Slanted Non-Latin Special Issue – BABYLON

Typography and Graphic Design

NON-LATIN SPECIAL ISSUE / Summer 2013 ISSN 1867–6510 — € 9

Slanted

babylon

It’s very similar in Korea. During the festival Une Saison Graphique in Le Havre I visited an exhibition with works by Anh Sang Soo, who enjoys big popularity. His work is dedicated to the Hangueul alphabet which was developed 500 years ago during the reign of king Sejong and which consists of 17 consonants and 11 vowel signs – developed as an alternative to the Chinese alphabet which was reigning at that time. Soo developed numerous typefaces which connect the Korean tradition with new directions. A vital continuation of history and identity.

Panos Vassiliou / Parachute / p 60

During trip (Latin, through Poland, Regal aPro Greek, Cyrillic) I quickly took notice of a signage system which could make every typographer’s face flush with anger: The lettering of the tram stop was not designed by an expert in Cracow, but by a display manufacturer. He decided to use kind of a Commercial Script typeface – should probably look historical. Because the wonderful glyph “Ł” was missing in this type, he did handicrafts and glued. The cultural meaning of language and type and everything which represents typography has been ignored.

Oded Ezer / HebrewTypography & Mota Italic / p 60

I experienced the opposite last year in the Armenian city Oschakan, These three examples show how tight when I stood at the grave of Mesrop language is connected with type, Maschtoz, a moving moment for all culture and identity. The amount participants of Granshan conference of languages in the world is estimated 2012. The grave and the church at 6,500–7,000. One third will be dead belong to the biggest sanctuaries in the upcoming years – globalization and pilgrimage destinations of calls for its victims. However, a Armenia. The monk who died 1,600 democratization of type design gives years ago († February 17th, 440) the chance to develop high-quality is the patron saint of Armenia. typefaces also for little languages Museums and institutes are dedicated and alphabets and consequently to him, memorials remember him strengthens or conceives identity. in the capital city Yerevan and tens That’s why Granshan, with its focus of thousands pilgrim to his grave on Non-Latin-alphabets, is such every year. The religious scholar an important conference! once the Armenian written Rutzdeveloped (AKA Vesper Hebrew) (Hebrew, English) language, an alphabet existing of We wish you a lot of fun, 36 letters which is conceived as the Lars Harmsen base of culture and nationality for the Slanted editorial team

by Armenians. Since the little country got rid of the Sovjet crew in 1991, it is in search of its roots. Mesrop and his alphabet were most identityestablishing: “It’s due to him that our nation still exists,” numerous Armenians say. Alphabet is identity.

1 1 2 3 4

2 Lettering of a tram stop in Cracow Alphabet Garden, one of the most important pilgrimage destinations of Armenia Grave of Mesrop Maschtoz Typographic installation by Anh Sang Soo in the library of Le Havre

実験的なSF映画 __________の場面より

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Slanted Babylon / Non-Latin

前政権が映画スターやテレビタレント、 有名な歴史的人物などの複製サイボー グの一団を配備すると、その当時は歩行 可能だった民衆の間で数か月ほど大人 気を博したが、その後あっという間に凋 落した。 サイボーグの人格というのが有名人た ち本来の人格ではなく、 メディア用の外的 人格をもとに割り出した行動に対応する 相互参照データベースでしかないことが 判明したのだ。

Scenes from __________, Lynam › p 61

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くじ引きという手段で間引 かれた世界の人口は何とか 維持できるレベルにまで減 少し、全世界の海洋に生物 を補充する試み(クローン作 成で恐るべき失敗を犯し、 突 然 変 異 体 の 巨 大イカが 意味もなく外洋航路船を破 壊、同じく昔ながらの銅板彫 刻、国際連合への加盟を狙 う知覚のある海藻のコロニ

ーも破壊し、 さらに同様の残 虐行為が続いた)を行い、そ れに続いて2100 年の頭足 類/甲殻類戦争が勃発する と、人類が海洋生物の DNA 組み換えを始めたころより 海洋生物の生息数がさらに 減少し、人類の総意で急成 長している遺伝子操作技術 の開発をやめることを宣言 した。

そ れ以 降 、 しばしの 安 定した 休息期間が訪れたようにも見 えた。

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Slanted Babylon / Non-Latin

そこにはもう 人々を守るものは 何も存在しなかった。

Scenes from __________, Lynam › p 61

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Slanted Babylon / Non-Latin

Scenes from ________, an experimental science fiction film.

A photo essay by Ian Lynam

tablets will do. Many years from now, these very few years at the beginning of the century’s second decade will be seen as a key inflection point: the combination of portable, personal, ever-present, ever-connected screens will transform our ideas of learning, of creating new knowledge, of exchange to degrees unimaginable by our idolized authors.

There is one problem, however: the future is turning out to be more complicated that we had imagined.

Instead of a single, Esperanto-like über-language, we are growing with two parallel identities. One is based on a commonly-owned, flexible and forgiving version of English, with a rubber-band syntax and a constant stream of new words that spread like an epidemic to other tongues. Another is our regional and historical identity: local in geography, and deeply personal in its associations. This identity is awash with the memories that make you who you are. It comes in the language you dream in, the language of your laughter, your exasperations, and your tears. Overwhelmingly, this is not English, and quite likely it is not in letters of the Latin script.

Indeed, just as globalization brought a wave of uniformity, it also underlined the rights of communities to express themselves in their local languages and dialects, in the script of their traditions. But the growing urban populations (over half of everybody, now) are contributing to a demand of complex script support.

The equivalent of a single typeface rendering a plain-vanilla version of a language is not a new thing: for about two decades we’ve had the equivalent of a global typewriter, spitting out a single-weight, single style typescript for nearly every language, with a variant degree of sensitivity to the historical forms of the script.

Slanted Babylon Leonidas › p 61

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Slanted Babylon.

