Arabic Type Design
The course encompasses multiple stages beginning with intensive research where students study historical and contemporary examples of calligraphic scripts and typefaces. Following this students develop a concept and proceed by sketching and lettering where an initial set of letters is developed exploring connected relationships, design features, special ligatures or alternates.
The letters are then digitized using GlyphsApp where a system of shapes and components maximize productivity and promote harmony between the letters. The final phase is scripting the opentype features such as the alternates and ligatures that can enable a user to access them in InDesign. After the typeface is generated it is printed in paragraph format and critiqued and then adjusted digitally. This phase is a continuous cycle of refinement and generating the font. Finally students are required to create type specimen books that showcase the working font and how a designer can utilize it highlighting the strongest aspects of the typeface.
Student work by Maeda Al Hassan, Najla Al Khalifa, Farah El Adawy, Nour Al Thani, Mohamed Jawad, Hamda Al Kuwari and Noura Melhim