-forms into basic components and finding glyphs that share similar based components in their construction:

Sketches of Celine Doumit

“Bukra Extra Bold” is an Arabic display typeface for “Ibn Battuta Mall” in Dubai. The English slogans and ads in the mall were done uses the Latin font “Futura Extra Bold”. They asked for an Arabic font that has the same feel and sturdiness as “Futura Extra bold”.

Since Futura is a simplified geometric Sans Serif, I decided the base the Arabic companion on the Kufi script and try to simplify the letterforms as much as I can and make it young and fresh as Futura. The Arabic font had to work with the capitals of Futura Extra Bold, so I had to experiment with how much I can make the decsenders of the Arabic type short, the loop and tooth heights big and the pen stroke thick enough without clotting the counter spaces of the letterforms.

Bukra Eaxtra Bold typeset back to back with Futura Extra Bold CAPITALS.

Square Kufi patterns are often used in mosques for Qur’anic verses or Islamic sayings. It is very rare to see square kufi patterns created out of Christian bible verses or Christian sayings…

Last Sunday I was in the protestant church and I noticed this amazing big wooden cross created from square kufi pattern.

A Lebanese Christian Arabic calligrapher named “Istfén” created the square kufi pattern in 1995.

I did not have my camera with me. So I took some pics with my mobile cam. I will try to take some better pictures and post them instead of these.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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”.

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.

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.

“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 feel 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 poured 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.

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.