An essay by Gerry Leonidas

Science fiction is a great mirror. It’s rarely good at predicting what the future will be like, but it’s great at telling us what we’d like it to be, or we fear it may become. Isaac Asimov, Arthur Clarke, Robert Heinlein, Philip K. Dick: familiar names that guided many imaginations to think about societies spanning the galaxy, until Star Wars finished off what 2001 had started: rich visual textures and soundscapes made it ever more difficult for our imaginations to keep up. But, on paper or screen, there were two things that always bothered me with science fiction on paper, and they persist to this day on screen. First, everybody speaks the same language, or understands the other person’s locutions without so much as an “excuse me, can you repeat this?” And, most frustratingly, nobody ever reads. Nobody. Sometimes you’d see (or read about) symbols, diagrams, and gibberish that brands a vehicle or a building, but that’s pretty much it. It is as if some mundane, daily version of mind-meld has rendered obsolete those moments when you lose yourself in a microcosm that includes just you and some letters on a surface in front of your eyes.

Well, it didn’t turn out that way.

We know that people read more than they ever did. Perhaps they read fewer of some traditional thing or other (and even that depends on the region) but, overall, more people spend more time looking at strings of letters.

What was a dedicated activity has expanded to fill out the previously empty spots of the day: news, a story we saved for later, the playground utterances of Twitter, the trivial ego messages of Facebook. It pains to imagine Deckard checking his smart­ phone while slurping at the noodle bar, but you can bet that this is exactly what he’d be doing today. And we have only began to see what ubiquitous

Great if you only speak in one tone, only typeset texts with minimal hierarchies, and don’t care much about the impact of typography on reading. Indeed, the typewriter analogy is supremely fitting: the limitations of typewriterlike devices migrated onto subsequent technologies with astonishing persistence, despite the exponential increase in the capabilities of our typesetting environments.

So, there you have it: globalized technologies and trends, with localized identities and needs. But typeface design is nothing if not a good reactor to changed conditions. And indeed we can detect a clear path for typeface design in the last decade, with two-anda-half distinct stages of development.

The first stage was about rethinking how we develop basic script support for global scripts. Starting with panEuropean regions (wider Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek) and gradually extending outwards to Hebrew, Arabic, and mainstream Indian scripts, typeface designers moved away from reencoding the dated, limited typefaces of the previous technologies. This opened up the stage for two histories: one hand, a history of typemaking and typesetting technologies, and their critical impact on character sets, the design of typeforms, and the possibilities for complex behaviors along a line of text. On the other hand, a history of the written forms: the relationship of the tools and the materials used for writing that determined the key formal features of each script.

For many designers the degree of research that tackling a new script required was a surprise, and not always

a welcome one; but increasingly the dimensions of the challenge are respected, and understood. This research began, very slowly, to liberate global scripts from the formal tyranny of the Latin script and the expediency of copy-paste. Notions of a uniform stress at a steep angle, and of serifs to terminate strokes, are gradually seen to be entirely Latin-specific. And the faux-geometric, over-symmetrical, pot-bellied International Style typefaces are steadily unmasked as an intensely North-Western style, meaningful only as a response to the post-war trauma and urban explosion of the 1950s and 60s. Already dated by 1985, their continued adoption serves only to discredit their users and promoters. When used as a model for non-Latin scripts, it is increasingly recognized as the typographic equivalent of a cultural straightjacket, limiting innovation and the expression of a more sensitive and current identity.

This does not mean that new typefaces with non-Latin character sets were all good, let alone perfect for their purpose. But people started questioning their assumptions, and put their money where their mouth was.

Most notably, Microsoft (with a global perspective early on) and Adobe (starting with Europe, and gradually expanding its horizon) asked themselves, and others who could help, how to get things right. Their large character set typefaces set the bar for many subsequent designers, and in many ways continue to determine the default level of script support on a global scale. (Regrettably, Apple never claimed a seat at this table: throughout its ecosystem its use of typefaces remains persistently unimaginative and pedestrian, abandoning any aspirations of typographic leadership.)

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###Stage One: getting fundamentals right

Design and the visual arts can only flourish when a civilization is at the peak of its cultural activities and prosperity.

Where does contemporary Arabic lettering and typography stand today in light of the somewhat drastic cultural changes blowing through many parts of the Arab World? Socially conscious visual artists and designers are reevaluating their cultural identity, each in their respective societies. They use writing to voice dormant grievances and employ the Arabic script for political ends. Since the start of the “Arab Spring” in 2011, traditional Arabic lettering has moved off the page, out of its beautifying function, and onto the streets as an agent of resistance and revolution. Protests in public spaces have set the stage for a creative use of lettering, like student sit-ins that form the slogan “Free Tunis” with their bodies, letters spelled with brightly burning candles at the centre of a protest gathering in Syria, or many slogans and (calli)graffiti painted on walls, from Yemen through Egypt to North Africa. Arabic script has become an emblem for human rights and dignity, for social reform and for political emancipation.

Slanted Babylon Leonidas › p 61

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Arabic Typography

The third notion that is emerging is that typographic families are being actively rethought, across all scripts. This process began some years ago with large typeface families moving away from a predictable, unimaginative, and frankly un-typographic interpolation between extremes, towards families of variants that may be more loosely related, with individual styles designed for specific uses. Although this is only just beginning to be evident in the nonLatin world, the signs are there. We can safely predict that many designers across the world will be contemplating the constitution of their typeface families on a more typographically sensitive basis.

The fourth notion stems from this expansion of typeface families. As designers try to address the issue of secondary or complementary styles within a family, the absence of established models opens up new possibilities. We already saw Latin typefaces with radically different ideas of what may pass for a secondary style. Similarly, in nonLatin scripts designers are looking for inspiration in the written forms of native speakers, in a process that reminds us of the adoption of cursive styles for Latin typefaces. Even more, they are looking at the high- and low-lettering traditions: magnificent manuscripts, as well as ephemeral signs and commercial lettering. These sources always existed, but were considered separate domains from typeface design. Armenian, Korean, and many other scripts are beginning to break these typographic taboos.

