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Type design in Lebanon



[Illustration by Amr Hatem, 2013, Beirut Beirut Fever poster by Elie Abou Jamra, 2011]








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29 Letters
[Pascal Naji Zoghbi]

Madrid (and before that, Lebanon)-based Arabic type designer who runs the Arab type news and blog site called Arabic Typography. KHTT link. An ex-student of the KABK in 2006, he currently is a part time instructor of design and typography at Notre Dame University, Louaize, Lebanon, as well as a part time instructor of typography at the American University of Beirut (AUB), both since 2007. His Arabic type foundry is called 29letters.

At ATypI 2008 in St. Petersburg, he ran a workshop on the Arabic Kufi script. Speaker at ATypI 2010 in Dublin on the topic of political resistance and expression through graffiti in Lebanon and Palestine. His contributions to type design:

  • Massira. He has embarked on a project with Martin Majoor to design some Arabic fonts that fit Majoor's designs. He writes: Massira is my graduation typeface at Type&Media postgraduate course at The Royal Academy of Arts [KABK] in The Hague. Huda AbiFares contacted me while I was finalizing Massira and presented the opportunity to collaborate with the Dutch type designer Martin Majoor to design an Arabic typeface, which is part of the Typographic Matchmaking 01 project organized by Khatt Foundation. At first I was a bit worried due to the fact that it would be my first professional type design work and that the due date was too close. However, after taking a closer look at Martins type FFSeria and analyzing its characteristics, I noticed that the treatment of the stroke and the structure of the letters shared similarities with Massira. In both fonts the use of sharp broken curves and crispy feel is present. Consequently, I grew confident in project and decided to use Massira as a starting point for the new Arabic companion of FFSeria. Echo, which is Sada in Arabic, is the repetition of a sound caused by the reflection of sound waves from a surface. Accordingly, Sada is the echo of FFSeria. The modifications on Massira consisted of making Sada perform like FFSeria. It had to have the same point size, line space, color, contrast and feel as FFSeria. Concerning the details of Sada and the inclined angle of the vertical strokes, it was derived from the FFSeria Italic. So Sada has the same feel as the Roman but is inspired from the Italic. More on the Sada project. In 2009, Sada was renamed FF Seria and published by FontFont.
  • Another project of Zoghbi involves a type family being developed for newspaper headlines.
  • In 2007, he created a 3-style Phoenician type family called Fniqiya.
  • Alef Pixel Caps Type for Alef Magazine (2008). Done with Huda AbiFares. This is a Latin ornamental type family.
  • Al Rouiya Arabic Type for the Al Rouiah Newspaper in Kuwait, 2008.
  • Bukra display type for Ibn Battuta Mall in Dubai, 2008. This Futura-like typeface saw a variable part added in 2020. Adrien Midzic and Swiss Typefaces aided with the Latin.
  • A corporate font under the heading, Arabic for Univers (2008). Zoghbi: An Arabic corporate typeface for a global shipping and transport company. The Arabic is intended to work with the Latin type Univers. Unfortunately, I can't mention the name of the company nor the design firm I did this Arabic type work for. I was the Arabic type consultant/specialist and associate type designer alongside Leah Hoffmitz. The font will used in all Arabic publications, ads and packaging for the company.
  • Baseet (2009) is a hybrid Neo-Naskh / Modern Kufi geometric typeface. It is a mixture of straight vertical, horizontal and diagonal pen stokes incorporated in-between curved corners and edges. In 2020, Pascal Zoghbi (29LT) and Ben Wittner released the monospaced Arabic / Latin typefaces 29 LT Baseet Variable and 28 LT Zawi Variable.
  • At FontStruct, he made Arapix (2009).
  • UAE Embassy Corporate Type (2010). This is a commissioned Latin typeface based on the same concept as of an Arabic font. Each of the 26 Latin letters has Caps, Initial, Medial and Final shape enabling the letters to connect as in the Arabic script. The drawing of the letters was all done using the Arabic calligraphic bamboo stick and based on the Naskh Calligraphic Style. Opentype help from Erik van Blokland.
  • The Mathaf Corporate Arabic-Latin Font (2011). Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art opened its doors to contemporary Arab art lovers in December 2010 in Doha, Qatar.
  • Nada Debs (2010): a contemporary geometric Kufi type commissionewd by Nada Debs.
  • For Ascender, he did Droid Arabic Naskh (see OFL), Droid Persian Naskh, and Droid Arabic Kufi (2010, OFL).
  • 29LT Azer, done with Ian Party and Wael Morcos: Azer in Arabic means friendly, ready to assist and lend a hand. This multilingual typeface combines simple lines with careful detailing to create a serious but approachable look. The Arabic is a Naskh / Kufi hybrid and retains a balance between calligraphic angular cuts and unadorned construction. The Latin is a humanist sans-serif with crisp cuts based on the broad nip pen calligraphic structure and contemporary outlines. The fonts include Arabic, Farsi, Urdu and Latin variants. Azer won an award at TDC 2014.
  • Pascal Zoghbi revived the 1950s font system by Nasri Khattar called Unified Arabic as UA Neo B and UA Neo B.
  • LT Makina. An old typewriter font.
  • LT Kaff.
  • LT Zarid (+Sans, +Stencil, +Slab, +Serif). Pascal Zoghbi designed all Arabic components. 29LT Zarid Display won an award at 23TDC in 2020. The whole family has variable styles since 2020. Jan Fromm designed the Latin for Slab, Sans and Stencil. Regarding the Latin parts: Zarid Serif Display and Text Upright were designed by Ramiro Espinoza; Serif Upright was designed by Ramiro Espinoza and Khajag Apelian; Serif Slanted and Text Slanted were designed by Jan Fromm. The Cyrillic and Greek extensions were designed by Krista Radoeva and released in July 2020. Finally, 20 LT Zarid Sans features a variable style with a single (weight) axis.
  • LT Zeyn. A great high-contrast fashion mag style typeface.
  • Other custom types include Expo 2020 Dubai, Swatch, Noor, MIA, Noto Naskh, Shawati, Hamsa, Fdx, Emirates Headlines, AlWatan Headlines.
Speaker at ATypI 2011 in Reykjavik. Speaker at ATypI 2013 in Amsterdam. Klingspor link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Abdallah Alsholi

Saida, Lebanon-based designer of Transmission Font (2013). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Abdul

Lebanese designer who created Beantown (2004, an athletic lettering font), Staubach (2004, an athletic lettering typeface based on the lettering of the Dallas Cowboys), Wagner Modern (2011), Kroftsmann (2004, on octagonal face), Kavelry (2004, based on the Kemper Insurance logo), 4th and inches (2008, rounded octagonal; based on the proprietary font used by Russell Athletic, makers of sports apparel as used by Georgia Tech BKB, Washington State, Alabama State, Tennessee State, Mississippi Valley State, and many others in college football), and PopWarner (2004, a Bank Gothic lookalike), Wagner Zip Change (grotesque), Richardson Fancy Block. Creator of some free soccer team lettering alphabets in 2010: Louisville, Puff Script, Red Raiders, Richardson Fancy Block, Wagner Zip-Change (based on grotesque signage letters), ACMilan2009, ASRoma, ChampionsLeague, England2007, MLSUniform, RealMadrid2009. About his GeauxXPDF typeface (2010), he writes: I had extracted a nearly complete set on this one a few years back, except for J and Z which I created on my own. As best I can tell, it only exists as an upper case font without most punctuation, so I created that too to make it more useable. I don't know how much LSU [Louisiana State University] paid for this design, but to me it always looked like something that Larabie or Iconian would have given away. He also extracted HDRadioAlphabet from a rounded Arial typeface he found on HD radio. His UScoreRGK (2012) is a blocky angular font used on-screen by Fox Sports. LCD Display (2012) is a 28-segment LED font. UA Terrafont (2012) was based upon the vector art in this PDF file.

In 2013, he published the athletic lettering family High School USA and the octagonal typeface UA Cadet.

See also here. Dafont link. Fontspace link. Another URL. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Ahmed Maged

Lebanese calligrapher. Designer of Hisham (Linotype, 1993), a strong sans typeface for Latin and Arabic.

Klingspor link. Linotype link. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Amani Dakik

Tyre, Lebanon-based designer of Puzzle Font (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Amira Ajam

During her studies in Beirut, Amira Ajam created a Latin display typeface. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Arabic typography

Arabic type site. Displayed font families include AT (by Tarek Atrissi), Al-Futtaim (by Mamoun Sakkal), and work by Nadine Chahine. Corporate calligraphy by Samir Sayegh. He holds a MFA in design from the School of Visual Arts in New York, a MA in interactive multimedia from the Utrecht School of the Arts in the Netherlands, and a BA in graphic design in his homeland, Lebanon. [Google] [More]  ⦿

AramediA Group (Boston and Beirut)
[George Hallak]

George Hallak's outfit specializing in Arabic Fonts for Microsoft Arabic Windows 95 and Sakhr Windows. Glyph's Arabic Fonts (16) for Arabic Win 95, 3 in 1 package 59.00. Sakkal's Arabic&Islamic Calligraphic Designs (PC or Mac) $49.95. Sakhr's Modern Arabic True Type Font is $30.00. Sakhr's Al-Jawaher Fonts Scalable (Khuttout Tajmiliah) is $50.00. ASC's True Type Font Pack one for Ar. Win 3.x is $30.00. Programmers/Localizers/Consultants Arabization&Software Center, Arabic Educational Multimedia. Jawaher Al Horof 4.0 (Editor): Arabic Editor for Design Applications. Arabic Fonts. Arabic Keyboard Tutor. "The Jawaher Fonts Program provides more than fifty different font styles with all available effects, such as bold, italics, shading and molding. The Jawaher Fonts can be operated under the programs Ustaz 3.1 and Desktop Publishing 3.0 with no special operating requirements in working under Microsoft Arabic Windows and Sakhr Windows. 68USD. Other font families: Sakhr, Kofi, Naskh, Reqaa, Akhbar, Persian.

Al Rassam Al Arabi is the same as Kalimat but for Windows. Al Rassam AlArabi lets you add Arabic text into non Arabic photo retouching and illustration programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrater, Freehand. Corel. Al Rassam Al Arabi comes bundled with 20 Arabic fonts. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Arine Isk

Beirut-based designer of an untitled Latin / Arabic brush typeface in 2013. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Arlette Boutros

Lebanese type designer who runs the London-based Boutros Foundry with Mourad Boutros. She created or co-created the Arabic typefaces Boutros Ads Pro, Boutros Advertising, and Boutros Thuluth Light. She also was one of the four co-designers (with Mourad Boutros, Richard Dawson and Dave Farey) of Tanseek Pro (2008, Monotype), a typeface family for Latin and Arabic. It contains Tanseek Modern and Tanseek traditional.

