Type offers so many possibilities to give depth and atmosphere when reading a book– just like our voices would when telling stories. In designing Riwaya I set out to create a family of type suitable for comfortable continuous reading, as well as eloquent storytelling; a typeface that would not be neutral, but lend a pleasant voice to the author.

I questioned the existing Latin convention of complimenting roman styles with subordinate italics. Instead I focussed on forming a family of styles that would suit each other, that would harmonise in colour yet differ in texture, both in the Latin and the Arabic script.

Most of the Latin typefaces follow a conventional family structure: the regular style is accompanied by a secondary italic or a slanted style. Arabic script traditions offer a wealth of styles – from Naskh and Nastaliq to Kufi and Ruqa to name just four – that trigger different associations and express different emotions. While they are sometimes combined, they do not have the hierarchy the Latin roman-italic pairing has, and are rarely combined within one typeface family.

Rather than just offering a secondary slanted style, rooted in Latin italic traditions, Riwaya explores the concept of complementary, but equal styles differing in tone and texture. It offers a regular style, a Latin italic, and an informal style across both scripts, thus honouring both scripts’ typographic traditions.

The letterforms of each style are based on different skeletons where possible to differentiate them clearly. I carefully weighed slant, density and modulation of the Latin italic, and of the informal Arabic and Latin next to the regular styles to create a very different texture at paragraph level, yet a similar colour on the page. This results in italic and informal styles which can be harmoniously used in combination with the regular style. The styles are neither darker nor more condensed and as such offer comfortable readability even for longer passages.

Similarly to the styles, I also considered the relationship of the scripts very deliberately. Intended for books the typeface needed to guarantee great legibility in each script, while fitting well in combined use and expressing a similar tone. This meant judging the Arabic and Latin both on their own as a bookface, and together for their tone of voice. Neither script’s legibility should be compromised to fit a certain style – so modulation, features and stylistic details where not matched across scripts. Both scripts have their own traditions, and a characteristic such as modulation is not a stylistic feature, it is intrinsic to the writing system. It was important to me to treat each script by acknowledging its own traditions and attributes, and thus create great legibility and a pleasant texture for either native reader.

I matched the feel and expression of the style, and the origin of it: the regular style in both scripts follows conventional book face models, while echoing calligraphic broad nib traditions of either script. Riwaya Arabic follows Naskh proportions to cater to most Arabic users’ expectations for a book face. It offers full vocalisation and a multitude of ligatures to create a beautiful texture on the page. The informal style in both scripts is based on contemporary handwritten shapes with returning strokes, reflecting the use of felt tip pens and pencils. However, it does not simulate handwriting, but rather gives typographic Naskh shapes a more casual expression.

As a result of this design process Riwaya is highly legible and pleasant to read in either script. The textures of both the Latin and Arabic are fitting the application and use, while the overall colour and scale matches. And most importantly, the expression, the tone of voice, of each style is the same across scripts. The regular style – Old Style in Latin, Naskh in Arabic – feels formal and traditional, yet calligraphic; the informal style expresses a more casual and contemporary feel, while still following typographic models.

For a designer working on long texts, Riwaya’s styles offer the chance to typeset with different levels and to visualise written as well as spoken text. And to do so with one typeface family, with styles that are made to be combined.

With Riwaya you can tell many stories, in different scripts and languages, in different voices. Or you can tell a story, within a story, within a story.

For some more detail on the development of Riwaya, see my presentation at the tgm, the typographic society of Munich (in German language):

This article is written by Katharina Seidl, the type designer of 29LT Riwaya.

“Al-Shamas Abdullah Zakher” founded the first Arabic printing press in Lebanon in 1734. The press is located in “Deir Mar Youhana” in “Khinshara”. The printing press operated from 1734 till1899. It was the first Arabic script printing press in Lebanon, but it was the second printing press in general since in 1610 the first Syriac Script printing press was established in “Deir Mar Antonious” in “Quzhayya” near the valley of the saints in the North of Lebanon. The printing press of “Deir Mar Antonious” was the first printing press in the Middle East.

I have visited the press with my students from LAU [Lebanese American University] and took some pictures of the tools, Arabic letters and books found there. Below is a brief description of the printing process that was used back then, and the books that were printed there.

Book Samples:
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More then 16 books were printed in this press starting with the book of “Mizan al Zaman” (The Balance of Time) which you can see photos of it below.

It was lovely to feel and look at old printed books. The letters are de-bossed inside the paper and you can feel the texture left by the imprint of the ink. Just beautiful.

