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 […]
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 […]
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 are not […]
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:
Fonts: The […]
A few weeks ago Lebanon was overrun with this “I love life” campaign. At first I did not know who was behind the posters. I thought that this might be a neutral organisation that was trying to talk some sense into the fighting parties. Then a friend explained to me that this was no […]
There’s not many newspaper sights that post pdf editions so the review is not fully comprehensive. One interesting example that does is Al-Balad newspaper published since 2003 in Lebanon. The design has been changed since it was first published. The new look is quite interesting but those kids on the top left corner look scary!
Fonts: […]
Letters. Text. Typography. Language. Dialogue. Communication. This is what we do. As designers and as people. Arabic or otherwise.
Tomorrow a new round of the screaming match starts in Lebanon. Funnily enough, I was going through my emails and found this:
NAIROBI (AFP) - A baby hippopotamus that survived the tsunami waves on the Kenyan coast has […]
In the next few weeks, I will show different Arabic newspapers and will try to look at the elements of typographic styles used in newspapers in the Arab world today. Things to look at are: choice of Arabic fonts, layout, masthead design, and over all impression.
So, first example is the Annaher newspaper (meaning The Day) […]
This blog is about Arabic typography, so how come there’s so much politics on it? Last month I was in Stockholm and I was interviewed by a magazine. The editor asked me, does the situation of Lebanon (past and present) affect my views on Arabic typography, and I quickly said,”of course.”
I am Lebanese, and I […]
Lisbon still shows some Arab influence as can be seen in the Alfama area which dates back to Moorish times. From Wikipedia:
“Lisbon’s name itself, pronounced “Lizhboa” in Portuguese, is more directly derived from the Arabic name of the city, al-Ushbuna, than the Latin Olissipo”.
It’s a pity that the ATypI conference did not reflect this […]