What do design­ers need to know in order to work with both Latin and Arabic typo­graphy? Plenty.

For a myriad of reas­ons, the west­ern world has become aware of and, hope­fully, more sens­it­ive to the Arabic cul­ture. As a res­ult, graphic com­mu­nic­at­ors in the west­ern world are being asked to add insight into Arabic cul­ture and graphic com­mu­nic­a­tion to their cre­at­ive palette. This, how­ever, is clearly easier said than done. Cre­at­ing design that will per­form accept­ably in the Arabic com­munity takes a lot more than adding a new suite of fonts to your hard drive. It takes the real­iz­a­tion that the found­a­tion of Arabic graphic com­mu­nic­a­tion is very dif­fer­ent from that in the west­ern world.

The good news is that there is a book that goes a long way in help­ing the west­ern design com­munity learn about this issue. Extens­ively illus­trated with more than 200 examples of the best in con­tem­por­ary Arabic typo­graphy and graphic design, “Arabic for Design­ers” by Mourad Boutros is an author­it­at­ive guide for design­ers unfa­mil­iar with Arabic script.

Using visual examples and case stud­ies, Mourad Boutros takes the reader through the entire range of graphic design applic­a­tions – news­pa­per and tele­vi­sion news typefaces, book jacket designs, cor­por­ate and brand iden­tity, logo­type con­ver­sions, advert­ising, design for print and fine art.

The author shows how non-Arabic speak­ing design­ers can work with the lan­guage and under­stand and respect its cul­tural nuances, whilst avoid­ing the pit­falls and mis­takes to which many oth­ers have fallen victim.

Arabic for Design­ers demon­strates how design­ing with Arabic can yield incred­ibly innov­at­ive, beau­ti­ful and suc­cess­ful res­ults. Based upon over 40 years’ exper­i­ence of work­ing with an array of cor­por­ate and cre­at­ive cli­ents, Mourad Boutros addresses the rise in global aware­ness about Arab cul­ture in ways that inform and inspire.

This book is an invalu­able ref­er­ence for design stu­dents, design pro­fes­sion­als, mar­keters and any­one inter­ested in Arabic cul­ture and language.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 27th, 2009 at 1:05 pm and is filed under Type for Print.