So, there you have it: the world may be turning upside down in other areas, but typographically it is entering a period of global growth, maturity, and cultural sensitivity that gives rise to innovative projects, and allows exceptional designers from a global scene to make their mark. It is a good area to be working in.

Arabic Calligraphy and ImageMaking

A brief overview of the origin and status of Arabic calligraphy in the Orient will help form a clearer image of the background of Arab visual culture and of why calligraphy’s shift from functioning as a religious tool to a means of social reform proves particularly poignant. As a result of the religious wars that followed the Prophet Muhammad’s death, and fearing the loss of the holy message that was orally transmitted at the time, the Caliph issued a decree to record the Quran

in writing. Arabic calligraphy flourished at the peak of Arab cultural activity and prosperity and is still considered the highest achievement of the Islamic applied arts. This rich tradition has had a long and influential history in shaping and regulating the visual aspect of Arabic script and ultimately visual culture in the Arab world. Originally widely used to represent the holy scriptures of the Quran, reproduction of the script became a matter of religious piety. With the collective contribution of many talented individuals and the influences of various cultures, calligraphy developed into a clear form of communication that balanced beauty with disciplined freedom. Another religious aspect of the Islamic faith that contributed to the flourishing of calligraphic arts was the prohibition of figurative art. This forced artists to direct their creative energies towards calligraphy, which came to decorate architectural structures, coins, textiles, and all sorts of objects and materials.

Arabic calligraphy became the unifying element of Islamic art and architecture.

When images were used alongside secular (mostly literary) texts, as in Persian book paintings, the image took on a flat and symbolic style so as not to “recreate” life. There are several examples today that illustrate a visible continuation of these traditions in modern graphic design and architecture in the Middle East.

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as an Agent of Resistance.

An essay by Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès

While Arabic calligraphy is one of the most venerated art forms in the Islamic tradition, its poor cousin “Arabic typo­ graphy” has long been neglected.

It is perceived as the work of poorly skilled craftsmen, and of negligible aesthetic value or importance. Arabic

books are judged only on the basis of their content while their visual design is often shamelessly disregarded.

In the Middle East, the importance and role of typography and visual communication is still not fully under­stood.

Arabic typography is often confused with Arabic calligraphy, despite the fact that there is a clear difference between the two: calligraphy’s beauty lies in the irregular mark made by a human hand and the emotions implied in the lines traced on the page, whereas typography is a mechanical process that focuses on creating exact repetition and order on a page or a screen.

When the printed Arabic typographic book was first introduced in the Middle East, the type was made to look as close as possible to the calligraphic styles popular at the time. The later versions of Arabic ­printing types, whether of European or Middle Eastern provenance, hardly deviated from those early type styles, creating a rigid tradition of book typography. Though there were movements in the 1930s to “modernize” the Arabic script and adapt it to the prevailing means of type production, these ideas were never implemented into mainstream visual culture. Formal experiments in Arabic type design reached their peak with L ­ etraset’s invention of the dry-transfer type. Unlike the high-cost typesetting machines of this period, which were exclusively in the hands of Western manufacturers, the low-cost flexibility of dry-transfer type brought type design closer to Arab designers. Digital technology took a while to catch on in the Middle East and to influence Arabic type design.

The more affluent Arab nations have embraced both digital networks and new developments in communications, but type designers have been slow to develop innovative contemporary fonts. What is striking is the lack

Arabic Type Design Trends, Past and Present

in Arabic and Persian. And we also wanted to refer to current political events. So much has happened in the last few years in the Middle East – a movement has taken place – and it’s not over yet. It was important for us not to leave out the political aspects.

You mentioned that it was difficult to bring the artists out to Germany.

Were there some cases where it didn’t work out? What were the most difficult situations?

It was probably more work to organize the visas for our guests than to organize the whole exhibition ... Well, almost anyway. The administrative burden is enormous and you have to worry about visa application procedures very early on, partly because it takes a long time to even get appointments at the German embassies in the respective countries. We had to organize countless documents for the artists including certification of insurance and detailed invitations. The artists also had to have a certain amount of money in their bank accounts and, last but not least, you are required to take on the responsibility for your guests leaving when their visa expires and making sure they don’t try to stay in Germany or Europe.

Through the whole procedure we became aware of how privileged we are in Germany, in Europe and in the socalled Western world in terms of travel.

In our design for the exclusive Rightto-Left Poster-Edition we even went so far as to call it a “racist privilege.”

Considering the work in the exhibition and the title of the conference, “Do We Understand Each Other?” did you get much feedback from the exhibition? What was the feedback generally, in terms of your work?

The feedback about the exhibition has been very positive. The exhibition is especially interesting because

most visitors have no idea about the Arab or Iranian design scene. Arab script is like a picture when you see it for the first time. It’s just really beautiful.

We’ve been especially pleased with the reactions of our guests from the Middle East, which have also been really positive. Thinking back to the publication of our books, it was always our biggest worry – we absolutely didn’t want any perception that we were trying to be “professionals” from the West, assessing Arabic design from a Western point of view. We tried to remain as objective as possible and make decisions according to quality, which we have apparently managed to do quite well (of course a bit of subjectivity can’t be avoided when you are curating a book or an exhibition). The reactions have always been positive. The designers and artists were happy that someone was finally giving this design scene the attention it deserves. That was the case for Arabesque 1, and for the second volume, and I think our guest and visitors really liked the exhibition, too.

You work for a lot of clients in the cultural sector, and you often use custom designed typefaces for these projects. Why not work with an existing typeface? How do you relate to font design overall?

