Ektopia

Well, I know I’m not a designer but that doesn’t stop me from being interested in design does it. I’m also a self confessed need-to-know-how-things-work addict too. Then there’s the fact that the media over the last few years have increasingly used/included clippings depicting Arabic text from foreign news papers etc., which has sparked a real interest in Arabic text. Anyways, it’s these three factors that had me all excited when I saw that Arabic For Designers, published by Mark Batty, was about to hit the bookshop shelves.

Getting my hands on the book was a great experience in itself. Sure, the dust jacket is nice but get rid of that and you end up with a beautiful satin gold cover with shiny gold embossed traditional Arabic script running along the bottom; it’s a very classy touch, and if I’m honest, I think the book has much more charm with the dust jacket omitted. It was no surprise that this book is clearly laid out inside. After a concise history of the history of English language we are introduced to more detailed look at the history of Arabic. It’s kind of hard for me to get my head around the fact that early Arabic relied heavily on the actual shape and form of sentences to relay as much meaning as the sentence itself. It’s a new concept for me but it has a romantic notion, don’t you think? There are a few examples of how the styles of Arabic have changed over time. My favourite style has to be Kufic, which belong to the 7th and 8th century AD. As time passed Kufic became more elaborate and the letter forms grew with decorative style. Even looking at them now the examples look so fresh and contemporary, even though they originate from such a long time ago. Anyway, the history lesson continues with a whole load of information related to the written Arabic form as well as that of its relation to the printing press and its modernisation into the computerised world.

It was a relief to see that the complicated differences between Latin based text and Arabic text can be broken down (to a degree) into a few key differences. Perhaps the most interesting point for me is that the calligraphy is all based on complex measurements. There is no single base-line that letters have to sit on and ascenders and descenders are placed at different heights. Arabic letters are also commonly stretched for decorative reasons, but certain rules apply. There are many other factors of course, but these are the ones that I find most interesting in a personal level. You would think that with these complicated rules that the media and advertising industry would be careful when making translations wouldn’t you…there’s an interesting chapter related to this very thing. There’s a mix of carefully translated pieces (not just text but also the images are changed so as not to offend) as well as some embarrassing faux pas. These include whole advertising pages that have just had their text directly translated but omitting the fact that they should have changed the text direction to read from right to left! School-boy error? I think so.

There are also come interesting design case studies that revolve around money design, newspapers and the TV before getting to my favourite chapter, the gallery. The last third of the book is taken up by beautiful examples, along with accompanying information, of the best contemporary Arabic design. These examples range from stamps, adverts, pieces of art, logos, packaging, book covers etc.

Regular visitors of Ektopia will know I’m also a little obsessed with graffiti/streetart too. There’s a wonderful double page dedicated to Lebanese truck drivers who decorate their vehicles with elaborate Arabic calligraphy. It seems too interesting not to mention here. As a footnote, I’ve started to notice some interesting graff while trawling the Flickr RSS feeds. There were a few pieces, that I assume are all from the same artist, that share some similar attributes with Arabic text. These photos can be seen here, here and here if you’re interested.

I’m sure that much of the cultural and academic side of this book has gone over my head. However, I have to say that while I’m aware of this, it hasn’t prevented me from enjoying the book at all. This books teaches designers (and non-designers I guess) that Arabic should be respected. Arabic For Designers (ISBN:0976224550) is 18cm x 26cm hard cover edition and weighs in at 224 pages. Get a copy direct from Mark Batty or from all the usual places including AmazonUK and AmazonUS.

Update - 21/04/06 - Eko just reminded me I should have included a link to this great l’Atlas spot…Cheers Mr Ekosystem.