Archive for the 'Arabic fonts' Category

The story of Palatino Arabic

Posted by nadine on June 29th, 2008

I joined Linotype in February 2005 as an intern working on Arabic fonts. As many people know, Prof. Hermann Zapf has a great working relationship with Linotype and he comes to the office quite often. Shortly after I joined, Bruno Steinert introduced me to him and told him about my work there. The following May, […]

Palatino Arabic proportions

Posted by nadine on April 14th, 2008

Though this might look like a typeface struck down with a bad case of measles, the red dots are the guidelines for the overall proportions of Palatino Arabic.
Palatino Arabic follows the proportions of classical Naskh as can be seen in the image above. Though I’m no classicist myself, I found that for this specific style, […]

Award-winning Palatino Arabic is now available

Posted by nadine on April 10th, 2008

I’m happy to report that Palatino Arabic is now available for download via the Linotype channels.

The story of Frutiger Arabic

Posted by nadine on March 30th, 2008

In early 2004, I was asked by the American University of Beirut to design an Arabic companion to the typeface Frutiger that they had chosen for their internal signage system. I started working on the design soon after and by that summer, the master weight was done.
This is the year that I had spent waiting […]

Palatino Arabic won a TDC award

Posted by nadine on February 25th, 2008

I am very happy to report that Palatino Arabic, which I had worked on with Prof. Hermann Zapf, has won an Award for Excellence in Type Design from Type Directors’ Club in New York!!!
Palatino Arabic is in the style of classical Naskh but with a Thuluth flavor. The design had quite a large number of […]

Frutiger Arabic is now available

Posted by nadine on February 16th, 2008

Finally the day is here! My Frutiger Arabic is now available for purchase from Linotype. The direct link is here.

Candidate for a PhD in Legibility Studies for Arabic

Posted by nadine on November 14th, 2007

This is an announcement long overdue: As of of Sept 2007 I am a PhD candidate at Leiden University. My research tackles legibility studies on the Arabic script, and will be supervised by renowned Dutch type designer Gerard Unger. I wasn’t late in posting for lack of excitement, quite the opposite! I’ve been very busy […]

I’m in Cap&Design!

Posted by nadine on June 18th, 2007

The interview that I did last October has been published in Cap&Design, a leading and very well respected design magazine in Sweden, and now it’s online — thank you, Jonas!— and you can see it here:
http://capdesign.idg.se/2.990/1.112375
In case you are wondering about the typeface that the word Beirut is set in, that’s the first public image […]

Arabic Type Design for beginners

Posted by nadine on April 23rd, 2007

I have been asked how to create Arabic letterforms so here is my recommendation:
1. Get acquainted with Arabic calligraphic styles (dig deep, not just the Aqlam Assita) and the specifics of the script
2. Practice with a reed (or slit pen or any other appropriate tool) the effect of the angle of the cut and the […]

Byblos/BigVesta Arabic in use

Posted by nadine on April 2nd, 2007

The first public outing of Byblos was in Abu Dhabi. More info here:
http://www.khtt.net/article-194-en.html
Thanks Huda!!