CHARTING A COURSE FOR ARABIC TYPOGRAPHY

The education of an Arabic designer/typographer is no different than
the education of a western one. It includes a basic introduction to
Latin typography as well as major historical styles and movements
presented in theory and in practice. Arabic typography is, in fact,
something of an afterthought that follows a more western tradition,
making the learning process more complicated and more demanding. There
are no programs or schools solely dedicated to Arabic type or type
design but just like many Western schools, most of the existing Arabic
graphic design schools take typography as their primary focus.
Yet
the reason why both Arabic and Latin typography are equally important
is the fact that many Arabic countries are bilingual. It is also
because many of the instructors who formed the first generation of
Modern Arab graphic designers studied design in American and European
schools.
Given this cross-pollination, a viable course
must include the following: Separate introductory typography classes in
Arabic Typography and Latin typography need to be given to students, as
well as courses that cover the historical development of two different
writing systems. At an advanced stage, Arabic and Latin typography need
to come together when the focus shifts towards adapting the two scripts
together, which is often the case. Logos for example, especially
typographical ones are often adapted in two languages; corporate
identities often work in two scripts yet look cohesive and consistent.
And perhaps this is one of the most important factors in studying
Arabic typography: The integration of Arabic and Latin alphabets for
different communication needs.
It is also important to
learn the difference between calligraphy and typography - knowing what
are the characteristics of each discipline and how to use them
separately. Arabic lettering is built on the calligraphic rendering of
form. Calligraphy is hand written and more of an artistic practice with
a rich history for Arabs and that has always been closely related to
religion. Typography on the other hand is machine-made and is an
offspring of calligraphy as a result of the evolution of printing.
Young
designers do not have to learn calligraphy because it is a practice
that needs specialisation and long years of practice and that is a
skill not directly useful to the contemporary field. Designers should,
however, have an acute understanding of calligraphy in order to know
how to use it for their specific needs. They have to be able to
communicate to the (craftsman) calligrapher what they need or to be
able to push his skills into challenging results. Indeed it is similar
to hiring an illustrator or a photographer but in that context the use
of calligraphy is very related to the typographical aspect of design.
Even
when a designer is involved in the design of a magazine or newspaper
masthead in Arabic, he might need to initially work with a calligrapher
and later abstract this calligraphy to create the typographical letter.
But beyond understanding calligraphy, the major focus of
the designer should be on typography itself. To be able to work
successfully with Arabic type is necessary to understand all the
problems in order to bypass them, and eventually solve them. Unlike
Latin fonts, Arabic fonts have many problems, which makes the task of
creating good design and typography a hard one.
The main
problem of Arabic fonts is availability. Compared to the uncountable
number of Latin fonts available in the market and emerging everyday,
Arabic fonts are pretty insignificant. The 'less is more' theory does
not apply here because out of the relatively small existing palette,
only ten fonts are up to a high typographic standard, and therefore
difficult to have enough faces to be expressive or novel. Typography
can either be defined as type design or as design with type. In the
West there is a wide selection of available typefaces and designers can
be satisfied using these 'ready-made' fonts. In the Arab world though,
there are so little fonts that the designer's involvement with both
'type design' and 'designing with type' is more likely to happen. Yet
availability is not the only problem, many of the existing fonts
merely, and poorly, attempt to imitate the traditional calligraphic
style. The result is a failure to preserve the beauty and fluidity of
calligraphy. Moreover, typefaces that are stuck in the past and fail to
respond to the contemporary needs of our modern times, like legibility
in small sizes or efficiency in New Media applications, are inefficient
at best. It is hard to use typefaces successfully as graphic elements,
which makes it very difficult to find good Arabic design composed
solely of type. I have never seen an Arabic typographical poster that
could be compared to those by Paula Scher, who uses letters as a major
source of graphic elements.
Learning type in Arab
countries is even more challenging because the graphic and typographic
design profession is still young enough not to have a rich heritage of
masters to emulate. A very effective way in creating innovative graphic
and typographical language is to make use of the cultural, social,
historical and geographical factors to make the visual expression a
true reflection of its context. There is a thin line between being
inspired from the West and trying to randomly apply a foreign approach
in an inappropriate context. That is why the critical mission in
teaching Arabic typography is not only in educating how to juggle
between two alphabets, it is also in how to create a delicate mix of
Western and Eastern charm, while making the best out of the two sides
yet keeping the local flavor. When such an approach is taken in design
and typography education, a more inspiring quality of work will be the
result.
