Introductory Arabic Type Course at AUB

Pascal Zoghbi

This spring, the elective course “Introduction to Arabic Type Design” at AUB [American University of Beirut] was introduced. It is given part of the Graphic Design program at AUB. Third and fourth year students who were interested in Arabic type and wanted to develop their skills in understanding and drawing Arabic letters, enrolled in the course. The course was an ongoing collaboration between the students and I. I had to evaluate what they could and needed to learn as opposed to what was too advanced for them.

The aim of the course was to teach the students the design and technical skills needed for developing professional Arabic lettering and logotypes as well as the beginning of an Arabic typeface. Students learned to analyze and identify the different Arabic type styles and their classifications.

They were taught the basic skills for creating their own typefaces through the type design process that consists of: 1. Sketching type, 2. Drawing type, 3. Tracing and creating outlines for letters, 4. Spacing the typeface and 5. Generating the font into a workable format.


Sample sentence of the fonts created during the course.

The course was divided into two main parallel approaches to the subject.
The first approach consists of hands-on exercises dealing with advanced Arabic typography and type design skills, including hand drawn lettering and Arabic calligraphy. The second approach consists of learning the computer techniques needed to digitize typefaces and generate basic Arabic fonts through lectures and introductory lessons on font editing applications.


Poster design by Ayman Hassan for one of the design lecture series at AUB. Kufayfar type in use in the poster.
Poster design was supervised by Reza Abedini.

Introductory lettering exercises were given at the start of the course to familiarize the students with drawing Arabic letters and words. Students were asked to create their own Arabic urban lettering and later Arabic logotypes before they embarked on the creation of their first Arabic font.

Below are some sample works of the urban lettering exercise:


‎فايتين بالحيط / Julie El Khoury


‎ضو الضو / Bassel Fatayri


‎شو معقدة / Reem Al Ayoubi


‎شي بقرف / Andrea Tohme


‎متأزّم / Salwa Faour

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As for the Arabic Fonts created, below are some brief preview of the sketching and outlined final letters:

SAWA font created by Salwa Faour & Bassel Fatayri:
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The font is inspired from contemporary/free-style calligraphy.

KUFUQ font created by Nadia Deghayli & Andrea Tohme:
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The font is a revival of the Eastern Kufic calligraphic style found in old Qoranic manuscripts.

JEEM font created by Joelle Haddad:
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The font is based on the Naskh Mastari style. It is a type proposal for the Lebanese Army to be used for their badges and signage.

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AUB- Faculty of Engineering & Architecture – Graphic Design Department- Spring 2012
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Published by Pascal Zoghbi

When setting up to establish 29LT digital type foundry in 2013, Lebanese designer and educator Pascal Zoghbi aspired to explore the diversity and potential of the Arabic script. Zoghbi envisioned 29LT with a cross-cultural approach. Having evolved, studied and worked in a multicultural and largely bilingual environment, he embraced multilingualism. Coming into contact with more than one language in his everyday life, he has developed an exceptional ability to think global and to reflect the various technical, conventional, and cultural writing systems into his work. Accordingly, he has excelled in creating innovative, high-quality contemporary multiscript type families, each of which is unique in its design approach and responds to regional and international market needs. Staying true to his culture, he worked on turning traditional Arabic script into contemporary type. Always on the lookout for new ideas and harmony between scripts, he explores various tools and techniques and regularly partners with a team of professional designers specialized in specific scripts to create multiscript typography. Not only is he heavily involved in the practice of Arabic type design and typography, but he has also contributed to the field as an educator. Between 2007 and 2017, he taught at various design schools in Lebanon (American University of Beirut, Lebanese American University, and Notre Dame University) and in the UAE (American University of Sharjah). Besides lecturing at universities, he takes part in a range of design events worldwide and provides trainings and workshops on Arabic typography at universities, conferences, and agencies. Zoghbi has gained an international reputation for his work and has received throughout his professional career prestigious design awards and honors, such as TDC Typographic Excellence, Granshan, AIGA, and was nominated to Jameel Prize 3. His work encompasses an outstanding collection of contemporary Arabic and multilingual typefaces. He co-authored and edited the “Arabic Graffiti” book published in 2010. Zoghbi started his academic journey at Notre Dame University in Lebanon where he grew interest in Arabic typography. He further developed his type design skills at the Royal Academy of Art (KABK), the Netherlands, where he obtained in 2006 a Master of Design in Type & Media. In 2018, he relocated to Madrid where he is currently based. Since then, his interest in a vast number of Spanish historical and cultural topics, especially those that showcase the merging of Arabic and Spanish cultures, grew keener. 29LT expanded accordingly, shifting from supporting only Arabic and Latin scripts to a global multiscript approach tapping into other world scripts.

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