Whenever we have more time than we need, we make a typeface for the project. Last year we had a pretty long summer break, and in that period four rather badly paid projects came in. So we thought, “Well, if there is hardly any money anyway, let’s do a new typeface as well.” (laughs) But jokes aside, basically we are all very type-conscious. In all our work we put a lot of effort into meticulously clean typography – although we approach it in a very experimental way. Creating our own fonts is always our preference,

It was important for us Wittner › p 62

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et se Ba

‫ب‬

‫سي‬

‫ط‬

‫ه‬

‫أئأ إئإ آئآ ب ببب ت تتت ث ثثث ج ججج ح ححح خ خخخ دئد ذئذ رئر زئز س سسس‬ ‫ش ششش ص صصص ض ضضض ط ططط ظ ظظظ ع ععع غ غغغ ف ففف ق ققق‬ ‫ك ككك ل للل م ممم ن ننن ه ههه ةئة وئو ؤئؤ ئ ئئئ ي ييي الئال ألئأل‬ ٠١٢٣٤٥٦٧٨٩ « »‹ › … ! ‫ ؟‬: ‫ ؛‬، . ‫إلئإل آلئآل‬ Baseet Regular [ 27 pt ]

‫هناك ستة صناديق مصرية مملوءة‬ ‫بأدوات فن الخط ذات المستوى الرفيع؛‬ ‫ويستمتع مصممو الحروف المطبوعة‬ ‫والخطاطون باستخدام مثل هذﻩ‬ ‫األدوات التقليدية لممارسة فن الكتابة‬

1

Six yellow Egyptian boxes are filled with calligraphic tools of amazing quality. Type designers and calligraphers enjoy making use of such

Baseet Light [ 35 pt ]

‫هناك ستة صناديق مصرية مملوءة‬ ‫بأدوات فن الخط ذات المستوى‬ ‫الرفيع؛ ويستمتع مصممو الحروف‬ ‫المطبوعة والخطاطون باستخدام‬ ‫مثل هذﻩ األدوات التقليدية لممارسة‬

Six yellow Egyptian boxes are filled with calligraphic tools of amazing quality. Type designers and calligraphers enjoy making use of such

Baseet Regular [ 35 pt ]

‫هناك ستة صناديق مصرية مملوءة‬ ‫بأدوات فن الخط ذات المستوى‬ ‫الرفيع؛ ويستمتع مصممو الحروف‬ ‫المطبوعة والخطاطون باستخدام‬ ‫مثل هذﻩ األدوات التقليدية‬

Six yellow Egyptian boxes are filled with calligraphic tools of amazing quality. Type designers and calligraphers enjoy making use of such

se Ba 3

1 Arabesque 2 – Graphic Design from the Arab, World and Persia. Gestalten Verlag, Berlin 2011.

Editors and Design: Eps51, Cover image by Homa Delvaray 2 Baseet Arabic, Pascal Zoghbi (29ArabicLetters), Ben Wittner (Eps51). Baseet Latin, Emmanuel Rey 3 Contemparabia advert 2013, Design: Eps51 4 Right-To-Left 2012, a project by Eps51 (Sascha Thoma, Ben Wittner), uqbar (Marina Sorbello, Antje Weitzel). Design: Eps51

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Slanted Babylon / Non-Latin

‫ب‬

2

‫سي‬

Baseet Arabic Pascal Zoghbi – 29ArabicLetters [ Lebanon ] Ben Wittner – Eps51 [ Germany ] Baseet Latin Emmanuel Rey [ Switzerland ]

‫ط‬

et

Baseet Bold [ 35 pt ]

it, as you can see in the comments.

The important thing to keep in mind is, Helvetica came to light in a set of circumstances that might never repeat. In other words, the stars were aligned and this propelled it to the place it is now. I’m not sure we will ever have a typeface that comes close to what Helvetica is. This has to do not with the design of the typeface, but with the role that this typeface played in our lives 50 years ago and has played till today.

How do you see the type industry evolving in the next 10 years?

There is a very big push today in the direction of non-Latin type design.

I expect this to continue to grow, and I do hope that we evolve into a more global approach to the design of letterforms and visual communication.

What advice would you give to young readers out there who are interested in becoming type designers?

Get into it! It is a very fulfilling design practice, and one that is highly addictive and enjoyable. My advice would be to attend one of the many type design conferences that take place regularly and to talk to other designers to see what the work is actually like. There are many resources online about type design, and starting there to get an overview is also helpful.

How can readers find out what con­ ferences you’ll be speaking at or attending, and workshops you’ll be organizing throughout 2013?

I usually mention these on Twitter, and sometimes on Facebook and my blog .

Thank you for your time, Nadine!

We sincerely appreciate it.

In this interview the editor Iris Lješnjanin explored the art and craft of Arabic typography with Dr. Nadine Chahine, originally conducted for Smashing Magazine and published online in April 2013. Visit smashingmagazine.com for more stories about typography and web design development.

Art and Craft Chahine › p 62

1

2

3

1 Hermann Zapf’s corrections to Zapfino Arabic 2 Simulation of how the eye moves across a line of text and the pattern of fixations 3 Specimens of Nadine’s typefaces

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telling differences. Armenian has 38 sounds which are mapped one-to-one to the shapes – something rare among writing systems. Korean is another bigger, better-known writing system that was methodically designed.

It’s very elegant and powerful, and its functionality is very beautiful.

Did the shapes evolve between 406 AD and today?

Yes. During the 10th-11th centuries, due to facilitation (ease of writing) the letterforms went from uppercase to lowercase, just like with Latin.

So the Armenian capitals were invented and the lower case was “evolution.”

And now we use them together.

Our alphabet is compositionally similar to Latin: uppercase and lowercase; written from left to right; the forms don’t join; and there is not a very large number of them. But this general similarity ends up being dangerous because people expect and want even more similarity. They start borrowing things from Latin that are not beneficial.

So, you mean that there are letters just copy pasted from Latin and inserted to the Armenian alphabet?

That’s the most egregious example.

Basically if a Latin letterform is close enough to be recognizable as an Armenian letter it often ends up as an actual form in the font. This results from laziness, or because the designer thinks it’s cute, or even because the designer wants to be more Western.

