13.Jan.2012 3 poster signs for the march against marital rape
I have an open offer to all activists joining the march on Jan 14 to protest the marital rape laws in Lebanon: If you would like me to help you design poster signs, I’ll be more than happy to do so! It’s a bit late notice but it just occurred to me today. I have [...]
05.Nov.2011 Arabic text for type specimens
I was looking yesterday at the specimens of some of the recent Arabic type design projects and was seriously disappointed with the choice of texts. Here are a few tips for non-Arabic speakers who are designing Arabic type specimens: – Online translation tools rarely give grammatically correct texts and the errors stick out like a [...]
29.Sep.2011 Gorgeous collages of Fayrouz in the press
I came across these today on the Facebook page of Lebanese diva Fayrouz. Not enough can be said about her voice and her songs, and now these collages bring back the typographic flavors of newspapers in many years past. Enjoy!
14.Aug.2011 One hundred years of Lebanon
I came across The Fouad Debbas Collection on Blog Baladi and was quickly enchanted by the old photos of Lebanon and the region. I chose a few to show here but you should really check out the source.This is the largest private collection of old photos and postcards of Lebanon and the Middle East. There [...]
29.May.2011 Arabic is IN
Politics, economics, globalized branding, and a burgeoning design scene have all contributed to these 3 words. Arabic is IN. Having already discussed this in several interviews, published and upcoming, I’m not going to go now into the details of how all these different factors have interacted to bring about this beam of international interest in [...]
04.Jan.2011 Arabic calligraphy and the disco ball
Speaking of AUB Alumni, there is one who has been doing very inspiring work. This is the sort of stuff that I really admire but unfortunately have no talent for. One of her works is entitled “A’Salaam Aleykum: Peace be upon you” and you can see more details and pictures here. Zeina’s work is daring, [...]
11.Oct.2009 My sister’s poem
My sister is currently studying for her 4th degree in English literature. One of the assignments is to write a poem about where she is from. Here it is: My heart belongs to the land of the Cedars, the Cedars of God. My heart belongs to where the sun kisses the Mediterranean goodnight and the [...]
12.Sep.2009 “Brave new world”
Amazing article on creativity in Beirut. Am thrilled to be in it! Also happy that Lebanese design is getting more and more coverage. Yey :) You can read the article here.
11.Jul.2009 Janna on Al-Jazeera English
Here is an interesting interview with Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFares on Arabic typography and Arab-Dutch collaborations. Janna, which is not one of the Khatt projects but was featured in the Typographic Matchmaking book, can be seen at 02:30.The text is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
08.Jun.2009 Arabic block printing in the 10-15th century AD
Did you know this? I only came across this a few days ago and am still stumped. I’m surprised that I missed this, though I have to admit that I never dug deep into the history of early Arabic printing. But this is like an prequel to the history chapters that I’ve read. Very cool! [...]