The last time this site received a structural update dates a few years back, and so does the last update of content. Now some required technical maintenance provided an opportunity to address both. Elena Ramirez, who developed the site originally and is now one half of Ashler Design, kindly agreed to work on the facelift […]
When creating a document with text in the Arabic script on a computer, the process is all but identical to the one for a Latin script text. There is a rectangular text area, usually defined by margins, that is filled with text, just like a basin is filled with water. Subject to the features of […]
On 21 February 2005, Justin Howes died suddenly and unexpectedly of heart failure. He was 41 years old and inmidst of his PhD research at the Department of Typography and Graphic Communication in Reading, UK. Justin investigated aspects of type-making in the ‘long eighteenth century’, and presented a talk about ‘Extreme Type’ at Reading’s postgraduate […]
It is refreshing to see a scholar of ‘Oriental’ studies concern himself with the representation of texts, and visual aspects of the written word. By and large, looking at texts has held little or no priority in most of the humanities (a startling fact that would merit discussion), and so I was interested to see […]
Last week I have submitted print-ready and ebook-ready files of my book Arabic Type-Making in the Machine Age: The influence of Technology on the Form of Arabic Type 1908–1993, which is going to be published by the Dutch publisher Brill next month. As the blurb says without any false modesty, this is the first in-depth […]
On May 17, 2006, I was in the process of defining Arabic mark positions for Nassim in a roundabout process involving a dummy FontLab MultipleMaster file, custom export scripts and Microsoft’s beloved Visual OpenType Layout Tool – VOLT. I was a Master’s student at the Department of Typography and Graphic Communication at the University of […]
In August 2012 I was contacted by Dafi Kühne, a colleague from Zürich. He needed a hand with some Arabic typesetting for a large poster project that was to feature at the 13th international Architecture exhibition at the Biennale di Venezia, 2012. Dafi is a poster designer and printer, and initially only needed help with […]
Last week I spent an enjoyable 2 days in Lyon, visiting Alice Savoie at the interesting Musée de l’imprimerie de Lyon to further my research on the evolution of Arabic type. It was a delightful stay with great company, friendly people and lovely food (Merci Luc!). Yet, the airport’s welcome sign made me shudder. You […]
On Thursday, January 26, Typographica posted its most recent best-of-list of typeface releases for the year 2011. I am honoured that Nassim is included in this selection of excellent creations, and feel particularly humbled in view of some of the worthy honourable mentions. Thierry Blancpain’s review is enlightening and critical at once, succinct and without […]
The Nassim typeface family has been awarded another design prize. After receiving prior honours from the Type Directors Club and the European Design Awards in 2007, and the London-based Design Museum in 2008, Nassim features now among the 53 entries that have been selected for their design excellence by the ATypI jury, formed of prominent […]