In 2017, Arlette Boutros designed Boutros Futura, or Futura Arabic, at URW to work harmoniously with the URW-Latin whilst respecting Arabic calligraphic and cultural rules. URW's Futura Arabic contains, of course, as a subset, the regular Latin Futura. Still in 2017, Boutros Fonts added URW Geometric Arabic to Joern Oelsner's URW Geometric.

In 2019, Volker Schnebel (URW) and Arlette Boutros joined forces and published URW DIN Arabic. She also published the ten-style Latin/Arabic humanist sans typeface Boutros Angham in 2019.

Klingspor link. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Aya Al-Kotob

During her studies in Beirut in 2014, Aya Al-Kotob created experimental Latin and Arabic typefaces. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Aya Ibrahim

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the inky Latin typeface Liquido (2014). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Aya Youssef

During her studies in Beirut, Aya Youssef created an experimental Arabic typeface (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Azza Alameddine

Azza Alameddine has worked as a graphic designer in Lebanon, the Netherlands and London since 2009, and is now based in Barcelona. She holds a BA in visual communication from Créapole, Paris. A graduate of the Masters in Typeface Design program of the University of Reading, she specializes in Arabic script. Her talk at ATypI 2014 in Barcelona was entitled The art of typographic matchmaking. In 2016, Azza joined TypeTogether as a type engineer and type designer.

The Latin / Arabic version of Dalton Maag's Effra was co-designed by Azza Alameddine and Alex Blattmann. It won an award at Granshan 2016.

In 2017, she finished Adelle Sans Arabic at Type Together.

In 2019, Type Together released Catalpa (Veronkia Burian, Jose Scaglione, Azza Alameddine) and wrote: Primed for headlines, Catalpa is designed to give words bulk and width and gravity itself. The Catalpa font family is José Scaglione and Veronika Burian's wood type inspired design for an overwhelming headline presence. Catalpa was followed in 2021 by Belarius, a three-axis variable family that shifts from sans to slab serif, from condensed to expanded widths, and includes every possibility in between. Published by Type Together in 2021, it was developed under the guidance of Veronika Burian and José Scaglione, with type design by Azza Alameddine and Pooja Saxena, and additional kerning and engineering help from Radek Sidun, Joancarles Casasin and Irene Vlachou.

At the end of 2021, she finished Bree Arabic as part of Type Together enormous Bree multiscript typeface family. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Azza Alammedine

Lebanese graduate of the MATD program at the University of Reading in 2012. Azza's graduation typeface is Sila (2012, for Latin and Arabic). [Google] [More]  ⦿

B. Hasbani

Aka Impact BBDO (Lebanon). Designer of the free font Gaza (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Betterfear.us (or: XXII Fonts, Or Doubletwo Studios)
[Lecter Johnson]

Lecter Johnson (Betterfear.us) published many free fonts between 2007-2012. At Behance, we find the name John Thorn (Germany) and a mention of Hamburg, but also a reference to Greatwhite in Beirut, Lebanon.

Typefaces: XXII Sinoz DSP (2010-2011, elliptical face), XXII Gory Bastard (2011), XXII BLACKMETAL WARRIOR (2010), XXII Menga (2010, a technical sans family), XXIIARMY (2007, stencil), XXIIDECONSTRUCTION-DESTRUCTION-AREA (2007, grunge), XXIIDONT-MESS-WITH-VIKINGS-HARDCORE (2007, octagonal), XXIISTRAIGHT-ARMY, Army Dirty (grunge stencil), XXIIUltimate-Black-Metal (2007, cracked metal look), XXII Scratch (2007, scratchy face), XXII DEVILS-RIGHT-HAND (hand-printed), XXII BLACK-BLOCK (grunge), XXII MISANTHROPIA (2008, a rigid geometric sans family), XXII Arabian Onenightstand (2008: Arabic or Indic simulation face), XXII Urban Cutouts (2009, grunge), and XXII Static (2007, futuristic).

His web site has a threatening nazi sort of look, but the fonts are (were) free. Betterfear.us claims to be located in St. Pauli, Hamburg, and is also known on MyFonts, where some of its fonts can be bought, as Doubletwo Studios. These include XXII Yonia (rounded script family loaded with opentype features), XXII Goregrinder, XXII Grober Bleistift (2013, marker font), XXII Centar (a sans family with a free regular style), XXII Totenkult (2012), XXII Blackened Wood (2013), XXII Candylove (heavy signage or packaging script), XXII Centars Sans (2012), XXII Daemon Runes (2012), XXII Total Death (2012), XXII HandTypewriter (2012), XXII Daemon (2012), XXII Marker (2011), XXII BLACK BLOCK SERIFA (2008), XXII Mescaline (2009 Western style), XXII Misanthropia (2010, geometric sans), XXII Marker (2011), XXII Blasphema (2011) and XXII STREITKRAFT (2008, a stencil family with grungy versions added). Older list of fonts: Devils Right Hand (blackboard script), Black Block (grunge), Static (techno), Ultimate Blackmetal, Scratch, Don't Mess With Vikings, Army Dirty (grunge stencil), Army Straight, Black Block Eroded.

Typefaces from 2014: XXII YeahScript (signage script).

Typefaces from 2015: XXII Geom (a geometric sans typeface family), XXII Awesome Script (for signage).

Typefaces from 2016: XXII Neue Norm (techno sans), XXII Cool Script, XXII Geom (a geometric sans typeface family), XXII Grober Pinsel (brush typeface).

Typefaces from 2017: XXII Neue Norm Rounded, XXII InAshes (grungy blackletter).

Typefaces from 2018: XXII Geom Slab.

Klingspor link. Alternate URL. Behance link. Dafont link. Another Behance link. Old URL. Another Dafont link Yet another Behance link. And a final Behance link. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

BluGraphic (or: Graphic Pear)
[Wassim Awadallah]

BluGraphic (Wassim Awadallah, Beirut, Lebanon; but also claimed to be in Bern, Switzerland) specializes in free vector format graphics and typefaces. These include the modular sans typeface family Form (2014), and a collection of vector format icons (2013), weather symbols (2013) and arrows (2014). In 2017, he designed the tall sans typeface Giraffey, Viana Script, Valencia, Quenos (didone caps), Soigné (italic fashion mag typeface), Rhama Gothic (blackletter), Florence Script, Alvania, Prink Script, Virtuous Slab, Less Sans, Amigo Script and Holland Script. In 2018, he designed Strain and Tempo (a free modular typeface).

Typefaces from 2019: Lemon&Fresh, Germany (script), Cremona (a free fashion sans), Designer (sans). Behance link. BluGraphic link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Boutros International (or: Boutros Arabic Typefaces)
[Mourad Boutros]

Boutros calligraphic Arabic fonts (sold by Glyph Systems of Andover, MD) are fonts designed by "Boutros International" a group of experts headed by Lebanese designers Mourad and Arlette Boutros, who run Boutros Foundry out of London, UK. The blurb: These beautiful TrueType Fonts are designed to work in Microsoft's Arabic Windows versions 3.1 / 95 / 98 / NT as well as on the Mac OS with an Arabic Language Kit.

Their fonts include Boutros Decorative Kufic, Boutros Display, Boutros Koufic, Boutros MB Naskh, Boutros Modern, Boutros New Koufic Modern, Boutros Simplified Naskh, Boutros Asifa, Boutros Farah, Boutros Farasha, Boutros Fares, Boutros Najm, Boutros Thuluth (2012, based on Arabic bamboo calligraphy), Boutros Advertisers Naskh, Boutros Advertising, Boutros BBC Arabic, Boutros GE Tasmeem, Boutros Latin (Serif, Sans Serif), Boutros Maghribi, Boutros Minaret. See also here.

Mourad Boutros is an experienced Arabic creative director, calligrapher and typographer. From his bio: Since 1978, he has been Arabic typographical consultant to many international companies including Letraset. Mourad has designed more than 50 Arabic typefaces, some of which are available on IBM printers as core fonts. Typeface commissions have included corporate typefaces for Mercedes-Benz and for Al Anba, the leading Kuwaiti Arabic newspaper.

The early ITC collection in the 1980s had six Arabic typefaces: ITC Latif, ITC Boutros Calligraphy, ITC Boutros Setting, ITC Boutros Kufic, ITC Boutros Modern Kufic, ITC Boutros Rokaa.

At Ascender, Mourad published Boutros Maghribi (2009, co-designed with Rana Abou Rjeily), based on the Arabic calligraphy bamboo classical Maghribi style.

In 2008, Boutros co-designed Tanseek Modern and Tanseek Traditional with Richard Dawson and Dave Farey.

Here you can download these 2004 fonts by Boutros: GEBox-Bold, GECapMedium-Medium, GEContrastBold-Bold, GECurvesMedium-Medium, GEDinarOne-LightItalic, GEDinarOne-Medium, GEDinarOne-MediumItalic, GEDinarTwo-Light, GEDinarTwo-LightItalic, GEDinarTwo-Medium, GEDinarTwo-MediumItalic, GEEast-ExtraBold, GEEast-ExtraboldItalic, GEElegant-Italic, GEElegantMedium-Medium, GEFlow-Bold, GEFlow-BoldItalic, GEFlow-Italic, GEFlow, GEHili-Book, GEHili-Light, GEJarida-HeavyItalic, GEJaridaHeavy-Heavy, GEMBFarahBold-Bold, GEMBFarashaLight-Light, GEMBFaresMedium-Medium, GEMBMBBold-CondensedBold, GEMBNajmBold-Bold, GEModernBold-Bold, GEModernLight-Light, GEModernMedium-Medium, GENarrowLight-Light, GESSTVBold-Bold, GESSTextBold-Bold, GESSTextItalic-LightItalic, GESSTextLight-Light, GESSTextMedium-Medium, GESSTextUltraLight-UltraLight, GESSThree-Italic, GESSThree-Light, GESSTwoBold-Bold, GESSTwoLight-Light, GESSTwoMedium-Medium, GESSUniqueBold-Bold, GESSUniqueLight-Light, GESmooth-LightItalic, GESmoothLight-Light, GETasmeem-Medium, GEThameen-Book, GEThameen-BookItalic, GEThameen-DemiBold, GEThameen-DemiBoldItalic, GEThameen-Light, GEThameen-LightItalic, GETye, GEUnique-ExpandedBold, GEWideExtraBold-ExtraBold. Here one can find Boutros-Ads-Pro-Bold, Boutros-Ads-Pro-Bold-Condensed, Boutros-Ads-Pro-Light, Boutros-Ads-Pro-Medium, and Boutros-Ads-Pro-Medium-Italic.

In 2017, Mourad Boutros and Soulaf Khalifeh published the free low contrast Tajawal sans typeface family for Latin and Arabic. Google Fonts link. Github link.

In 2018, Boutros Fonts published URW Geometric Arabic.

