24.Feb.2007 Arabesque: “Advanced geometry of Islamic art”
A very interesting article from the BBC: “A study of medieval Islamic art has shown some of its geometric patterns use principles established centuries later by modern mathematicians….” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6389157.stm
20.Feb.2007 BigVesta Arabic: Waw and e with many weights
More than a year ago, we started the Typographic Matchmaking project. My task was to collaborate with Gerard Unger to make an Arabic version of his Capitolium. Needless to say, the title of this post shows otherwise… To know more about the process of how we started and where we ended, wait for the book [...]
18.Feb.2007 Arabic newspaper design: Al-Hayat, London
To continue with the newspaper series, we now jump outside of Lebanon to the London based Al-Hayat newspaper. It is arguably the one with the highest number of circulation amongst all Arab newspapers and I’ve seen copies of it all over Europe.
Edward Said: Graduation speech at AUB in 2000
He doesn’t mention typography per se, but he did mention dialogue… I had quoted from this speech several times now. We even quoted it in the press release for the Kitabat Conference in Dubai. This person is a gem, possibly the greatest Arab thinkers in the 20th century. I am posting below the entire graduation [...]
14.Feb.2007 Type Design from Palestine
It’s heart warming to see that the type blossoms amongst the toughest of conditions. Hasan Abu Afash is a type designer from Palestine. He won the 5th place in Linotype’s first Arabic Type Design Competition. You can see more here: www.hibastudio.com
My type of love; my love of type
So this morning the Lebanese were exploding with happiness and love. 3 of them went to heaven. Tomorrow is Valentine’s day. It’s been 2 years now. What a cruel cruel thing, to transform the day of love to a day of mourning and sadness. Love turns into the promise of death and the veil comes [...]
10.Feb.2007 Communication: Babel
Yesterdays I saw the movie Babel, a part of which was set in Morocco. The tag line is: If You Want to be Understood…Listen I wonder if this movie is showing in Lebanon. And if they do see it, will they think: Oh we don’t understand the Moroccan accent, this goes to show that we [...]
08.Feb.2007 Communication: Speaking Arabic
In Lebanon, we have this way of saying: shu? ma btifham arabi? (what? Don’t you understand Arabic?). We usually say that when the other person doesn’t seem to understand what you tell him, or refuses to do what you ask of him.
06.Feb.2007 Nasri Khattar short biography
I have received the following short bio of Nasri Khattar from his daughter and I thought it would be great to share it. I have always admired his work and am very happy to contribute to his memory.
05.Feb.2007 Arabic newspaper design: Al-Akhbar, Lebanon
Third in this series is Al-Akhbar newspaper published in Lebanon. This is also a new addition to the scene in Lebanon, and brings with it a very high level of journalistic quality. I am especially impressed by the editorials written daily by Joseph Samaha. Amazing quality of political analysis. Ok, back to the design: