Arabic type design: general guidelines 1 Determining the style

The first point to be considered is the style. As mentioned above, there are different Arabic styles. The most common ones are Kufic, Thuluth, Naskhī, Muhaqqaq, Rayhānī, Nasta‘liq, Tawqī and Ruqā‘ (they have been further explained in chapter three). Some of them are more suitable for certain purposes than others. So, it is paramount to define the style before start work on the specific shapes when sketching or defining letterforms. In Arabic, the script style is very much related to the purpose of use. The designer Pascal Zoghbi agrees that, “Upon starting an Arabic typeface design, the first step to do is to choose a calligraphic style to refer to while drawing the letters. The choice of calligraphic style is directly depended on the purpose and use of the typeface” (Zoghbi, 2007).

Each style has its own conventions. So, following one style will provide more unity to the type design. A mix of styles would be misread by a familiar Arabic reader. It would be complete nonsense. Style is not only a convention that comes from a specific writing school but a high cultural issue. The style also defines the degree of simplification needed when drawing letters: A style such as Kufic allows more room for form simplification than other styles less related to geometry.

It is advisable to have reference material on this specific script. Having photos or reproductions from original manuscripts, or a calligraphy manual with written samples would help for those who are unfamiliar with a specific Arabic style.

In the following chapter I will discuss which decisions and criteria I have followed when designing my Arabic.

5.4.2 Experimenting & learning

While sketching and looking at different samples of Arabic writing, it is necessary to practise writing by going back to basics, i.e. shaping the different letters of the Arabic alphabet in their different forms: isolated, initial, medial and final. It is

advisable to attend a calligraphy course or self-taught learning course using a good manual. Starting with the isolated letters first is a good way of becaming familiar- ised with the Arabic alphabet and the pen movements. Writing direction and the pen angle influences the whole letter shape when writing. In order to maintain the most comfortable writing angle of 30-45 degrees, the nib of the pen for Arabic is cut diagonally to the left about 35-40°, while the pen for Latin is cut off at an angle of 60-70° to the shaft [Fig. 72]; which is why Latin type emphasises the vertical stems of letters. Arabic, on the other hand, puts the emphasis on the horizontal strokes, which are thicker than the vertical ones. The width is greater in Arabic letters than in Latin ones, since horizontality it assumes more relevance. Whereas, in Latin where letters are unconnected, the height is paramount in order to keep characters visually upright.

As Huda Smitshuijzen explains in her Arabic Typography book:

The European scribes used their pens at an angle of 3o° when writing Latin text from left to right. The result of the pen’s angle and the writing direction created letters that consist of heavy vertical strokes (slightly slanted towards the writing direction), and thin horizontal strokes, the latter used to connect the letters to one another. (...) The thin horizontal strokes of Latin script created simple, horizontal connections between letters, thus eliminating any need for shape variations per individual letter regardless of its position within a word. (Smitshuijzen, 2001, p. 94) Regarding Arabic, she says,

The writing pen used may vary in size and shape from one calligrapher to another, but when compared to the pens used in Latin calligraphy, they are invariably cut at a much steeper angle, and the writing runs in the oppo- site direction of Latin script. These two facts led to an opposite effect on the construction of the Arabic letterforms. The letters in Arabic consist of thin vertical strokes and thick horizontal strokes. The thickness of the horizontal strokes which form the connections between the letters, gives them an impor- tant presence, and creates a complex system that governs the way letters can be connected to form a word. (...) The complexity and importance of the connec- tions between letters in the Arabic script explains the need for shape variations of individual letters in relation with their position within a word. (Smitshuijzen, 2001, p. 95)

5.4.3 Drawing letters

When designing a Latin typeface, it is useful to begin definite drawings (on paper or screen) using a test word: a word that contains base letters which apply to certain basic proportions on height, depth and width. Such words as ‘Hamburgervons’ can help in order to get a specific word-image that helps to value how our typeface is

working visually.8 _{‘The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy fox’ is the most used}

pangram in English, since this sentence contains all the letters of the alphabet (for the English language). Something similar is impossible for Arabic because of the different positioning shapes of letters. When looking for a test sentence or word for the Arabic, there is no established standard so far.