FontShiop link. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Bruno G. Khater

Art director in Beirut, Lebanon, who created the Arabic typefaces Amoud (2015) and Dal (2015, calligraphic style). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Carine Teyrouz

Beirut-based graphic and web designer who created Lashing Knots (2013), a Latin rope font. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Carine Teyrouz

During her design studies in Beirut, Carine Teyrouz created the architctural typeface Lashing Knots (2010, Friday Fonts. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Celine Salameh

Dubai (and before that, Beirut Lebanon)-based designer of Celina (2015), a charming typeface with a hint of art nouveau warmth. In 2015, she created the Arabic kufi-style typeface Kanater. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Chamber of Roots

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the typographic poster Free Your Mind (2016). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Christelle Hayek

During her studies in Saida, Lebanon, Christelle Hayek created the lapidary typeface Chrisel (2014), an angular rhythmic Arabic typeface (2014), and Map Design Pictograms (2014). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Christina Ismail

Beirut-based designer of an Arabic typeface in 2016. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Christina Karam

During her studies in Beirut, Lebanon, Christina Karam designed the sharp-edged sans typeface AbsoluteC (2017). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Christina Skaf

Beirut-based designer, with Sarah Nehme, of Kirseh (2014), an Arabic font that was inspired by arabesque geometric patterns. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Claude Nassar

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the modern kufic Arabic typeface Dabbous (2016), which was inspired by Gotham. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Corrie Boustany

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the experimental Arabic typeface Totem (2017). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Cosette Saliba

Byblos, Lebanon-based designer of the running paint typeface Cofract (2012, Latin and Arabic). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Dana Seif

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the Arabic display typeface Pipeline (2017). [Google] [More]  ⦿

David Fleming Nalle
[Scriptorium (Ragnarok Press, Fontcraft)]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Despina Meimaroglou

A graphic designer in Beirut, who created the bilined display typeface Highway (2014) for Latin and Arabic. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Diala El-Zein

Graphic designer in Beirut, who created the poatao print font Batata in 2014. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Diana Hamdallah

Diana Hamdallah (Beirut, Lebanon) created the Arabic typeface Achelois in 2014 during her graphic design studies. Achelois is an Arabic Naskh font inspired by the work of fashion designer Krikor Jabotian. It is a group project with Mowana Sabeh. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Douna Daou

During her studies, Douna Daou (Joünié, Lebanon) created the Arabic typeface Habibi (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Dralve Muraine

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the Arabic typeface Damascus (2016). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Elias Issa El-Khoury

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the Latin typeface Phoenic (2018), which was inspired by the Phoenician alphabet. He also designed the Arabic typeface Satis (2018). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Elie Abou Jamra

Born in Dubai, Elie has worked and studied in UAE, Lebanon and Germany. He holds a BFA in Graphic Design from the American University of Beirut. He has also done his summer internship at Linotype, where he worked under Nadine Chahine, an award-winning Lebanese type designer. He is located in Beirut, Lebanon.

Creator of an Arabic graduation typeface influenced by the destruction of Beirut.

For Polypod, he created an Arabic typeface to match the Latin version for Solidere (a Lebanese company involved in the reconstruction of Beirut's Central District). The Latin version is based on Slab Unit designed earlier by Bill Hill Design.

Kashida Design link. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Elie Boufadel

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of an Arabic typeface simply called Arabic Shape (2016). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Eric Massoud

During his design studies in Beirut, illustrator and graphic designer Eric Massoud created the Treefrog-style typeface Crack (2010, Friday Fonts. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Fatima Nasser

During her studies in Beirut, Lebanon, Fatima Nasser created the beautifully textured Ornamental Garamond (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Fridayfonts
[Pascal Glissmann]

Free font site, est. 2009. The fonts being displayed and introduced were developed by students in seminars and workshops offered by Pascal Glissmann at the Academy of Visual Arts Hong Kong and the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. Fonts there from 2009

  • Yee Ting Cherry Chan: BambooConstruction.
  • Cherry and Liu Sze Wai: Cherrybomb.
  • Chan Ying: ChineseRadicals.
  • Yuki Leung Tsz Ning: ConstructionWithShadow.
  • Stephanie Ka Ying Lai: Crozline.
  • Cynthia Chan: Cubism.
  • Susie Law Wai Shan: ImbalanceSur.
  • by unknown: Impression
  • Siu Chi Ming and Eason: LightInk.
  • Siu Wing Lam: MTR.
  • Wong Hoi Ying: MobileCode.
  • Li Yan Yee: Neurons.
  • Liu Wing Yi: OldHongKong.
  • Wan Yee Kam: Potata.
  • Ruth Ng: RuthInk.
  • Aegina Kwan Ting Ho: SealScriptRoman.
  • Toby Cheung: Skin Seal.
  • Lung Yan Yu: Transbars.
  • Wian Wai Yan Lau: Unfold.
  • Sandee Tang: GeoGraphics.
  • Liu Shuj Yee: Blowing.
  • Mabel Pui man Choy: Burning.
  • Tsand Lai Yin: Buttons.
  • Carsten Goertz: Eurothai.
  • Chan Kam Kwan (Fanny): Flame.
  • Wong Kai Zen (Gemmy): hexyClover.
  • Annabellali: Ink.
  • Matina Long Ling Cheung: Matina.
  • Yuki Yi Pui Lee: MushroomFont.
  • Pascal Glissmann, Martina Hoefflin: Parasite.
  • Ting Hiu Nam: Staples.
  • Tinny Liu: Treeskin.
  • Ka Yee (Polly) Fung: Triangular.
  • Ng Siu Yin (Hilary): Triclips.
  • Ahyan: Vibrate.
  • Ka Man (Cindy) Tse: Circulia.
  • Ka Yan (Elaine) Ng: Bubblegum.
  • Lo Betty Wing Man: HongKongPattern.
  • Thomas Hawranke: Dickbine.
  • Ip Ka Wai (Maxwell): Impression.
  • Cheung Yung: Pain.
  • Yuen Man Li: Ink (grunge).

In 2010, new fonts were added. Here is a partial list:

In 2013, Glissmann moved to Parsons in New York City, where he continued the tradition of posting the student work. However, there are no more downloads, and links are not clickable. [Google] [More]  ⦿

George Hallak
[AramediA Group (Boston and Beirut)]

[More]  ⦿

George Sassine

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the pixelish ArchiArabic typeface (2014). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Ghassan Bathish

Graphic designer in Beirut, Lebanon. Designer of the great display typeface Konstruct (2017), which conjures up jewelry applications. This typeface, however, is based on patterns in Dr. Woo's tattoos. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Ghina Itani

Beirut-based designer of the grungy Latin / Arabic typeface Oxide (2013). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Ghiwa Abi Khalil

Lebanese designer of the spermatoid font Dabbous (2021) for Latin and Arabic. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Graham Bradley
[Roxaboxen]

[More]  ⦿

Hanine Ghaddar

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the tuxedoed typeface Tec (2018). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Hares Bassil

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the Arabic typeface Afreet (2016). From Hares's studies at ATDB in 2016-2017, we retain the Arabic typeface Mahrous (meaning "guarded"), which was inspired by decoration and Ruq'ah-like script seen on trucks in Lebanon. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Hisham Assaad

Graphic designer in Dbayeh, Lebanon. In 2012, he created an Arabic typeface called Al Zakher: A typeface designed based on the typeset used in the 16th century in the first Arabic printing press in the Orient which is located at St. John monastery at Khenchara, Lebanon. The printing press was invented by Al Shammas Abdallah Al Zakher, thus the name.

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Hovig Afarian

During his studies in Beirut, Lebanon, Hovig Afarian created a modular Arabic typeface (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Hrant H. Papazian
[The MicroFoundry]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Ibrahim Abdallah

During his studies in Beirut, Ibrahim Abdallah designed the Latin / Arabic typeface Wavy (2017). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Israa Kasmass

Tyre, Lebanon-based designer of the Arabic typeface Al Contour (2017). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Izzat Kreidieh

Graphic designer from Beirut with a BFA [Bachelor of Fine Arts] in graphic design from the American University of Beirut (AUB), Department of Architecture and Design. He made an Arabic typeface in 2012 called Kbareh, which was created together with his colleague Tina Balaa. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jamal Saleh

During her studies at the American University of Beirut, Jamal Saleh co-designed the fat outlined Arabic typeface Tabboush (2014, with Ruba Mashtoub), which is inspired by children's books illustrations. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jamal Tayyara

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of an Arabic student project typeface in 2017. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jamila Mehio

Beirut, Lebanon-based illustrator and letterer. Graduate of the American University of Beirut who started additional studies at The Academy of Art University, San Francisco, ca. 2016. Designer of the brushy Cola Pen Type typeface (2016). [Google] [More]  ⦿

JH Fonts
[Joe Mahfouz Hatem]

Joe Hatem (JH Fonts, Beirut, Lebanon) is a part time lecturer at Notre Dame University Beirut. He created these Arabic typefaces in 2013: JH Amira, JH Beirut, JH Firas, JH Farid, JH Dalya, JH Paola, JH Khalil (squarish), JH Hala, JH Diwani (a calligraphic font that took three years to complete; see also JH Diwani Simplified Light released in 2019), JH Fares (a modern Kufic font). In 2015, he made the Arabic typefaces JH Thuluth, JH Dima and JH Diwani Thuluth, and the children's (Latin) handwriting font JH Lea Cursive.

Typefaces from 2016: JH Naskh Expanded (extended by JH Naskh Expanded light in 2021).

Typefaces from 2017: JH Rawan (a geometric font), JH Lina Magazine, JH Hadi.

Typefaces from 2018: JH Lina, JH Roy, JH Farid, JH Fadi, JH Rawan, JH Hala, JH Mars, JH Lea (connected monoline script), JH Nazih, JH Yara.

Typefaces from 2020: JH Fatina (a superb Arabic typeface family with covering the Sounboli, Naissabouri, Diwani and Thuluth calligraphic scripts), JH Zoya Cyrillic (a monoline school script for Latin and Cyrillic).

Typefaces from 2021: JH Haroun (a calligraphic Thuluth script), JH Noha (a geometric Arabic typeface family).

Behance link. Facebook link. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Joe Mahfouz Hatem
[JH Fonts]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Joseph Maalouf

Graphic design student from Beirut, Lebanon. He created the bellydancer silhouette alphabet Alphabet vs Venus (2011). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Joumana Medlej

Lebanese student who was at McGill University in Montreal. Developer of a free Mac font, Mesha, based on the Phoenician script from the Mesha stela. She also has some interesting exercises on Arabic typography from the American University in Beirut (AUB). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Jubran Elias

Graphic designer and illustrator in Beirut. Creator of the sci-fi typeface Morac (2011). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Julia Ahmad

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the constructivist typeface Lakov (2019). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Kaf Visual Communication

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the stencil typeface Broken (2016, FontStruct). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Kameel Hawa

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the Arabic typeface Midan (2005), which won an award at TDC2 2007. Linotype: Midan is a modern Arabic typeface based on simplified Naskh with a slightly modulated stroke treatment. It is suited for text settings, especially in brochures and magazines.. Free download at OFL.

