Modern typography is usually mistaken with calligraphic talent. Unfortunate, western design methodologies and models like constructivism have hardly been understood, even from educators or designers. The imported western commercial and cultural products had created in the Arabic societies new hybrid needs and contradicted visual languages. With the globalization of visual systems in the Middle East arose new demands in the Arabic graphic design. As practices of writing continue to shift both in the Middle East and globally, visual conventions surrounding Arabic script provide a wealth of strategies worthy of preservation and exploration. This chapter traces the continuity of calligraphy and digital design and suggests a more nuanced concept of writing for digital practice. Finally, Chapter 7 reflects upon the historical trajectory of previous chapters to ask what the story of Arabic script might teach us about the future of writing.
#ANATOMY OF A TYPEFACE SERIES#
A series of interviews with practicing calligraphers, graphic designers, and contemporary artists highlight diverse applications of Arabic script and the flexibility of written communication and. The symbolic, visual, and textual changes that accompanied the new medium are addressed in Chapter 5, and Chapter 6 introduces a comparative study of Arabic letter design in modern Jordan. This section examines historical and archival material, which chronicles early Ottoman printing as well as post-print developments of Ottoman calligraphic art. With the arrival of print, Arabic writing practices shifted in response to a new communication technology, and Chapter 4 outlines the Ottoman adoption of print technology. Chapter 3 delves into the Arabic calligraphic tradition, the symbolic interpretation of letters, and the meanings of multiple scripts. Chapter 1 opens a comparative framework with three models of writing in relation to religious tradition, and Chapter 2 explores written communication through the lens of grammatology. The work is arranged in seven chapters, each illustrating how changes in the visual appearance of Arabic letters connote distinct channels of textual authority and knowledge. It presents typography and calligraphy as distinct communicative practices and explores the importance of print culture and printed material in relation to the rise of the modern bureaucratic state. This dissertation examines multiple applications of Arabic script and the relationship linking visual design with written communication.
Osborn (2009) Narratives of Arabic Script: Calligraphic Design and Modern Spaces, Design and Culture, 1:3, 289-306, DOI: 10.1080/17547075.2009.11643292 To link to this article:
As practices of writing continue to shift both in the Middle East and globally, the variety of visual conventions surrounding Arabic script ask us to reimagine written design. The increasing flexibility of design remains a key site of textual, material and communicative negotiation. In dialogue with site representatives, the presentation explores the relationships connecting practices of letter design with wider structures of information architecture and textual application.
It highlights two sites of Arabic lettering practice: the design firm of Syntax Digital in Amman, Jordan and the Institute of Traditional Islamic Arts at ai-Balqa' Applied University in Salt, Jordan. The histories and practices of Arabic calligraphy and Arabic typography are richly intertwined, and this paper explores the narratives in which Arabic letter designers situate their work.
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