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November 27, 2010

‘Internationally Austrian’

‘Internationally Austrian’, published in TYPO 41, 84–85, 2010

 

My fascination with typography and typeface design had its beginnings during my studies ‎at the Graphische in Vienna, one of Austria’s leading design schools. As it is often the ‎case, it was not the institution as a whole, but the influence of one teacher that had the ‎most lasting impact on me. Although typography was inadequately represented in the ‎curriculum (and as I’ve learned to my disappointment, it is currently further reduced), the ‎lessons with Martin Tiefenthaler were a highlight during my education. It was due to his ‎teachings that my interest in typeface design was triggered, nurtured, and eventually ‎pursued on a higher level at the University of Reading, UK.

During my master of Typeface Design, not only were my initial curiosity and interest in ‎typography elevated onto a professional level, more importantly, I was encouraged and ‎supported to pursue another interest of mine: non-Latin scripts. Having studied Russian ‎for eight years at secondary school, the Cyrillic script suggested itself as an obvious ‎choice – and thanks to Gerry Leonidas, I realised that the obvious choice was not ‎necessarily the most interesting for me. Although more daunting, the Arabic script – ‎another personal interest – promised a richer learning experience.

Since then, I have never regretted this decision. The Arabic script and all the questions ‎pertaining to the subject of multilingual typeface design and typography have become my ‎field of research, the speciality I am consulted with, the domain I receive acclaim in, the ‎passion that allows me to travel the world. My two multi-script typeface families for ‎Arabic and Latin script, Aisha and Nassim, both won TDC² awards and other significant ‎recognitions in the field. Nassim currently ships as a Tasmeem font and both typefaces ‎will be released as extensive OpenType families later this year. Parallel to my independent ‎work I provide consultancy and expertise as a freelance designer for projects such as the ‎Al-Jazeera Children Channel typeface developed with Fontsmith.

In addition to my practice as designer, I was able to develop a second leg as a teacher in ‎various schools. I taught at the Virginia Commonwealth University of Qatar and am ‎currently lecturer at the École supérieure d’art et de design d’Amiens in France and the ‎École supérieure des arts visuelles in Marrakesh, Morocco. In both institutions we are ‎building dedicated programmes of typographic education on undergraduate and ‎postgraduate levels alike.

What has started as an interest during my design education in Vienna has become a full-‎time job for me. Maybe it is a virtue of coming from a small country without relevant ‎typographic history that allows me to navigate and participate in this wide a range of ‎contexts. This wealth of influences is the most rewarding experience for me and I am ‎constantly trying to learn and take-in from these changing surroundings. It comes as no ‎surprise that exposure to mentalities, practices and thinking from Austria to the UK, ‎Syria, Qatar, France, Morocco and most recently Australia have had a profound impact on ‎my own endeavours. If I am able to digest, transform, communicate and eventually ‎pass-on what comes from this, I will feel satisfied that I have been able to contribute ‎something valuable.‎
 

account, article, TYPO

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