In 2015, he designed the Arabic typeface Mohtaraf at Al Mohtaraf Foundry, which won an award in the TDC 2015 Type Design competition. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Karl Wakim

Lebanon-based designer of the German expressionist typeface Kunsta (2017). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Kawthar Bahsoun

Lebanese designer of the Latin display typeface Bicycle (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Khajag Apelian

Freelance graphic designer from Lebanon. Born in Sharjah, UAE, an Armenian with a Lebanese nationality. Graduate of the Type and Media program at KABK, 2009. There, he designed Arek, an Armenian typeface specifically designed to replace the typefaces currently used in school books. It is a fresh interpretation of the ancient Armenian script used in the old manuscripts. My ambitious plan for this project is to include a serif and a sans serif version, containing upright and cursive forms, with multiple weights, display versions and initials. However, currently the project includes only the serif upright, regular and black weights, in addition to the cursive and the initials. This typeface was awarded First Prize in the Granshan 2010 competition for Armenian text types. Arek was finally published by Rosetta Type Foundry in 2012.

After graduation, he started freelancing as a graphic and type designer in Amsterdam. Partner at The Place.

Other typefaces include The Chattam (2009, a Clarendon revival), Boujour (2008, an ultra fat deco face), Moudwi (2007, an experimental Arabic detached typeface inspired by the Unified typeface created by Nasri Khattar).

His typefaces: Arek, Hagatir, Boujour (2008, piano key typeface), Mulsaq (2008, Arabic), Moudwi, Nuqat (2010: a dot matrix typeface by René Knip, Khajag Apelian, Jeroen van Erp, and Reza Abedini).

Graphic Arabic (Wael Morcos and Khajag Apelian) won an award at Granshan 2017.

IBM Plex Sans Arabic (2019, by Mike Abbink, Paul van der Laan, Pieter van Rosmalen, Wael Morcos and Khajak Apelian) is a free typeface family at Google Fonts.

Typecache link. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Kristyan Sarkis
[TPTQ Arabic Type Foundry]

[More]  ⦿

Lama Bazzoun

Tyre, Lebanon-based designer of the Arabic typeface Yam (2017). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Lana Kamand

Bchamoun, Lebanon-based designer of the wine bottle opener-inspired Arabic typeface Al Moftah (2016). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Lara Assouad-Khoury

Lara Assouad Khoury was born in Montreal, and graduated from the American University of Beirut with a Bachelor in Graphic Design degree (BGD) in 1998. She worked as a designer at LeoBurnett (Lebanon, 1998-2000). After one year in Cairo, she moved to Dubai (UAE) and worked as a Senior Designer for Landor Associates (2001-2005) where she was involved in the design of extensive corporate identity projects for large Middle Eastern companies and institutions, such as the visual branding for the country of Jordan. She has graduated with an MA from the Atelier National de Recherche Typographique in Nancy (France), where she studied under renowned type designers such Hans-Jürg Hunziker, André Baldinger, and others. She has researched and is in the process of developing her own extensive Arabic Naskh font. She taught graphic design and Arabic typography courses, at the American University in Dubai. She is an independent type and graphic designer since 2005. She embarked on a project in 2005 with Fred Smeijers to make an Arabic sister, Fresco Arabic, for Smeijers' Fresco family. For this, she takes inspiration from calligraphic samples of the Maghrebi script. Fresco Arabic won an award at TDC2 2008. Her geometric experimental Arabic typeface Tabati (2010) won an award at TDC2 2011. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Lara Captan

Graphic designer from Lebanon who is/was based in Amsterdam. She taught design and typography at the American University of Beirut until she moved to The Netherlands where she became an apprentice in DecoType's ACE technology for Arabic type. She says that she refused to design any typeface before having sufficient knowledge over the history and mechanics of the script. In 2018, she is working on an ACE-engined Arabic type family, with support from the Creative Industries Fund NL.

Creator of the angular chancery typeface Cancellarecta (2012) at The Cooper Union. She graduated from Escola de Disseny i Art in Barcelona. Speaker at ATypI 2018 in Antwerp.

Award winner at 25 TDC in 2022 for Youtube Sans Arabic, a member of an increasingly larger multi-script family. The typeface spans across ten weights and includes Sans, Rounded, and a Grades version. It was developed together with Khaled Hosny (font engineer), David Berlow (consultant), Dave Crossland (manager) and Chris Bettig (creative director). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Lara Khatib

Beirut-based designer of the Arabic school project font Al Shaeb (2014). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Layal Al Wazzan

Graduate of Lebanese American University in Beirut, Lebanon. Graphic designer in Beirut who created the Bellow Straw typeface for Latin and Arabic in 2014. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Layal Saab

Graphic designer in Beirut, Lebanon. In 2015, she designed the iron-inspired Arabic typeface Mikwat (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Layout

From Beirut, Lebanon: sellers of ArabicXT, Kalimat, and Zakhrafat. They also sell a CD-ROM (v1.1) with 150 Arabic fonts. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Lea Abou Rjeyli

Balloune, Lebanon-based designer of the Arabic typeface Murad (2012) and the gothic Latin typeface Lea Tsu (2012). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Lea Harouni

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the inline Arabic typeface Al Afaa (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Lecter Johnson
[Betterfear.us (or: XXII Fonts, Or Doubletwo Studios)]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Leen Naffa

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of Okad (2016), an Arabic emulation typeface. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Liliane Bou Mansour

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of Inkan (2017), a typeface that celebrates the Inca culture. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Mabelle Sawan

Designer and illustrator in Beirut. Creator of a script font in 2013. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Maha Akl

Cairo, Egypt and/or Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the Arabic student project typeface Hudhud (2017), a Maghribi / Andalusian script intended for children's books developed under the guidance of Kristyan Sarkis. Hudhud was published at TPTQ Arabic foundry and won an award at 23TDC. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Maissa-Maria Geahchan

Graphic designer in Beirut who created the curly typeface Bubbly People (2013). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Majdi Bou Ghanem

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the futuristic display typeface Engravers Arabic (2017). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Margarita Mansour

Lebanese designer of Blade (2020). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Mary Rizk

Graphic designer and illustrator in Beirut. Designer of Al Nab (2012), a corporate Arabic typeface. In 2013, she created the beveled typeface Crane. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Mira Al Assal

Tyre, Lebanon-based designer of the Arabic typeface Nota (2017). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Mireille Khoury

During her graphic design studies in Beirut, Lebanon, Mireille Khoury created Berlin (2014, FontShop: a slab serif taypeface). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Mosbah Badreddine

Beirut-based designer of the plump pop-art / bubblegum font MyFont (2014, Latin & Cyrillic). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Mostafa Baydoun

Graphic designer and illustrator in Beirut, Lebanon. In 2015, he created an Arabic typeface that was inspired by a leaf. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Mourad Boutros
[Boutros International (or: Boutros Arabic Typefaces)]

[MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Myriam El Hachem

Myriam El Hachem (Zouq Mkayel, Lebanon) is an experimental visual communicator. She received her Bachelor in Arts in Graphic Design from Notre Dame University in June 2017. In 2017, she created EhN1, a typeface in which ball terminals and other characteristics of Bodoni were replaced with other elements to enhance readability. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Nada Haidar Karim

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the Latin / Arabic poster typeface Yum (2018). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Nadia Khabbaz

Achrafieh, Lebanon-based designer of the Latin / Arabic outlined 3d typeface Cube (2016). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Nadim Nasr

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the monoline Arabic typeface Beirut (2017). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Nadine Chahine

Nadine Chahine (b. 1978) is a Lebanese graphic designer with a special interest in Arabic type design. She started her research on Arabic typography, theory and practice, at the American University of Beirut and at The University of Reading, UK (MA in Typeface Design), where she designed Koufiya (2003). She did a Ph.D. on legibility in the Arabic script. She spoke at ATypI 2003 in Vancouver on Arabic typography. She taught Arabic typography as a visiting lecturer at the American University in Dubai and is currently working at Linotype, Germany, as the Arabic type expert.

In 2004, she started a coop project with Gerard Unger to develop Big Vesta Arabic, a companion of Unger's Big Vesta. At ATypI 2008 in St. Petersburg, she ran the Linotype type design student workshop.

She designed Frutiger Arabic with Adrian Frutiger and Palatino Arabic (2007) with Hermann Zapf, for which she won the Certificate of Excellence in Type Design from the TDC in 2008. For Palatino Sans Arabic, she won at TDC2 2011.

In 2009, she published Neue Helvetica Arabic at Linotype.

In 2011, she published Univers Next Arabic (with Adrian Frutiger, Linotype).

During a week-end of 2014, she speed-designed the Arabic typeface Hamra Str.

She is working on Zapfino Arabic.

In 2015, she finished ITC Handel Gothic Arabic, a modern monolinear Kufi design.

In 2016, with a relaese date in April 2017, Nadine Chahine and the Monotype team designed the free Latin / Arabic typeface Dubai Font for the city of Dubai.

In 2017, she published Amariya (Monotype), intended for long form, on-screen textual content. It supports the Arabic, Persian and Urdu languages, and its Latin companion is Matthew Carter's ITC Charter.

Neue Frutiger Arabic (2018) was created by Nadine Chahine and a team of designers and font engineers from the Monotype Studio, under the direction of Monotype type director Akira Kobayashi.

Avenir Arabic (2019), extending Adrian Frutiger's Avenir. Nadine Chahine and Toshi Omagari collaborated with Akira Kobayashi and Monotype Studio on Avenir Next Arabic (2021).

Designer of Kafa Black.

Bio. Interview. Behance link. Speaker at ATypI 2010 in Dublin, where her talk tackled psycholinguistics and type design. Speaker at ATypI 2011 in Reykjavik and at ATypI 2013 in Amsterdam. She gave the keynote at Typecon 2016.

Klingspor link. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Nadine Kobayter
[Penguin Cube]

[More]  ⦿

Nagham Ghanem

Beirut-based designer of an unnamed heavy squarish Arabic typeface (2013). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Nagham Khoury

Beirut-based designer of the experimental typeface Gamble (2013). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Naji El Mir

Naji is a French Lebanese graphic designer, type designer and animator. He studoed graphic design at the Lebanese American University. He also holds a Bachelors degree in Applied Arts from the University of Toulouse Le Mirail, and a Master's degree in interactive multimedia design from the Sorbonne University. Paris-based designer of the Kufi geometric style Arabic typeface Branji (2015) and the Kufi calligraphic Arabic typeface madid (2015).