But when you make a font it’s not artwork that you paint and hang in your living room, it’s a responsibility. You’re creating a tool for your culture, and you’re not the important part. You have to worry about your responsibility.

We are here at the Granshan conference right now in Yerevan.

In your opinion, do you think this conference gives value to the idea of conserving the values of a writing system?

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Nothing exists at the extremes.

An interview with Hrant Papazian

Lars Harmsen: I know you have huge knowledge about the history of Armenian typefaces and writing.

Can you please give us some insight?

Hrant Papazian: I actually don’t know enough about the pre-digital history of Armenian typeface development.

Mainly because it mostly happened locally here in Armenia, while I’m a diasporan. But another reason I don’t know too much is that I actually look to the future more. The past can be helpful, but it can also be restricting.

For many of the design decisions I make, people complain that it’s not how things have been done before.

I don’t ignore history, but I don’t idealize it. For one thing there’s an interesting but dangerous historic influence from Latin typefaces on Armenian ones, and that’s not ideal at all.

But it’s something that you also see in the streets – the signage is multilingual and represents different languages and scripts, like Armenian, Cyrillic and Latin all together.

Much of that involves converting proper names, which tends to follow established transliteration rules.

When they translate the shapes – that’s my domain. The development and migration of shapes is what I would like to participate in directing.

How was the Armenian alphabet developed?

Armenia is a nation that has been powerful for a short period of time but most of history it’s been stuck between Persians, Romans, Greeks, Turks, etc. Being between such powerful influences, in the 5th century an Armenian king decided to invent a writing system to be able to first of all translate the Bible. A monk by the name of Mesrop Mashtots then designed the Armenian alphabet.

It seems that he was influenced by the Greek alphabet, but there are also many

abroad your family who is living here depends on you for money. The opportunity of leaving the country is not just your own opportunity, it’s the family’s opportunity, too.

It’s a big responsibility.

How do you think Armenia will develop in the next years?

For a while there was a hope of joining the European Union but now it seems very unlikely. I like things being in between, like also Lebanon (where I grew up, during the civil war) or Armenia or some other countries like maybe Turkey. I can compare that to Tijuana in Mexico because it’s right on the border with America and you can very obviously see the influence from California. But it’s also deeply Mexican.

And one of the most interesting and prestigious graphic design schools is located in Tijuana. Hybrid things make mistakes and I think mistakes lead to progress. Nothing else leads to progress. Knowing something doesn’t lead to progress, only to refinement. Having questions leads to progress.

That’s what you said today, that you have to make mistakes in public.

Yes, you have to make people uncomfortable. So you go out and you make mistakes and people correct you because many people – unfortunately – only react to correct something. Like when a newspaper does a redesign they will only receive hundreds of complaint letters. Everybody who likes it doesn’t say anything – it’s normal.

So silence isn’t agreement – silence is apathy, or laziness. “I have better things to do than agree with you.” But many people do take the time to correct you.

You said that you know the singer of the popular band System of a Down.

Serj Tankian. Yes, we were in the same Armenian youth group in Hollywood for a few years. Way before he was famous he made a lot of music and he

re-wrote the anthem for our chapter – except almost nobody liked it. But now I’m sure everybody regrets that! Before they were called System of a Down, I went to clubs they were playing – it was almost like having private parties with friends. Then they signed with Sony. What’s very nice about Serj isn’t just his musical talent, but also his sociopolitical ambition. In fact that organization we were in together is a political one. He believes in protecting his people and talking about the Armenian situation, but he didn’t make that too obvious before he signed for Sony. Sony would never have signed him if he was politically active. So, after he became big he started leveraging his celebrity for a good cause, which is perfect. Plus Serj makes music too – that’s great! Armenians deeply appreciate both his talent and his activism.

In Armenia and Europe – especially in France – a lot of people just associate Armenia with Charles Aznavour.

Yes, but that does help. Aznavour is the most famous singer in our history, and he’s also an activist. When there was a terrible earthquake in Armenia 25 years ago he participated in a fund­ raising song with many international artists. But today, a conference like Granshan is one of the best ways to get to know other cultures, to become more of a world citizen. Especially if you’re interested in letters the interaction between the cultures of writing systems is very interesting, although it’s hard to read. I’m not the minister of tourism but Armenia is just a good place to be!

And this year Granshan is taking place in Bangkok, which makes me proud and hopeful.

Nothing exists at the extremes Papazian › p 62

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The interview with Hrant Papazian was conducted by Lars Harmsen during the Granshan conference of 2012 in Armenia.

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Slanted Babylon / Non-Latin

TypoLyrics by Jackkrit Anantakul, Anuthin Wongsunkakon, Athip Nimthongkam, BenChalit Sagiamsak, Ekaluck Peanpanawate, Jean Vatchara, Natthawit Tongprasert, Opas Limpi-Angkanan, Santi Lawrachawee, Nattapol Rojjanarattanangkool, Tanawat Sakdawisarak, Tap Kruavanichkit, Ukkrid Tosak, Sumpatha Jadee

Designer: Jackkrit Anantakul Song: Jak pai London Band: Chatree Font: London Font Designer: Chatnarong Jingsuphatada, 2012 Label: Superstore Font

TypoLyrics › p 62

36

Design: Anuthin Wongsunkakon Song: Married Band: Moor Font: Helvetica Thai Font Design: Anuthin Wongsunkakon, 2012 Label: Linotype

37

Slanted Babylon / Non-Latin

Design: Athip Nimthongkam Song: Bussaba Band: Moderndog Font: Krart Font Designer: Ekaluck Peanpanawate, 2007 Label: T-26

TypoLyrics › p 62

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Design: BenChalit Sagiamsak Song: Gin-Tub Band: Teng Terdterng Font: Superstore Font Designer: Chatnarong Jingsuphatada, 2012 Label: Superstore Font