Smitshuijzen suggests the sentence: ندلاعشملا عوطك يه (Smitshuijzen, 2001, p. 183), while Pascal Zoghbi proposes also Smitshuijzen’s sentence and introduces a new one: ةَكْبدلا نوصُقري مُهُشيبارطو ْمُه (Zoghbi, 2007a).

As in Latin, any word or character combination which uses the ‘extreme’ characters (tallest and deepest) of the Arabic alphabet could be also valid as a starting point, regardless of whether the sentence makes sense or not; it is a matter of proportional visualisation. Zoghbi (2007) proposes that the sentence should include letters with ascenders (Alif, Kāf, Ṭā’), descenders (Rā’, Nūn, Ḥā’, ‘Ayn), eyes (Wāw), loops (Fā’) and teeth (Sīn, Tā’). Abulhab (2008) proposes that “ascender and descender values of Alif, Dāl, Bā and ‘Ayn can certainly be adequate reference points to work with in any Arabic typeface design project (p. 188). But he states that “Bā is the best letter to start with followed by Alif. These two shapes define the font’s harmony and style” (Abulhab, 2008, p. 189).

My position is quite close to that proposed by Abulhab. I have to say that I began experimenting with different letters (since all was new and very appealing to me), but at a certain point I realised that I should be more efficient and work on some basic (isolated) shapes, such as: Alif, Bā, Sīn, ‘Ayn, Wāw and Ḍād. The most important thing was to define the tallest and deepest characters in order to establish ascenders and descenders for the Arabic.

In order to follow an easier procedure when drawing the rest of characters, it is advisable to first design all base characters as other characters derive from them. The base characters are: Alif, Bā, Ḥā’, Dāl, Rā’, Sīn, Ṣād, Ṭā’, ‘Ayn, Fā’, Qāf, Kāf, Lām, Mīm, Nūn, Hā’, Wāw and Yā’ [see Fig. 4 on page 66]. I come to this later in Chapter Six, where I focus on my project.

5.4.4 Historical script knowledge

Throughout the history of Arabic script some conventions have been established when defining the right model to follow. According to Ibn Muqlah, one of the masters who renovated and unified Arabic calligraphy practice in the tenth century, three principles for letterform proportions should be applied:

Nizam Al-Dairah principle: The height of letter Aleph defines the diameter of a

virtual circle which all the basic letters should relate to [Fig. 13].

Nizam Al-Nuqat principle: Taking the dot (defined by the thickness of the

horizontal stroke of the pen) as a modular element, each letter is drawn according 8 In the ma of type design at Reading University, they use the test word ‘adhesion’. There are other base-image

words as: ‘handgloves’ or ‘video span’. For Latin, I use the word ‘albino’ or ‘alpino’ (in lowercase) for Spanish, or ‘bacalhao’ for Portuguese.

to a specific number of dots. That maintains the relations among letters according to the same unity element [Fig. 13].

Nizam Al-Tashabuh principle: In order to keep visual unity consistent within the

system it is important to draw similar strokes in different letters [Fig. 13].

These geometric proportional principles should not condition the designing of an Arabic typeface, but would be a good referent in some cases to follow conventions.

Although I have taken this classic proportional canon into account, I consider typography does not need to stick on these calligraphic rules too literally. When defining proportional guidelines which apply better to typography than calligraphy, we are already defining the relations between letters. The last principle is basic in order to provide consistency. I believe the last Ibn Muqlah’s principle is the only one that fits with typographical principles.

So, I relied on my eye, even though I tried not to distance my drawings too much from those calligraphic conventions.

5.5 Character design