In 2016, he designed the modern condensed Latin/Arabic typeface 29LT Adir (with Adrien Midzic; at 29 Letters). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Nancy Abou Shakra

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the minimalist Latin typeface EBB (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Nareg Meguerditchain

During his studies at Notre Dame University Louaize, Beirut, Lebanon-based Nareg Meguerditchain designed the Futura-inspired Arabic typeface Sa7bi (2016) and the Latin typeface Grandixer (2016). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Nasri Khattar

Nasri Khattar (1911-1998) was an architect and designer who studied at the American University of Beirut and the Yale School of Architecture, where he obtained an MA in Architecture in 1940. He worked with Frank Lloyd Wright in Spring Green, WI, and Scottsdale, AZ. In 1947, he submitted his Unified Arabic designs to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office resulting in a patent for the printed form of Arabic in 1950. He designed the first Arabic computer font, Unified Arabic Neo N. [Poster by Brittany Cox].

I am quoting verbatim the biography submitted to Arabic Type by his daughter: Architect, Type Designer, Inventor, Painter, Sculptor, Poet, 1911-1998. Nasri Khattar, architect, practiced his profession for thirty-five years in the United States; in Colombia, South America; and in his country of origin, Lebanon, where he pursued his early education at the American University of Beirut (AUB) with a B.B.A. awarded in 1930. In 1940, he earned an M.A. in Architecture from Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1939, he was associated with Frank Lloyd Wright's Fellowship in Taliesin, Spring Green, Wisconsin; and in Taliesin West, in Scottsdale, Arizona.A dual American-Lebanese national, Mr. Khattar was an Arabic consultant to IBM in the fifties, and architect, Arabic calligrapher, and Arabist to Arab-American Oil Company (Aramco) in New York City, 1950-1957. During this time, he made innumerable calligraphic works for both Aramco and the Arabs. He received a Ford Foundation grant for the years 1958-1961, to promote his Unified Arabic, UA system. Unified Arabic is Mr. Khattar's Arabic type system that simplifies the printing and teaching of Arabic, Urdu, Farsi, and other languages utilizing the Arabic alphabet. As he continued to work on his Unified Arabic, Mr. Khattar designed new Arabic typefaces, practiced architecture, and lectured at the American University of Beirut. His topics were Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural achievements and principles of design, and his own work on the writing and design of Arabic type. Impressed by Mr. Khattar's versatility, Martin Giesen of AUB's Architectural Department, called him "the Renaissance Man", for being architect, calligrapher and type designer, painter and caricaturist, poet, and inventor (30-40 patents and copyrights). "It's been a long time since I've seen such perfection," wrote Mr. Giesen in 1977. In 1986, Reverend Dennis Hilgendorg and Dr. Ben Wood, Director of Educational Research at Columbia University, nominated Mr. Khattar for the Nobel Peace Prize for his life's visionary achievements and their vast implications for the fields of linguistics, literacy, printing, computers, and telecommunications. Mr. Khattar is survived by his spouse, Jacqueline Hedrick Khattar, and by his twin daughters, Alexandra Khattar and Camille Khattar Hedrick. His son, Christopher Khattar, passed away in 1992 after a long illness.

As for digital revivals, we can cite Pascal Zoghbi's 29LT UA Neo B (or UA Beirut Modern) and UA Neo N (or UA Neo Nashki) (2007-2013). It can be purchased at 29 LT. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Nassim Hani

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the modular typeface Mesospace (2015) which was custom made for the Lebanese Rocket Society. He also created Arabic Bauhaus (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Nathalie Hanna

El Fourzol, Lebanon-based designer of the Arabic typeface Chalet Beirut (2016), which was inspired by the Latin typeface Chalet London 1970. This typeface was developed during her studies at Notre Dame University Lebanon. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Niklas Block

During his studies, Stuttgart and/or Heidelberg, Germany-based Niklas Block created some experimental typefaces. He shattered Arial and recombined its pieces in his Verspiegelt (2017). Broken Millionaires combines the hacker style with monetary glyphs for optimal effect. See also Währungsfont (2017). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Nisrine Sarkis

Nisrine Sarkis is a Beirut-based graphic designer and letterer. She holds a masters in Graphic Design from USEK's Faculty of Arts. In 2007, she joined WonderEight. During a summer course called Type@Paris (2015), she designed the classical calligraphy-inspired text typeface Kabrit.

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Nohad Kharrat

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of an italic Arabic typeface in 2017. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Nour Al-Hariri

Graphic designer in Beirut, Lebanon, who created Zipped (2015), which was inspired by zippers. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Noura Andrea Nassar

Graphic designer in Beirut, who created Renzo (2015), a display typeface for Latin and Arabic. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Pamela Mansour

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the Arabic typeface Neo Mismari (2016). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Pascal Glissmann
[Fridayfonts]

[More]  ⦿

Pascal Naji Zoghbi
[29 Letters]

[More]  ⦿

Patil Tokatlian

Beirut-based graphic designer and illustrator who created the Warhol typeface (2016). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Penguin Cube
[Nadine Kobayter]

Penguin Cube seems to be a design studio in Lebanon that serves the Middle Eat since about 2004. One of its people, Nadine Kobayter, designed the dingbat typeface Stereotype-wkg30 (2010). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Rabab Charafeddine

Rabab Charafeddine graduated from the American University of Beirut with a degree in graphic design. For her senior university project, Rabab designed a (yet unpublished) Arabic typeface. Rabab joined TypeTogether in 2018 as a graphic designer. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Rami Kanso

Graphic designer in Beirut, Lebanon, who created the triangulated display typeface Krista (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Rami Rikka

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the blackletter ink splatter graffiti font Calligra (2016). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Ramzi Ibrahim

Art director in Beirut. His type family Exquisite (2011) started out from Latin letters and developed an Arabic family from those roots. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Rana Abou Rjeily

Based in Beirut, Lebanon, Rana studied graphic design and graduated from Central Saint Martins London with an MA in communication design. In 2011 she published Cultural Connectives, which bridges Arabic and Latin scripts. Designer of Parmigiano Arabic (2012-2014), as part of the larger Parmigiano Typographic System of Riccardo Olocco and Jonathan Pierini. Following a term coined by Thomas Milo, Bodoni's Arabic s Eurabic: it is the Arabic type created in Europe to imitate Arabic script without enough knowledge of or access to true Arabic script expertise. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Rana Bulbul

Rana Bulbul (Beirut) created the DNA typeface for Latin and Arabic in 2012. It is based on the structure of DNA. Rana also drew the experimental typeface Fuse 2 Use (2012, a circuit board font for Latin and Arabic). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Randa Abdel Baki

Randa Abdel Baki is a scholar, graphic designer and artist, currently living in Beirut. She chairs the Graphic Design Department and is an Assistant Professor at Lebanese American University. Among the courses she teaches are Intro to Typography and Advanced Typography classes with an emphasis on Arabic type and layout design. Currently, her interest is on highlighting successful bilingual compositional methods, solving the challenges of Arabic and Latin bilingual type layouts. Speaker at ATypI 2010 in Dublin where she explained bilingual (Latin&Arabic) layout systems. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Rania Talal

Beirut-based creator of the labyrinthine typeface Maze (2013). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Rawan Chaaban

During her studies at Rafik Hariri University in Beirut, Lebanon, Rawan Chaaban (b. 1992) created several hybrid Latin typefaces (2015): Spaceship, Coybow, Vampire, Thickwaist, Rocco Style, Circus. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Rayan Ghaziri

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of Structure (2014), a decorative typeface inspired by gears. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Rayan Mansour

Beirut, Lebanon-based student-designer of the Latin / Arabic display typeface London Blocks (2018). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Rayan Tannir

During her studies in Beirut, Lebanon, Rayan Tannir designed the Latin / Arabic typeface Pretty in Punk (2018). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Rayyan Frem

Ghazir, Lebanon-based designer of the angular typeface Suzuki Stile (2014). He also created a set of informative icons in 2014. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Razan Chabayta

Graphic designer in Beirut, Lebanon. In 2017, she designed Wired. Latin Japanese followed in 2018. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Razan Wehbi

During her studies in Beirut, Lebanon, in 2018, Razan Wehbi added an Arabic part to Galinos Paparounis's successful poster font Futuracha. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Riham Hassan

At the Academie Libanaise des Beaux Arts in Beirut, Riham Hassan created the decorative caps typeface Poison (2014, Latin and Arabic), Arabic Flotsam (2014), and the textured Latin typeface Scribble Type (2014). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Rita Azar

At the University of Kaslik, Zahle, Lebanon-based Rita Azar designed the modern display typeface Poset (2017). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Rita Saad

Lebanese designer of the experimental typeface Mesomorph (2008). She explains: Mesomorph is digitally created and modified using a variety of repeated geometric forms that often echo the forms of arabesque or meso-american culture, such as Maya and Aztec. Initially derived from Islamic architechtural shapes these forms, taken together, embody a never-ending pattern. Dafont link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Rola El Ayoubi

During her studies at NDU (Notre Dame University, Louaize), Tripoli, Lebanon-based Roya El Ayoubi created the folded paper blackletter font Gothigami (2015). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Roones

Illustrator in Beirut who created some ornamental alphabets in 2012, such as Poof and Bottlecapped. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Rouba Tachach

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of an Arabic typeface in 2015 (togerther with George Azar). Its octagonal design is inspired by the work of Stephan Sagmeister. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Roxaboxen
[Graham Bradley]

A Lebanese American, Graham Bradley grew up in Pasadena, CA. He studied twentieth-century European history at the University of California, Berkeley, and graduated in 2009. He also graduated from the Type@Cooper program at The Cooper Union in New York. Graham designs printed materials, lettering, typefaces, and the occasional website. He is located in California. Before founding Roxaboxen, Graham was the first employee at Frere-Jones Type, where he worked with Tobias Frere-Jones on Mallory and Retina. He is an instructor at Type West at the Letterform Archive.

During his studies at Type@Cooper in 2012, he designed Anacapa, and writes: Anacapa is an attempt to subtly express, in type, the identity of my home state: the cool, gray calm of beach volleyball courts in the early morning, the dispersed energy of Los Angeles, the warmth of the sunlight on the rocky Central Coast... It is an imagined piece of California's vernacular, designed to be as flexible and complex as the emotional range it seeks to capture.

His typeface Madtown (2019, Future Fonts) is inspired by letters from the American West, in particular the styles that have a capital oh with wedge-shaped serifs. In 2019, he also released the arts and crafts-inspired Mara des Bois at Future Fonts.

Other typefaces by Graham include Ogilvy Serif (2021, with Jeremy Mickel), and Bacterium (2014, a molecular typeface done for Alexander Issey Inc; it has multiple versions for each glyph). Graham also helps with type design at MCKL Type, Jeremy Mickel's type foundry in Los Angeles.