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Slanted Babylon / Non-Latin

Cover, Back cover Photography: Tower of Babel

DU Zhenjun, Paris (FR), Shanghai (CN) duzhenjun.com

Classically trained as a sculptor Du Zhenjun (born 1961) is a multidisciplinary artist who is most interested in creating interactive installation works. He is one of the first generation of artists who incorporate digital technologies into art pieces. In his work, the ecstasy of behavior takes crucial position, and this ecstasy is usually accompanied by Du Zhenjun’s attention to human beings’ suffering and challenges. By involving the audience and even trapping them inside his works and forcing them to play a central role, Du Zhenjun rejects the traditionally skill-centered art and calls for a greater care of humanity. Transforming the space, he offers various levels of reading in creations with large amplitudes oscillating between a playful and tragic content. With his large-scale photographic work series “Tower of Babel,” he presents a contemporary version of the apocalypse: barely having the new tower-symbols of newly gained wealth and superpower been built, than they are already on fire and the earth is flooded.

Front Flap Typography: XinGothic VMType,Hong Kong (CN) vmtype.com

Sammy Or, Hong Kong (CN)

The strokes radiate from the center of the em box; the centers of each character are tight and dense, while the peripherals are loose and spacious. This ensures high legibility as well as readability. This is particularly useful for text setting. This design matches the reading habits of Chinese people and is a legacy of Chinese function and aesthetics.

In 1985, Sammy Or working at HK branch of Monotype as Type Manager. LiSung and LiGothic were the first fonts designed for Apple Computers. In 2008, founded VMType designed XinGothic font family series. He is also a guest lecturer at the HK Polytechnic University.

Index

Front Flap Typography: Kohinoor Multiscript Indian Type Foundry, Ahmedabad (IN) indiantypefoundry.com

Satya Rajpurohit, Ahmedabad (IN)

Kohinoor Mulstiscript (2009–2013) is an elegant low contrast type super-family suitable for both body and display text. It supports 7 official Indian writing systems including Devanagari, Gujarati, Bengali, Gurmukhi, Tamil, Malayalam and Latin.

Each family comes in at least 5 styles with full support for the conjuncts and ligatures.

Satya is the co-founder of the Indian Type Foundry (ITF) in Ahmedabad, India. He studied Graphic Design at the National Institute of Design (NID) in India and interned with Linotype in Germany.

He has also worked at Dalton Maag in London and L2M3 in Stuttgart.

He now works full time at ITF. Front Flap Typography: Regal Pro Parachute, Kifissia (GR) parachute.gr

Panos Vassiliou, Kifissia (GR)

First published as a custom design for Grazia magazine, Regal (2012) was later revamped and redesigned for commercial use. It incorporates several distinct elements that express a modern woman’s personality and the products she consumes. This set of 5 super families has already received 6 international awards and distinctions.

Panos is a graduate of the University of Toronto. He designs typefaces since 1993, including commercial as well as bespoke fonts for organizations such as the European Commission and Bank of America.

He has received several international awards with the most recent a red dot: Grand Prix 2012 for Regal Pro.

Front Flap Typography: Rutz (AKA Vesper Hebrew) HebrewTypography, Tel Aviv (IL) Mota Italic, Berlin (DE) hebrewtypography.com motaitalic.com

Oded Ezer , Tel Aviv (IL) odedezer.com

Rutz (2011), a Hebrew type family was designed by Oded Ezer as a Hebrew version for Rob Keller’s Vesper. Rutz, which means “running” in Hebrew (Same as in “running text”), includes 5 different weights – Light, Regular, Medium, Bold and Heavy. This is actually the first Hebrew serif text font family that contains 5 weights.

Oded Ezer is a Tel Aviv based graphic artist and typographer, best known for his typographic projects, and for his ongoing contribution to Hebrew type design. Ezer studied graphic design at the Bezalel Academy of Art & Design, Jerusalem.

In 2000 he went on to establish his own independent studio, Oded Ezer Typography, where he specializes in typographic and fonts design.

In 2004 Oded founded Hebrew Typography type foundry, selling his own typefaces. Oded Ezer is a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) since 2009.

His first monograph Oded Ezer: The Typographer’s Guide to the Galaxy was published by Die Gestalten Verlag in May 2009.

Back Flap Typography: Frijky Bengali Rosetta Type Foundry, Brno (CZ) rosettatype.com

Neelakash Kshetrimayum, New Delhi (IN) neelakash.com

Frijky (TBA) is a progressive family of Latin and Bengali typefaces. Based on the calligraphic stroke movement, Frijky Bengali is fluid yet sturdy. Intended for publications, Frijky gives news extra bite with its aggressive edge.

Type & graphic designer from Manipur, India. A communication design graduate from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India and an MA in Typeface Design from the University of Reading, UK. Co-founder of Mayek Projects (mayekprojects.com).

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Back Flap Typography: Waran Shotype, Tokyo (JP) shotype.com

Back Flap Typography: Circe ParaType, Saratoga CA (US) paratype.com

Kunihiko Okano , Tokyo (JP)

Waran (literally ‘Japanese orchid’, TBA) is a typeface for use mixing Japanese and Latin letters.

Kanji and Kana letterforms broaden slightly toward the base to align well with Latin letters when setting in horizontal. It won the Gold prize in Japanese category of Morisawa Type Design Competition 2012.

Graduated from Kyoto Art Uni­­versity of Arts in 1995. After working as a packaging designer, founded Shotype Design in 2008. Completed Type and Media at the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) in The Hague, the Netherlands in 2011. Released an original typeface called Quintet from Photo-Lettering in 2011.

Alexandra Korolkova, Moscow (RU) nicetype.ru

Circe (2011) is a geometric sansserif with some humanist features.

While being clean and simple in its basic form, Circe can become more intricate with its numerous decorative variations of characters.

Its character set allows using Circe for almost all European languages (based on Latin or Cyrillic).

