PH.D. RESEARCH

Keywords

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 Arabic Script, Type Design , Typography, Modern History, Arabic Type History, Typography

This research investigates the twentieth-century history of Arabic type design, where a new tendency of the Arabic writing system started in the Academy of Arabic language in Cairo in 1938. In which, a new form of Arabic script reformation and simplification studies started, to accompany the new technology assisted in propagating the printing industry, due to the under the growing demands for printed matters, which created an atmosphere of modernization and progressive experimentation.

The result of this atmosphere of change led to a re-evaluation of the classical Arabic language taking into account its structural, written and visual aspects. The Academy of Arabic language in Cairo decided to initiate a worldwide competition to reform the Arabic writing system to solve its obstacles, about 200 projects were received.

This historical event considered as a courageous and refreshing vision of Arabic script. Therefore, in the contemporary realm, this addresses the challenges of Arabic computing and the design of digital Arabic fonts. Until now, Arabic typography remains a challenge to type designers such as Arabic letters have four different positions (initial, medial, final and isolated) and the need to programme those positional variants by hand requires considerable work and is time-consuming. Supporting diacritical marks (e.g. Shadda, Dammah, Kasra, etc.) requires major technical work and effort. Also, the large ascenders and descenders in Arabic require a larger baseline interval than in Latin.

This historical research study will utilize archival materials to provide a retrospective view of issues identifies in the 1930s regarding the Arabic writing system, some of which still have relevance for contemporary Arabic type design.

This research also aims to extend and deepens the historical narrative of Arabic type history and provides a valuable source for scholars, students, and practitioners in the field.