The Arabic type was drawn and cut by “Al-Shamas Abdullah Zakher” himself. It is a unique type that is only present in this Arabic press. The type has humanistic rough edges and was drawn by “Al Zakher” himself. There is no information if “Al Zakher” was a professional Arabic calligrapher or not, but for sure he did take some Arabic calligraphy classes during his youth. This shows in the type he created. It somehow follows the rules of the “Tuluth” Arabic style, but it is not there yet. This is to conclude that “Al Zakher” was a great craftsman working with Arabic letters. “Al Zakher” comes from the city of “Aleppo” in Syria and he is from the renowned jewelry making family “Al Sayégh”. He has inherited the detailed crafting hand from his family, and then used this craftsmanship to start the first Arabic printing press in Lebanon instead of making jewelry.

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Metal Cuts
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Before explaining the technical process of developing the Arabic letters, here are some examples of carved lead, metal and woodcuts used for the titles or decorations of the books.

The titles were carved as one piece since the words were written more calligraphically and the letters were intertwined together. The titles were also used often in the books and not only once, so it was faster and wiser to carve the titles and not typeset them each time using separate letters.

Close up on a hand carved lead word. The strokes of the chisel are clearly visible. Amazing.

Woodcut pattern.

Squarish metal ornament.

Metal frame ornament.

Line pattern stamp.

Icon pattern stamp.

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Letter Punches / Punchcutting:
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In traditional typography, punchcutting is the craft of cutting letter punches from which matrices were made in hard type metal for type founding in the letterpress era. Cutting punches and casting type was the first step of traditional typesetting. The cutting of letter punches was a highly skilled craft requiring much patience and practice.

The punchcutter begins by transferring the outline of a letter design to one end of a metal bar. The outer shape of the punch could be cut directly, but the internal curves of a small punch were particularly difficult as it was necessary to cut deep enough and straight into the metal.

In Arabic, the punches are called the fathers “Al Obahat”.
The punch creates the be-bossed letter in the brass matrices.

A set of Metallic Arabic letters punches. Unfortunately, you can notice that they are bit rusting due to the humidity. But you can be sure that the punches are made of metal and not lead. The matrices are brass. Sine metal is stronger then brass; the metal punch can de-boss the letter shape in the brass matrices.

Arabic figures punches with wooden handle.

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Matrices:
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An example of a set of de-bossed letters that were created from the punchcutting process described previously.

In Arabic, the de-bossed brass letters are called The Mothers “Al Omahat”. From each matrice several lead letters will be created.

The matrice will be placed unto the letter frame mold to create the lead letters.

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Letter Frame Molds:
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This is the Letter Frame Mold that was created by “Al Zakher” to cast the lead Arabic letters.

Notice the upper opening of the mold where the hot lead will be poured in.

Notice how the curved metal string on the bottom part of the mold holds the letter matrice in place.
Lead will be poured into the mold and the Arabic letter cast will be formed which are known as Sorts.

The mold opened and seen from the inside.

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Letter Composing Stick
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A composing stick is an instrument used to assemble pieces of metal type into words and lines which are later bound into a forme, set in a galley and printed.

An example of a wooden composing stick that were created by “Al Zakher”.

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Composing Galley
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A Composing Gally is used to arrange all the sentences to make the layout of the page that will be ready for printing.

An example of a wooden galley created by “Al Zakher”.
Notice that most of the tools were created from wood and not metal.
This is the prove that the tools were created by “Al Zakher” himself in his workshop in the monastery and not imported from europe.

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Ink:
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The ink was also created locally by “Al Zakher”.
Below are examples of ink spreaders that were used to spread the ink evenly on the letters before printing the page.

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Press:
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The first press that “Al Zakher” created.
It is a simple press made of wood and metal.

The below is the second press that “Al Zakher” created.

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That was a brief article about the process of traditional metal type printing with images from the first Arabic printing press in Lebanon; “Al Zakher Press”.

p.s. The printing press can be visited daily in the monastery.

This piece was created specially for “the future of tradition – the tradition of future” exhibition at hausderkunst in Munich. It challenges our perception of delicate islamic carpets. Following the trademark signature of Nada Debs, it combines elements of the Middle and Far East. Like tatami mats, it is composed of modular elements that combine to form a long islamic carpet. It combines old and new techniques: concrete inlaid with mother-of-pearl. It uses the Arabic script to create Haiku-like ‘concrete’ poetry, dedicating each of the 28 panels to one letter of the Arabic alphabet where all words starting with that letter are arranged to create a visual and musical rhythm.