Future Fonts link. Home page. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Sahar Khraibani

Designer in Beirut, Lebanon, associated with Studio Safar. Together with Yasmina Aoun, Sahar created a very original almost futuristic Maghrebi font called Maghribau5 (2014). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Sahar Monzer

Graphic designer in Aaley, Lebanon, who made some great Arabic typography posters in 2020. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Sarah Abichaker

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the Latin / Arabic multiline art deco typeface Str8 Tracks (2016). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Sarin Poladian

During her studies in Beirut, Lebanon, Sarin Poladian created the display typeface Breach (2014). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Scriptorium (Ragnarok Press, Fontcraft)
[David Fleming Nalle]

Dave Nalle was born in Beirut in 1959, but lives and works in Texas. He is currently in Manor, TX. From his wiki page: Dave Nalle is a political writer, game author and font designer who was active in the early history of the development of the internet. He is Chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus, a group that promotes libertarianism within the Republican Party and is Senior Politics Editor at Blogcritics online magazine and is the CEO of Scriptorium Fonts. A creative and prolific designer, he has made hundreds of beautiful (often historic) fonts. His outfit, Scriptorium (based near Austin, TX, est. 1989), also does custom font and logo design. At some points, Scriptorium was also known as Ragnarok Press and Fontcraft. It specializes in artsy and ancient typefaces. Some subset of the fonts is made by Michael Scarpitti. Free font demos.

Images of his best selling fonts. Special subpages:

  • Three free fonts: Onuava (a mini-serifed hybrid fixed-width font), Divona (sans), Sirona (based on Lombardic calligraphy).
  • Lombardic: Aneirin, Benevento (8th century Lombardic), Cymbeline, Fabliaux, Formidable, Locksley.
  • Decorative initials such as the 20th century sign lettering initials set Pencraft Initials (2009), New Saxon Initials (2016, based on work by F.G. Delamotte), Delamotte Initials One (2016), Delamotte Initials Two (2016), Holly Initials (2010, based on Real PenWork (1880s, Knowles and Maxim), Vyones (2010), Vergennes (2001), Cascade (2009), Bergling (2010; based on initials by John M. Bergling).
  • Steampunk typefaces: Clockwork, Gearhead, Gears, Verne, Draughtwork, Belgravia, Boetia, Blackthorn, Linthicum, Good-fellow, Necromantic, Mephisto.
  • Wild West fonts: Academy, Alcalde, Atkinson Boomtown (2009, after the lettering of Frank Atkinson), Atkinson Eccentric (2009), BigIron, Cibola, Del Norte, Lachesis, Perdido, Plowright, Primer, Riudoso, Niederwald, San Lorenzo (2011, with a Mexican and Tuscan look), Stonehouse, Manquo, Rochambeau, Purcell, Vaquero.
  • Arabic simulation fonts: Samaritan is based on the poster lettering of Alphons Mucha from his poster for the play La Samaritan. Serendib and Waziri are based on the hand lettering of René Bull from his edition of the Arabian Nights. Caliph (1993) is derived from Ernst Schneidler's classic Legende font, with variant characters based on his original lettering. Also: Satampra, Jerash, Samarkand, Isfahan.
  • Celtic fonts: the fonts include Constance, Durrow (1993, traditional rendering of Insular Minuscule calligraphy), Malvern, Glendower (based on the most common lettering in the Book of Kells), Knotwork (caps based on Celtic knots), Alba Text (modernized text font based on Celtic uncial lettering), Lindisfarne (based on a square uncial style), Stonecross (1997, derived from Celtic cross and gravestone inscriptions), Celtic Spirals (dingbats), Celtic Borders font (lets you combine key strokes to form decorative borders; many frames and borders are original Celtic designs by Arts&Crafts period artists like Evelyn Paul and Louis Rhead), Spiral Initials, Brigida (based on Rudolph Koch's interpretation of a squared uncial), Macteris Uncial, Coverack (heavy non-traditional uncial), Dahaut (modernized uncial), Dunsany, Glendower, Morgow (1999, spiral uncial), Teyrnon (elaborate spurred uncial), Padstow (heavy uncial), Vafthrudnir (2011, uncial), Sualtim and Columba (decorative initials based on characters found in the Book of Kells), Albemarle (2001).
  • Oriental simulation fonts: Yoshitoshi (2003, based on the 1900-style writing by Yoshi Toshi.
  • Gothic fonts, including Alt Gothic, Koch Gothic, Barnabas (2011), Sternhagen (2014), Montgisard (2010, roman capitals with blackletter lower case), Serenissima, Gelderland, Alcuin, Monumental, Goldwork, Waldeck, Roncesvalles, Montressor (2010, ornamental blackletter capitals), T4C Beaulieux (1998, a free copy here), Bastarda (2011), Burgundian, Cadeaulx, Collins Old English, Courtrai, Descant, Ereshkigal, Faustus, Franconian (1993, a Schwabacher), Froissart (2000), Ghost Gothic, Katisha, Koch Gothic, Ligeia, Magdeburg, Magdelena, Melusine, Pyle Gothic, Rheingold, Sanctum, Stuttgart Gothic (2010), Textura, Theodoric, Yngling (2002).
  • German expressionist: Dromon.
  • Renaissance fonts: Monumental Gothic, Caswallon (a Caslon family), humanist cursive (Palmieri, Castiglione and Hanes Italic), quirky Italian cursives (Fiorenza and Alleghieri), a Roman style hand-lettered font (Rudolfo and Rudolfo Swash), a Trajan-style Roman lettering (Hadrianus), a classic flourished cursive (Trinculo) and a set of floral intials from the Quattrocento (Fraticelli).
  • Modern poster fonts: Ascelon, Bilitis, Cosmic Dude, Dromon, Ducatus Rough, Eglantine (after Central Type Foundry's Quaint Roman), Ekberg (2002, based on Samuel Welo's posters), Fortinbras, Hamilton, Jambon, Oblivion, Posada (2008, based on the poster lettering of Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada), Squiffy, Suspicion, Magnin (2003).
  • Mapmaker fonts: building elements are available in Basilica; Ortelius is a map dingbat font; Queensland (based on lettering by artist and calligrapher Eric Sloane), is bold, hand-drawn and reminiscent of medieval writing on maps. There are also Brandywine, Daresiel, Hesperides, Longhorne, Windlass (1996), and Cityscape. Orford (2008) is based on samples of hand lettering from a 1693 manuscript collected by Lewis Day in his classic book on historical paleography, Alphabets Old and New.
  • Calligraphic fonts: Albemarle (2001), Azariel, Moncrief (2011, based on the calligraphy of J.M. Bergling), Pavane, Rasael (2009), Abdiel (2005), Roncesvalles, Gazardiel (2003, connected script), Spoonbill (2003, arts and crafts), Macteris (Roman uncial font), Antioch Uncial (Roman uncial font), Burgundian (Classic black letter font), Franconian (993, a classic black letter font), Castiglione (Attractive Renaissance lettering), Cicero (Roman Rustica font), Formidable (1993, very bold late medieval / Lombardic style), Collins Old English (Classic Old English style gothic), Corbei Uncial (Roman uncial font), Cymbeline (late medieval lettering), Durrow (Standard insular minuscule uncial font), Theodoric (Classic black letter font), Gazardiel, Ghost Gothic (Unusual gothic font), Glendower (Uncial font based on Book of Kells), Gloriana (Interesting hand lettering style), Folkard (from the hand-lettering of Charles Folkard), Offenbach Chancery, Ranegund Merovingian Courthand, Benevento (8th century Lombardic), Hesperides.
  • Art deco typefaces: Imperatore (2018: based on a hand lettered design from California art deco master designer Pedro de Lemos in the 1920s), Speakeasy (2018), Gates of the West (2018), Lyceum (2014), Borealis (2009), Criterion (2011), Illuminata, Madding (2009, a bold poster font that grew out of Aventine), Alexandrine (2009), art Deco Stencil (2009, based on samples of Art Deco stencil lettering by Pedro Lemos), Falmouth.
  • Art nouveau typefaces: Acadian, Agravain (2009), Amphitryon (2009), Ariosto, Asphodel, Averoigne, Beaumains (2011, based on J.M. Bergling's lettering), Beauvoir, Belgravia (based on J.M. Bergling), Bernhardt (based upon the lettering of the Czech art-nouveau artist Alphonse Mucha), Bentham, Berenicia, Boetia (2003, based on J.M. Bergling's lettering), Bruges, Bucephalus (1993), Burd Ellen (2009), Butterfield (1993; in Alfred Roller's style), Cafe Society (2018), Curetana, Damariscotta, Elsene (2011, based on lettering by early 20th century illustrator Clara Elsene Peck), Elysian, Exotique, Flaubert, Gaheris, Ganelon, Gehenna, Goodfellow, Grammophon (2019: a bold Jugendstil poster font), Harbinger, Huyot (2016, after Georges Auriol's types), Jugendstil Kunsthand (2003), Lysander, Maginot (1993; after Peter Schnorr, 1898), Munich (after the Munchner Jugend magazine), Norumbega, Odeon, Ormandine (2010), Pantagruel, Phaeton, Reggio, Rochmbeau, Rockne (2009), Rudolfo, Setebos, Sprite, Summerisle, Sylphide (2005), Undine, Valentin (2008), Vambrace (2010), Walhal, Wendingen (2016), Wormwood (2018), Zeitschrift (2016, based on the Ver Sacrum magazine).
  • Modern poster fonts: Field Day (2003), Ascelon, Bilitis, Cosmic Dude, Dromon, Ducatus Rough, Eglantine (after Central Type Foundry's Quaint Roman), Ekberg (2002, based on Samuel Welo's posters), Fortinbras, Hamilton, Jambon, Oblivion, Squiffy.
  • Constructivist fonts: Krasny Mir (2009), Vrubel, Structura (1997).
  • Futuristic fonts: Alecto, Angelus, Circuit, Culdrose, Gearhead, Ironclaw, Parika, Sanhedrin, Semiramis (1997), Slither, Structuro, Yazata, Adastra (dings).
  • Borders and ornaments. These include New Arets and Crafts Borders (20912, based on The Calendar of Golden Thoughts (Barse and Hopkins Publ, 1911).
  • Boneyard fonts: Undertaker (2014), Antrobus (2010), Sepultura (2002), Halloweenies, Dementia, Boneyard, Skull and Bones, Malagua (1999-2013), Paleos (2002, from titling of B movies in the cave girl genre), Carmilla, Abaddon, Black Cow (1998), Valdemar, Cuede, Ligeia, Mayhem, Mephisto, Golgotha, Sanguinary, Ironworks, Moravia, Gehenna, Nosegrind (2005, graffiti), Corpus, Ghostly.
  • School fonts: Schoolhand (2010).
  • Arts and Crafts movement (late Victorian period, 19th century), based on work and lettering by Walter Crane, William Morris, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Elbert Hubbard. The Arts&Crafts movement was enormously influential on the works of designers, artists and architects of the 20th century, and inspired the Art Nouveau and Art Deco movements. Fonts include William Morris' Kelmscott (based on Morris' Troy type), and True Golden, fonts from the Glasgow branch of the movement like Chelsea Studio (1997), which is based on Charles Rennie Mackintosh's lettering, fonts from the Roycrofters of New York like Semiramis and Ganelon, fonts based on Walter Crane's work such as Crane Gothic, Pencraft Initials (2009) and Walter Crane, and even fonts from the California Arts&Crafts period of the early 1900s like Coloma. Other typefaces: Jesse M. King (refreshed in 2015, and based on hand lettering from a frontispiece design by Glasgow-based Jessie King who was known for her lavish book covers), Aylward, Palmyra (based on work by the Roycrofters, a design community founded by Elbert Hubbard), Aylward (2010, Victorian), Hyacinth Initials, Spoonbill, Adresack (1996: inspired by the arts and crafts lettering styles of designers like Charles Rennie MacKintosh and Jessie M. King), Brandywine, Changeling (2009, based on lettering by fairy artist Fanny Railton), Goddard, and Advertising Gothic (2003), Valentin, Gaheris, Agravain (2009). Delaguerra (2001-2009) is based on a lettering style originating in the California Arts&Crafts period commonly associated with Mission Style. It is still in common usage in signage at historical sites in California.
  • Victorian: Beaumarchais, Berenicia, Bilibin, Brandywine, Brigidis, Curetana, Durendal, Elphinstone, Flaubert, Folkard, Gjallarhorn, Gloriana, Hermia, Ironclaw, Magnus.
  • Typewriter: Fontcraft Courier.
  • Anthroposophic: Ekberg (2002, based on a sample of poster lettering by Samuel Welo).
  • Medieval fonts of Scriptorium, critiqued by Marc Smith, page 65: Batwynge is based on lettre gffe by Geofroy Tory (1529), and not on an illuminated manuscript of the tenth century as claimed by Scriptorium. Perigord (1993) is based on a Carolingian alphabet drawn by Ernst Bentele in 1952. Allencon is a calligraphic font based on an interpretation of 6th century Ostrogothic Italian calligraphy.
Some selected fonts: Finchley (psychedelic), Captain Kidd (2012, an original font design based on the title lettering from the classic pirate movie starring Charles Laughton), Aerobrush (2011), Fondry Ornament (2009), Atkinson Egyptian (2008, after the lettering of Frank Atkinson), Verne (2008: remade in 2020 into Covid19), Goldwork (almost blackletter), BigBlok (2010), LetterpressGothic (2010), Plymouth (2010, in the style of Cooper Bold), Broadley (2008, an architecturally inspired script based on lettering by British architect and designer C.F.A. Voysey), Locksley (2004, medieval lettering), Tuscarora (curly lettering), Fiorenza (Renaissance calligraphy), Hesperides (old colonial calligraphic script), Angelus (beautifully printed monospaced script), Esperanza (1996, connected medieval handwriting), Ithuriel (2002), Alleghieri (2002), Hamilton (2002), Spiral Initials, Zothique (great font, based on hand lettering from a map of Clark Ashton Smith's fantasy world of Zothique), Reynard (semi-Celtic), Daresiel (elegant script), Caliph (1992, Arabic simulation), Bassackwards, Rosalinde (1999, handwriting), Arakne (2000, connected handwriting), Falconis (by Michael Scarpitti), Asrafel (semi-Celtic), Swithin (2004), Tyrfing (Art Nouveau/Fraktur, 1999), Waldeck (2008, blackletter), Woburn Initials, Stampwork, Draughtwork, Roughwork (a codex font derived from Nalle's own True Golden which is based on a=n earlier typeface by arts and crafts master William Morris), Melusine (gothic calligraphy), Corbei (uncial), Niederwald (hand lettering), Gjallarhorn (great uncial), Gaiseric (early medieval uncial), Taranis (1987, an uncial first drawn as a font for the cover of the old Ysgarth roleplaying system), De Bellis (roman era, by Michael Scarpitti), Engravers Gothic, Monimental Initials, Sanhedrin (Enemy of the State font), Vespasiano (roman capitals, by Michael Scarpitti), Bilitis, Hendrix (2002), Collins OE (old English), Samedi, Praitor, Evadare (1993, based on a character set which was hand calligraphed by Rudolf Koch), Koch Fantasie (1993), Black Cow (1998). Zothique, Ruritania, Mariner (2004, based on hand lettering originally done by Willy Pogany), Trinculo (a swinging cursive font), Texas Star (2002), Octavian (antique demi-serif font), Ruffian (antique type font), Ascelon (thin sans serif font), Munich (title lettering from Munchner Jugend magazine), Necromantic (bizarre bold titling font), Titania (romantic decorative lettering font), Oberon (bold romantic font), Knotwork, Guede (1993), Pullman, Purcell (Victorian circus poster style font), Allegheny, Carmilla, Malagua (1999-2013), Ardenwood, Platthand, Buccaneer, Cochin Archaic (2010), Boswell (1994), Guilford (based on lettering by artist and calligrapher Eric Sloane), Death Ray (2012, constructivist), Alecto (futuristic), Candlemas (2003), Bridgeport (2003, based on lettering by artist and calligrapher Eric Sloane), Medieval Tiles (2003), Linthicum (2003), Draughtwork (2003), Yngling (Fraktur, 2003), Rheingold (elaborate Fraktur: Music Hall Text elsewhere; see also Teuton Text, Cincinnati Type Foundry, 1877), Kidd (2003), Belgravia (2004), Peck Shields (2004), Scrawlies (2000, handcrafted), Albrecht Durer Gothic (2004), Orpheus (2004), InduXtrial (2004, a grunge face), Yoshitoshi (2003), Veronique (2004), Veneto (2006), Vidilex (1993, monospaced), Abelarde (2006), John Speed (1993: a mapmaker font), Furbelow (2006), Estoril (2006), Tangle, Aventine (sans), Texas Star (2002), Groningen (Bauhaus design), Nevins Hand, Scrapple (2011, Victorian, ornamental), Leodegar (2011, based on samples of 7th century Frankish hand lettering), Candlemass (2012).