Cyrillic type designer, type researcher and type consultant. Awarded at type design competitions for Cyrillic, wrote a book on typo­graphy for beginners (in Russian), spoke at international conferences. From 2009 works for ParaType. Leading designer of PT Sans, PT Serif and PT Mono.

Back Flap Typography: Gebran2005 Monotype, Bad Homburg (DE) monotype.com

Boris Kochan (born 1962) is a corporate designer and entrepreneur, book maker and publisher, consultant and managing partner of the design and communications agency, Kochan & Partner. He is Chairman of the GRANSHAN Non-LatinTypeface competition and president of the Munich typography society.

p1 Photography: Scenes from __________, an experimental science fiction film.

p 12 Essay: Slanted Babylon

Gerry Leonidas, Reading (UK) leonidas.org

Gerry Leonidas is a Senior Lecturer in Typography at the University of Reading. He teaches and lectures on typography, typeface design, and typographic education.

The rest of his time is taken with enterprise and consultancy projects.

He is the Programme Director of the MA Typeface Design course. p 16 Essay: Arabic Typography as an Agent of Resistance

p 28 Interview: The Art And Craft Of Arabic Type Design

Nadine Chahine, Bad Homburg (DE) arabictype.com

Gebran2005 (2011) is an Arabic newspaper headline typeface designed exclusively for Lebanon’s An-Nahar newspaper. Its design is traditional in form and structure, and contemporary in molding.

It follows a sculptural approach that packs a lot of tension and solid strength into the outlines.

Dr. Nadine Chahine is an award winning Lebanese type designer working as the Arabic Specialist at Monotype. She has won several awards including two from TDC. Her work is featured in Megg’s History of Graphic Design and in 2012 she was selected for Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business.

Ian Lynam, Tokyo (JP) ianlynam.com Ian Lynam is a graphic designer and writer living in Tokyo. He runs a multidisciplinary design studio that focuses on pan-cultural identity design, motion graphics, and type design. He is a graduate of Portland State University (B.S. Graphic Design) and California Institute of the Arts (M.F.A. Graphic Design). An Asia Pacific Design Award winner, he writes regularly for Idea Magazine, Néojaponisme, and a host of design books including the recent Design of Manga, Anime & Light Novels (Seibundo Shinkosha) and Type Player 2 (Sandu Media/Gingko Press). p 10 Essay: TypoLyrics meet GRANSHAN

Boris Kochan, Munich (DE) granshan.com tgm-online.de / kochan.de

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Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès, Amsterdam (NL) khtt.net Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès is the founding creative director of the Khatt Foundation. Curator, researcher and writer. She has lived and worked as designer in the US, Europe and the Arab World. She is author of several books, and contributes regularly to international magazines on typographic design. p 20 Essay: Typopractics

Eran Bacharach, Tel-Aviv (IL) bee-creations.com

Eran Bacharach, co-founder and creative director at Bee Creations design agency in TelAviv, is a multidisciplinary designer and typographer. His design work has been presented in various international publications, exhibited in design museums and rewarded with numerous international awards.

Slanted Babylon / Non-Latin

PUBLISHER

Slanted c/o MAGMA Brand Design Wendtstrasse 4 76185 Karlsruhe Germany T +49 (0) 721 824858-50 magazine@slanted.de slanted.de

Thanks a lot to all participants of this issue. They are spread all over the world and now united in this magazine.

Special thanks go to the organizers of GRANSHAN conference in Bangkok – Anja Kurz and Boris Kochan (KOCHAN & PARTNER) opened a lot of doors for us and made this issue possible.

Many thanks also to the producers of the magazine: Sabine Teichmann (KOCHAN & PARTNER) for the production management and Stefan Schöffel (Druck-Ring) for managing the printing.

Thanks also to Jinny Wonggornworawej and Nida Karnkorkul (interns at KOCHAN & PARTNER) for translating the editorial into Thai.

Thanks to Ahmed Badran (Iggesund) for the fantastic cover material!

SLANTED MAGAZINE Non-Latin Special issue

Editor in chief (V.i.S.d.P.) Lars Harmsen Editors Flo Gaertner, Julia Kahl, Constanze Thieleke

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Art Direction Flo Gaertner, Lars Harmsen

Graphic Design Julia Kahl, Constanze Thieleke ISSN 1867-6510 Frequency 2 × p. a.

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FONTS Compacta, 1963 Design: Fred Lambert Label: Linotype / linotype.com Univers Next, 2010 Design: Adrian Frutiger, Linotype Design Studio Label: Linotype / linotype.com Neue Helvetica Thai, 2012 Design: Linotype Design Studio Label: Linotype / linotype.com DISTRIBUTION Julia Kahl T +49 (0) 721 824858-50 julia.kahl@slanted.de Subscriptions slanted.de/abo

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SELECTION OF DESIGN AWARDS FOR PUBLICATIONS BY SLANTED

ADC of Europe 2010, 2008 ADC Germany 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2008, 2007 Annual Multimedia 2008, 2013 Berliner Type 2008 (Bronze),

2009 (Silver) Designpreis der BRD 2009 (Silver) European Design Awards 2011, 2008 Faces of Design Awards 2009 iF communication design award 2007 Laus Awards 2009 Lead Awards 2008 (Weblog des

Jahres), 2007 red dot communication

design awards 2008 Type Directors Club NY 2011,

2008, 2007 Werkbund Label 2012

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Neelakash Kshetrimayum / Rosetta Type Foundry / p 60 Nadine Chahine / Monotype / p 61