Like anywhere else, culture, religion and
politics exert as major effect on lettering and typography. The
conservative attitude that governs all these three sectors in the Arab
world is reflected as well in type, which remains a very traditional
field not open for innovative contributions. The shift towards
globalisation nowadays - particularly through the web - should have a
positive impact in bringing influences of foreign cultural trends that
will bring positive progress if incorporated well with every country's
own cultural heritage and the visual form of its written and spoken
language. Academic institution should stress however on the fact that
in the world of Arabic typography and design, renewing should not be
just for the sake of renewing but rather for solving current problems
to take Arabic typography a step further.
Perhaps when
academic institutions will be able to afford a bigger focus on Arabic
Type Design, a new generation of Arabic fonts will arrive and make
things much easier. This could happen probably with the introduction of
graduate schools majoring in Arabic type design, who will be able to
prepare the students to fully explore all aspects of Arabic type
design, in particular the neglected technical aspects that are pretty
complicated with a script like Arabic. It is only then that radical
progress will happen: when specific software and technical solutions
will be created in the Arab world instead of the West, taking into
consideration the real problems facing Arabic type designers and
breaking the technical limits that are imposed nowadays by big western
software companies. Designers then will know how to bring their
creations to be fully operational on computers. Undergraduate studies
in design will never have enough time to fully focus on type design,
but they can prepare designers to do so in the future if that is their
interest. A clear description of the responsibilities of making type
design as well as a better overview over the technical/production side
of it will be a good addition to the smaller attempts and exercises in
designing letters or words or titles. However, in order to have more
people interested in further focus on type design and hence educational
systems specially dedicated to respond to this need, copyright issues
and intellectual property laws should witness a major reform. Piracy of
fonts is way too damaging for the industry in the Arab world and it
seems that the efforts and responsibilities are not only in the hand of
the designers but equally in the hands of the consumers.
The
constant struggle of trying to make effective modern Arabic graphic
design was the springboard for a project that I developed the last
three years: A website about Arabic typography -
http://www.arabictypography.com - which aimed to create a modern user
interface that proves that existing problems with Arabic fonts are no
limits to create fresh typographically designed pieces. The main
function of the site is to play the role of a communication platform
for Arabic type and hence to exchange ideas between various people
interested in the field, Designers, calligraphers, typographers,
technical people and more, in order to create a discussion and an
awareness of what it will take to solve all previously mentioned
problems in the absence of major Arabic type or graphic design
associations. With the emergence of a fast growing community of Arabic
designers, interest and individual efforts in the field of Arabic
typography are highly needed. When these various individual efforts
will be brought together, higher standards will generate and team work
will eventually produce a stronger educational system for the Arabic
designer/typographer, who will be more ready to break all the current
limitations and carry the industry to the next step.
About this article
This article was originally edited by Steven Heller, The education of a Typographer, published by Allworth Press
About the book
Exploring the methods for teaching and learning typography, this book features more than 40 essays from top experts and educators in typography today. These essays run the gamut from introducing the themes of type and typography to various complex and rare strategies for learning. Contriburos include Allan Haley, Art Chantry, Stefan Sagmeister, Tarek Atrissi, Denise Gonzales Crisp, Nick Bell, Ed Fella, David Jury and Katherine McCoy
Tarek Atrissi
Beirut born Tarek Atrissi holds a BA in graphic design from his homeland Lebanon, a Masters of Arts in Interactive Multimedia from the Utrecht School of the Arts in Holland and an MFA in Design from the School of Visual Arts in New York, where he studied under Steven Heller, Paula Scher and Stefan Sagmeister. His work has been exhibited in the Guggenheim museum and is in the permanent design collection of the Bibliotheque National de France. He has been featured in major international design books and annuals, and has received prominent international awards, including two Adobe Design Achievement awards, the Type Directors Club, and four Ibdaa 99 awards.
Tarek is the principle of Tarek Atrissi Design, based in the Netherlands, and focusses on creating a modern Arabic graphic design language. He is the founder of www.arabictypography.com, an online communication platform for Arabic typography.
American magazine Step Inside Design chose Tarek Atrissi as one of the 25 rising design stars for 2004; while Print magazine nominated him for 20 under 30, the annual review of the most achieved visual artists below the age of 30.