Fonts from 2013: Doge (a Venetian font based on a J.M. Bergling revival), Original Django (after the titling font in Quentin Tarantino's movie Django Unchained).

Fonts from 2014: Highball, Carillon (based on a typeface by Samuel Welo), Edifice (based on lettering by J.M. Bergling).

Fonts from 2015: Gods of Mars (an inline sci-fi typeface), Rykov (based on a 1930s Ukrainian constructivist style; Latin and Cyrillic), Vie Moderne (French art deco), Dahlgren, Grand Concours (art deco), Tantalus, Power Tie (art deco), Marquis Greeking.

Fonts from 2016: Ekberg Modern (based on lettering samples by Samuel Welo from poster designs of the 1920s), Knuckleduster, Tzaphkiel, Sarandiel, Primrose Initials, Elizabethan Script (chancery style), Zeitschrift (an art nouveau font based on the Ver Sacrum magazine), Wendingen (Dutch deco), Memento Mori (Tuscan), Rounders (art deco).

Fonts from 2017: Buzzmill (wooden plank font), Pumpkin Patch Initials, Talinn, Reliquary, Nopalito, Scattershot (script).

Typefaces from 2018: Marionettas (a Mexican horror movie poster font), Fascination, Architextura, Santa Sangre, Glyphos.

Typefaces from 2019: Cafe Corso (art nouveau), Comic Classix.

Fnts released in 2020: Epigramatic (based on lettering by Dard Hunter for the Roycroft Press in the early 1900s), Cryptos (graffiti).

Klingspor link. Abstract Fonts link. Dafont link.

View David Nalle's typefaces. Scriptorrium's library. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

Serena Bobbo

Serena Bobbo (Saïda, Lebanon) created an Arabic version of the hand-drawn typeface Cinnamon Cake (2011, Brittney Murphy) in 2014. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Shada Fad

During her studies in Beirut, Shada Fad designed the Latin / Arabic rope font Knotted (2016). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Shirine Kazan

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the wire-inspired Latin / Arabic typeface Msharbak (2014). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Sigmund Abou Chrouch

El Mansouriyet, Lebanon-based graphic designer who created the geometric circle-based typeface Orbis (2014). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Simon Hanna

Simon Hanna (Beirut, and/or Doha, Qatar) created Warrior, an Arabic typeface, and Wonder Circles (2013). In 2015, he designed the multiline origami typeface Folded. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Sleiman Hommos

Graphic designer in Beirut, Lebanon, who designed the Latin / Arabic typeface Sleiman in 2016. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Souraya Momtaz

During her studies in Beirut, Lebanon, Souraya Momtaz designed a Latin / Arabic connect-the-dots typeface (2017). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Studio Al-Mohtaraf Assaoudi

Lebanese design studio which created the Arabic text typeface Midan, which won the second prize for Arabic text type at Linotype's 1st Arabic Type Design Competition in April 2006. That typeface can be bought from Linotype. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Talia Douaidy

Talia Douaidy (Beirut) created the Latin / Arabic knot-based typeface Laced (2012). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Tamara Yasser

Graphic designer and illustrator in Beirut, who created the corset-themed typeface Tighten Up (2012) for Latin and Arabic. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Tania RWN

Graphic designer in Beirut, Lebanon, who created the handcrafted logotype Eddie in 2015. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Tania Shoukair

Tania Shoukair studied visual communication at The Lebanese University, and worked as a graphic designer and illustrator in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Presently, she is based in Amsterdam. She created Kafiye (2012, a textured Latin typeface influenced by the traditional Arab headdress) and the experimental typeface Ink (2010): Colored ink thrown into clear water was documented and used to detect shapes resembling alphabet letters. Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Tarek Atrissi

Arabic type site by Tarek Atrissi, a Beirut-born Lebanese professional designer, who is located in Hilversum, The Netherlands. He holds a BA in Graphic Design from the American University of Beirut, Masters of Arts in Interactive Multimedia from Utrecht School of Arts in Holland and an MFA in Design from the School of Visual Arts in NY. A Designer of the 6-weight Arabic family called AT, The Spirit of Doha (2004, for the Asian Games 2006), Al-Ghad (for the Jordanian newspaper Al-Ghad), the Ghad TV font (for the Jordanian station ATV), Etisalat (custom type for Etisalat Communications), Ayna (a squarish typeface done for Ayna.com), and Ambesque (2006, for the Amwaj Islands of Bahrain). He manages Arabtypography.com, a site dedicated solely to Arab typography. In 2008, he created Atrissi Sans. In 2007, he embarked on a project with Peter Bilak to develop Fedra Arabic to accompany Bilak's Fedra family. In 2010, he designed a custom Arabic font for the new BBC Arabic TV channel and custom Farsi face for the new BBC Farsi TV channel. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Tatiana Mourad

Lebanese designer of the artsy Latin / Arabic typeface Tripoli (2019). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Tatiana Noujaim