The meaning of the carpet lies in its negation of a didactic meaning, and in Nada’s words: ‘it is what it is, it is grounded in the present moment. The font used in the design was developed in collaboration with Pascal Zoghbi as a corporate font for Nada Debs, and is presented for the first time in this design piece. It mixes the calligraphic tradition of Kanji and Arabic calligraphy in a contemporary geometric design, and in this sense is a true signature of Nada Debs.

Paragraph written by Huda AbiFares / Khatt Foundation.

Nada Debs’s Concrete Poetry on Concrete Carpetwas exhibited in the Khatt Foundation section of the exhibition entitled Letters Off the Page.

Nada Debs. Concrete Poetry on Concrete Carpet. 2010.
9m x 3m concrete slabs with mother of pearl.

Nada Debs. Concrete Poetry on Concrete Carpet. 2010.
9m x 3m concrete slabs with mother of pearl.

Nada Debs Arabic font is a simplified Kufi font with high contrast between the vertical and horizontal pen strokes.

Nada Debs design studio is a modern interior and industrial design house focusing on eastern patterns and geometry in the design of their furniture and spaces. The type is directly inspired from the diamond Arabic dot shape as well as the geometric Kufi script that is in close relationship with arabesque and eastern patterns.

The structure of the type allows it to be implemented easily into the eastern furniture. The letters can by carved into wood structures or imbedded into cement pieces…

The font reflects the identity of Nada Debs furniture which are elegant and modern pieces and at the same time based on the eastern arts and structures.

Karim Joreige designed the Latin letters in the font prior to the Arabic.

In return for the Arabic type design, Nadine Hajjar at Nada Debs design studio designed the desk and shelving system for my new studio.

The desk was designed with open drawers and metallic arabesque pattern imbedded into the black painted wood.

The shelving system is a large black wooden structure standing from the floor to the ceiling. The shelves and sections in it are created from the indic figures 29 referring to the name of my design studio.

Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art opened its doors to contemporary Arab art lovers in December 2010 in Doha, Qatar. The museum hosts exhibitions, programs and events that explore and celebrate art by Arab artists. It is an inspiring space for dialogue and scholarship about modern and contemporary art in the region and the Arab diaspora.

An ultra thin font lends “Mathaf” a contemporary corporate image. A strong tension materializes when the curvy pen strokes meet up with the sharp cuts and corners of the letters. A hybrid modern Kufi-Naskh Arabic letterforms complement an edgy lowercase Latin letters to present a unique bilingual Arabic–English type.

Wolf Olins NY are behind the whole corporate images for the museum. I was asked to create an Arabic/Latin font that they will incorporate in the whole corporate identity of the museum starting with the logotype, signage, publications, advertisings, website, promotional items, etc…

The Arabic and English logotypes of the museum are created using the corporate Mathaf font with the “ ha’ ” in the Arabic logotype and the “a” in the English logotype replaced by hand doodle.

Standard and unique Latin ligatures were drawn in the font in order to make the Latin as mush as possible coherent with the Arabic. Latin ligatures with horizontal letter connections amplified the coherence between the Arabic and Latin script.

29LT Azer type family consist of 14 styles, 7 Standard styles and 7 Slanted styles, covering the following weights: Thin, Extra Light, Light, Regular, Medium, Bold, and Black.

The Arabic and the Latin mirror each other’s appearances much like fraternal twins with compatible attitudes. Azer Latin is earnest and sincere; Azer Arabic is direct and austere.

29LT Azer Description:

29LT Azer is drawn with extreme refinement and low pen contrast that conveys a modern and friendly outlook. The typeface combines simple lines with careful detailing to create a serious yet approachable mood. Azer is amicable and serious without being conformist. The typeface combines charm, simplicity and consideration. The light weights of the type family are easy to read in long blocks of copy, while the heavy weights imply strength and seriousness which makes them suitable for display-text such as titles and slogans. The slanted styles give the type family an added typographic voice for highlight or emphasis.

The standard styles retain a balance between calligraphic angular cuts and unadorned construction. The contrast in the letters was complemented with strong cuts and edges to give the font a crispy robust attitude. Letterforms were given innovative letter structures inspired the calligraphic makeup but drawn in a contemporary approach. The Arabic ligatures are intended to enhance the script’s ‘friendliness’, and friendly is after all, what Azer means in Arabic.