ในระหว่ างการเดิ นทางผ่านโปแลนด์ มื่อไม่นานมานี ้ ในประเทศเกาหลีฉันก็ได้สัมผัสเรื่องราวที่มีความ Frijky Bengali (Bengali, เAssamese, Manipuri) ฉันสังเกตเห็นระบบป้าย ที่อาจทำาให้นักออกแบบตัว คล้ายคลึงกัน ในช่วงงานเทศกาล Une Saison อักษรหลายๆ คนขุ่นเคือง ตัวอักษรของป้ายรถราง Graphique ในเมืองเลออาฟวร์ ฉันได้ไปเยี่ยมชม ไม่ได้ถูกออกแบบโดยผู้เชี่ยวชาญในคราคูฟ แต่กลับ งานนิทัศการณ์ผลงานของ อัน ซัง ซู นักออกแบบ ถูกออกแบบโดยโรงงานผลิตป้าย เขาได้ตัดสินใจใช้ ซึ่งมีชื่อเสียงมาก ผลงานของเขาล้วนแล้วแต่มีความ ตัวอักษรแบบ Commercial Script ไม่รู้ว่าเพื่อจะมี เกี่ยวข้องกับตัวอักษรฮันกึล ซึ่งได้ถูกคิดค้นขึ้นเมื่อ ไอกลิ่นความเป็นประวัติศาสตร์หรือไม่ และเนื่องจาก 500 ปีที่แล้วในรัชสมัยของพระราชาเซจง ซึ่งประกอบ ตัวอักษรแบบนี้ไม่มีตัวสัญลักษณ์ Ł เขาจึงได้ทำามัน ด้วย พยัญชนะ 17 ตัวและ สระ 11 ตัว (อักษรดัง ขึ้นมาใหม่ด้วยมือ ความหมายทางวัฒนธรรมของ กล่าวถูกคิดขึ้นเพื่อมาแทนที่อักษรจีนซึ่งกำาลังเฟื่อง ภาษา แบบตัวอักษรและทุกอย่างที่เป็นตัวแทนของ ฟูอยู่ในขณะนั้น) อัน ซัง ซู ได้พัฒนาตัวพิมพ์หลาก การพิมพ์จึงได้ถูกละเลย หลายแบบซึ่งเชื่อมโยงวิถีทางแบบเกาหลีโบราณกับ สัญลักษ์แบบใหม่ จึงทำาให้เกิดความเป็นเอกลักษณ์ ฉันได้ไปเจอประสบการณ์ที่ตรงกันข้ามเมื่อปีที่แล้วที่ ทางประวิตศาสตร์ เมือง Oschakan ประเทศอาร์เมเนีย เมื่อฉันได้ยืนอยู่ ตรงหน้าหลุมศพของ Mesrop Maschtoz ช่วงเวลา ตัวอย่างข้างต้นทั้งสามตัวอย่างที่ได้กล่าวมานั้นได้ นั้นถือว่าเป็นช่วงเวลาที่สะเทือนใจที่สุดของผู้เข้าร่วม แสดงให้เห็นถึงความเชื่อมโยงเกี่ยวข้องของภาษากับ การประชุม Granshan ในปี 2555 ก็ว่าได้ เจ้าของ ตัวพิมพ์ วัฒนธรรมและความเป็นอัตลักษณ์ ภาษา หลุมศพและโบสถ์อันศักดิ์สิทธ์ที่ใหญ่ที่สุดนี้เป็นของ ทั้งหมดที่มีอยู่ในโลกถูกคาดเดาไว้ว่ามีประมาณ นักแสวงบุญแห่งอาร์เมเนีย ซึ่งได้มรณภาพเมื่อ 6500 – 7000 ภาษา หนึ่งในสามของภาษาเหล่านี้จะ 1600 ปีที่แล้ว หากแต่ว่าพระองค์ยังคงเป็นที่ศรัทธา ถูกลืมเลือนลงไปในอีกไม่กี่ปีข้างหน้า เนื่องจากโลกา และเคารพนับถือของชาวมุสลิมทั้งหลายในปัจจุบัน พิวัต อย่างไรก็ตามความเท่าเทียมด้านการออกแบบ ทุกๆ ปี ณ เมืองเยเรวาน นักแสวงบุญกว่าหมื่นคนจะ ตัวอักษรก็ได้เปิดโอกาสให้มีการพัฒนาที่มีคุณภาพ รวมตัวกันเพื่อสักการะหลุมศพของพระองค์ แก่ภาษาทุกภาษา รวมไปถึงภาษาในชนกลุ่มน้อย และตัวอักษรต่างๆ ที่ท้ายสุดแล้วก่อให้เกิดการสร้าง ในช่วงเวลาที่พระองค์ยังคงมีชีวิตอยู่ ท่านได้พัฒนา เอกลักษณ์ของภาษาให้แข็งแรงนั่นเอง นี่จึงเป็น ภาษาเขียนของชาวอาร์เมเนีย โดยมีตัวอักษรทั้งหมด เหตุผลที่ Granshan (ซึ่งให้ความสนใจในตัวอักษรที่ 36 ตัวและในทรรศนะของชาวอาร์เมเนีย ตัวอักษร ไม่ใช่ละตินนั้น) เป็นงานประชุมที่มีความสำาคัญมาก เหล่านี้ได้ถือเป็นพื้นฐานของวัฒนธรรมของพวกเขา หลังจากที่ได้ขับไล่พวกโซเวียตออกจากประเทศไปในปี 2534 พวกเขาได้เริ่มตามหาต้นกำาเนิดของเมืองอาร์ ขอแสดงความนับถืออย่างยิ่ง เมเนีย Mesrop และตัวอักษรของเขาได้ถูกยกย่องให้ ลารส์ ฮาร์มเซน เป็นอัตลักษณ์ของชาวอาร์เมเนีย จนประชาชนส่วน กองบรรณาธิการ Slanted ใหญ่ มีความคิดเห็นพ้องต้ องกันว่า “ที่ประเทศเรายัง Gebran2005 (Arabic) มีตัวตนอยู่ได้เป็นเพราะพระองค์”

4 3

Front cover: Du Zhenjun, Tower of Babel: The Wind, 2010 Back cover: Du Zhenjun, Tower of Babel: The Accident, 2010 Courtesy: Galerie RX, Paris (FR)

slanted –– babylon

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