During her studies in Beirut, Lebanon, Tatiana Noujaim created the Latin / Arabic hipster typeface boldly called God's Typeface (2015). Presently, she is an art director living in Jounieh, Lebanon. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Tevin Zetalian

Graphic designer in New York City who hails from Beirut, Lebanon. In 2018, he created the display typeface Splash. [Google] [More]  ⦿

The MicroFoundry
[Hrant H. Papazian]

From the Center for Digital Innovation at UCLA, Hrant Papazian designs and works with type, and is a specialist of Armenian. He has even done multiple master fonts for Armenian. Born in 1968 in Beirut, Hrant specializes in Armenian fonts and legibility issues in general. Designer of Linotype Maral. Founder of The Microfoundry, where he practices type design for Latin, Arabic, Cyrillic, Hebrew, Armenian and Georgian. The company is located in Glendale, CA. Latin typefaces: Harrier, TMF Daam (with sub-version Domination, Brutaal and Cristaal, all useful as dungeon typefaces), TMF Paphos, TMF Patria (serif). Armernian fonts: Linotype Maral, TMF Arasan (see here for a download), TMF Roupen. Georgian: TMF Akhalkalak. Other fonts: Brutaal, Cristaal, Trajic NotRoman (unpublished, a destructured version of Trajan, submitted to and rejected by Emigre), and DominationAvailable. In 2004, he joined Ultra Pixel Fonts, where he made the pixel typeface Mana. An entertaining speaker and all-round type boulevardier, he will be remembered for many of his insightful and entertaining quotes. He invented the word Helvomita, and once replied this to a poster: I will now Fartura in your general direction. Bio at MyFonts.com. Bio at Linotype. Bio at ATypI. Interview by Daidala. He won an award at Granshan 2008. Speaker at ATypI 2009 in Mexico City. FontShop link. Speaker at ATypI 2010 in Dublin. [Google] [MyFonts] [More]  ⦿

TPTQ Arabic Type Foundry
[Kristyan Sarkis]

Sarkis has a BA in Graphic Design from Notre Dame University, Lebanon, and a Master's from the Design in Type and Media program at the The Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, The Netherlands. He has worked in the fields of graphic design and branding/advertising, and has taught at Virginia Commonwealth University (in Qatar). He was an independent graphic and type designer based in The Hague, The Netherlands, and is currently in Amsterdam. In 2015, he cofounded TPTQ Arabic Type Foundry. Flickr page.

In a KHTT interview, he writes: My first real experience with type was when I was working with Mohtaraf Beirut Graphics (2007), one of the leading design houses in Lebanon. Mohtaraf has a strong affinity to Arabic type and has produced several beautiful Arabic typefaces. Back then, I was given a task to start drawing a typeface. I was hesitant at first, but got very quickly into it. The design director Yara Khoury noticed that I 'have a knack for this', and encouraged me to go on with it. I was delighted to have the opportunity to understand a lot more about type under Yara's direction, and with some eye-opening sketches from Ali Assi, to research the calligraphic styles and explore the beauty of the Arabic script. I had very limited technical knowledge in font development at the time, therefore after I did the original digital drawings on Adobe Illustrator, Greta Khoury, my colleague at the time, who was and remains one of my biggest sources of inspiration, took over the project, did her magic tricks with it, and produced it into a working font in Fontlab Studio. I owe my start in type design to Yara Khoury and Greta Khoury and to an endless fascination with the Arabic script and the ethereal art of Arabic calligraphy. This drove me to work on self-initiated typefaces which eventually culminated in pursuing a higher education in Type Design at The Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. There, it all went to a whole new level, with countless additional inspirations: from the great teachers that we had, to all the lecturers and the amazing amount of information that was given to us.

His typefaces:

  • Thuraya (2010) is his thesis project at KABK: Thuraya is a display Arabic typeface that explores a contemporary context for the Diwani script. It won an award at TDC2 2011.
  • Still at KABK, he did a revival called Almost Didot (2010).
  • Coco (2010) is a rounded serif text typeface under development.
  • About Vespertine Arabic, he writes: Vespertine is a linear font designed specifically for the icelandic artist Björk by M/M Paris. Though seemingly a childish handwriting, the typeface is unusual, tricky and cursive with intricate curves. These characteristics, along with the thickness, x-height, counters and hand movement were meticulously studied and implemented in the Arabic version without undermining its legibility.
  • He also created Always Arabic, an Arabic companion of the Latin house font Always used by the feminine hygiene product company by the same name.
  • Amale is a modern Arabic display typeface suitable for newspaper headlines, book titles and logotypes.
  • Designer of Colvert Arabic (2012, Typographies.fr).
  • Louvre Abu Dhabi Logotype (2013).
  • Greta Arabic (2011), which was designed for newspapers, won an award at TDC 2012 and again at TDC 2016.
  • Kanun (2016-2017) by Krystian Sarkis is an Arabic signage type family carefully crafted to also handle long texts. It is the Arabic counterpart of Typotheque's November. Co-designer with Maha Aki of the Latin / Arabic typeface Kanun Stencil (2021), a playful typeface inspired by industrial signage and mechanical stencilling. Kanun Stencil is equipped with a collection of transportation and travel-related signs, symbols, icons, and various sets of arrows for signage and wayfinding systems. Kanun is meant as an Arabic counterpart of Peter Bilak's November.
  • Teshrin (2017). A warmer version of Kanun, still well equipped for information signage and wayfinding projects.
  • Qandus (2017-2019). A Latin / Arabic cooperative typeface by Kristyan Sarkis and Laura Meseguer.

Speaker at ATypI 2016 in Warsaw on A Typographic Maghribi Trialogue. In this talk, he explains, together with Laura Meseguer and Juan Luis Blanco, the Typographic Matchmaking in the Maghrib project of the Khatt Foundation, which tries to facilitate a cultural trialogue as well as shed a typographic spotlight on the largely ignored region of the Maghreb in terms of writing and design traditions. The specific goal of the collaboration is the research and development of tri-script font families (for Latin, Arabic and Tifinagh) that can communicate harmoniously.

Behance link. Personal home page. [Google] [More]  ⦿

TYPO.GRAPHIC.BEIRUT 2005 conference

Type and graphic design conference, held from 28-30 April 2005 at the University of Beirut, Lebanon. Organized by Zeina El Abed, Nathalie Fallaha and Yasmine Taan, this conference was free of charge and drew 800 people.! Speakers included Ken Garland, Gerry Leonidas, Huda Smishuijzen AbiFares, Reza Abedin, Nadine Chahine, Jean-François Porchez, Heinz Widmer, Tarek Atrissi, Stephen Banham, Johannes Bergerhausen, Filip Blazek, Ashwini Deshpande, Zantides Evripides, Ben Hannam, Lazlo Lelkes, Zeina Maasri, Peter Martin, Stuart Medley, Dan Reynolds, Jennifer Spoon, and Bruno Steinert. Report by Dan Reynolds. Pictures by Porchez (change the 7 to 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 for more). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Vera Ashkar

Beirut-based designer of an untitled Arabic typeface in 2013. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Viviane Wehbe

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of an untitled painted calligraphic caps alphabet in 2015. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Vladimir Tamari

Vladimir F. Tamari (d. August 6, 2017) was born in Palestine, he spent his youth in Ramallah, and has lived in Tokyo for the past 40 years. He studied physics and art at the American University of Beirut where he met and was inspired by Buckminster Fuller (around 1960). He invented and built 3D drawing instruments. In the 1980s he joined the Optical Society of America to keep up with the field and holds U.S. patents for inventions based on his Streamline Diffraction Theory to cancel diffraction in telescopes. He wrote Beautiful Universe: Towards Reconstructing Physics From New First Principles (2005). He paints in watercolors and has designed Arabic fonts for Adobe.

In 2005, he made Beautiful Universe, a physics symbol font designed to illustrate his physics theory.

He visited Monotype In the mid-sixties at which time he patented (in the UK in 1965) a scheme to abbreviate the number of shapes to print Arabic. He created AlQuds (Arabic) fonts for the Tasmeem Adobe InDesign add-on (in 2008). [AlQuds, meaning The Holy One, is the Palestinian Arab name for Jerusalem.] We had to wait until ca. 2015 before he published the AlQuds and AlQuds Monhani family of (modern sans) fonts in its full glory with Monotype.

In a separate effort, he designed three funky font families: Maribei (Arabic), Kweeky (matching Latin, also available as 5-layer 3D font sets), Monmon (Arabic). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Wael Morcos

After receiving his BA in Graphic Design from the Notre Dame University (Lebanon), Wael Morcos worked for the news website NowLebanon. A year later he joined the branding and design department of Saatchi Beirut where he spent three years developing identities, bilingual typographic solutions and working in print and exhibition design.

His typefaces include Kufam (2013): Kufam is a bilingual typeface originally commissioned by Khatt Foundation part of the Typographic Matchmaking project. The typeface is the result of the collaboration between Dutch type designer Artur Schmal and myself. The Arabic is inspired by early Kufi inscriptions (7th century) and the Latin is inspired by Dutch urban lettering of the 1920's. The font supports the Arabic and Persian scripts. In 2014 Kufam was published on the now defunct type label OurType, where the font development team expanded the characterset from Standard to Pro and remastered the fonts. Kufam was available on OurType until 2017. From 2018 Kufam was reworked to meet Google Fonts Latin Expert and Arabic character sets and in 2020 Kufam was made available on Google Fonts (with assistance from Artur Schmal). Github link.

Azer (codesigned with Pascal Zoghbi and Ian Party) won an award at TDC 2014.

IBM Plex Sans Arabic (2019, by Mike Abbink, Paul van der Laan, Pieter van Rosmalen, Wael Morcos and Khajak Apelian) is a free typeface family at Google Fonts.

Graphic Arabic (Wael Morcos and Khajag Apelian) won an award at Granshan 2017. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Wafaa Al

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the Arabic display typeface Iris (2018). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Wassim Awadallah
[BluGraphic (or: Graphic Pear)]

[More]  ⦿

Yara-Marie Sayad

Beirut-based designer of the left-leaning hairline typeface Trans. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Yasmine Aboul-Hosn

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the Latin / Arabic display typeface Skeletal (2016). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Yasmine Taan

Lebanese type designer and typographer. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Zahraa Shakaroun

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the pixel typeface Mazeme (2014). [Google] [More]  ⦿

Zein Alabidine Hajj Chehadeh

Beirut, Lebanon-based designer of the Latin chisel script typeface Gaia (2017). Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿

Zeina Georges Baaklini

Born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1986, Zeina graduated in 2008 from NDU (Notre Dame University Lebanon). Presently she is a print and media designer in Florence, Italy.

Creator of the Arabic simulation typeface Gibran (2012), which was created for Lebanese author Gibran Khalil.

Behance link. [Google] [More]  ⦿