The slanted styles are the casual siblings of the standard styles in the type family. The slanted letters were redrawn based on fast hand-gestures and not merely slanted from the standard letters. The stems are slanted while the counters are round and smooth. In the Arabic character set, the terminals are curvy with an open-ended bowls and the baseline links are smooth. They are a set of free-spirited styles that can accompany the standard set for change of text tone, or stand alone as a causal copy text or delightful display text. The slanted styles are a cursive set of fonts that is known as “true-italics” which are based on a stylized form of quick calligraphic handwriting. The name “slanted” was adopted instead of “italic” for the inclined styles since in Arabic typography and calligraphy there is no such term as an italic style.

A number of elements bring the Arabic and Latin scripts together; the overall design approach, open counters, proportions, weight, contrast, terminals and finials, as well as a diamond-shaped diacritic dot. Both scripts were created in synergy and were inspired from each other simultaneously. The Naskh calligraphic style of the Arabic is complemented by a calligraphic broad nip pen technique in the Latin, creating strong pen strokes: crisp broken cuts with open and fluid letter structure. Azer Latin was drawn with conic shaped stems, inspired by the Arabic Alef glyph. The two scripts are like twins, with different attitudes.

Where Arabic typefaces have a strong horizontal structure because of baseline letter connections, Latin typefaces have a vertical rhythm because of an upright stem structure present in most glyphs. The thirty-degree angle of the broad nib pen increases the horizontal stress of the Latin letters, which brings the overall color of the Latin text closer to the Arabic Text.

29LT Azer Story:

In 2008, Azer was designed part of a branding project Pascal Zoghbi and Wael Morcos were collaborating on. When the Global Financial crisis took its toll on the UAE, the project was postponed indefinitely and the first outlines of the font remained unfinished.

There remained a strong need, however, to address the shortcomings of contemporary Arabic typography, which tends to be either too classical or too resistant to the aesthetic values of Arabic Calligraphy.

The design was resumed in preparation for the launch of the 29LT type foundry in 2012. As the Arabic design was taking shape, Swiss Typefaces, 29LT design partners, designed a sans serif Latin companion inspired from the Arabic letters structures.

The design progressed over a two-year period during which the three of them collaborated to bring the fonts to completion. Azer was one of the typefaces published as part of the official launch of the 29LT type foundry in August 2012. Back then it only existed in 5 standard styles; Thin, Light, Regular, Bold and Black.

In 2017, 5 years after the first release of 29LT Azer typeface, 29LT took on the challenge of growing the type family from 5 to 7 weights and to expand it into two design categories, standard and slanted, extending the family from 5 to 14 fonts. The development of technology with the additional support of the Arabic script in the past 5 years required a complete transformation of the old font files into newly developed ones using the latest type design software. The main character set was revised and updated to cover more languages, and a set of ligatures and stylistic sets were added to the original set.

After the creation of the 7 new weights, the time came to think about what would be the best way to approach the “italic” version of the typeface. New design decisions were needed and a calligraphic and typographic research was undertaken. Type designer Jan Fromm from Berlin was approached to create the italic version of the Latin, while Pascal Zoghbi tackled the solution for the Arabic counterpart.

In addition to the expansion of the weights and introduction of the slanted styles to the type family, the new fonts include advanced typographical support with features such as ligatures, alternates and stylistics sets inspired from calligraphy to improve the legibility of the fonts. Consequently, the range of western languages support grew to cover all Western, Central and Eastern European languages besides all American and African languages using the Latin script. Hence, the number of glyphs per font grew from 725+ in 2012 to 1625+ in 2015.

29LT Azer Features:

Below are the set of features present in 29LT Azer typeface in the Standard styles. The Slanted styles have the same features except for the stylistic sets:

1. Latin Character Set

Extended Latin Character Set covering an array of Western languages

2. Arabic Character Set

Extended Arabic Character Set covering Arabic, Farsi and Urdu languages

3. Vocalization

Arabic vocalization mark positioning

4. Ligatures

Ligatures inspired from calligraphy

5. Stylistic Set 01

Stylistic Sets to emphasis the scripts fluidity

6. Stylistic Set 02

Stylistic Sets for Persian and Urdu text

7. Elongated Teeth Alternates

When a tooth-letter is proceeded and succeeded by another tooth-letter, it is raised for increased legibility.

8. Figures

Arabic, Indic, Farsi and Urdu Figures

9. Figures

Lining, Tabular, and Old Style Figures