Through specific anecdotes, they elucidate the problems and implications of designing for “public space” and multicultural communities. These essays frame and contextualize the research and designs presented by the five teams participating in the Typographic Matchmaking in the City project. They briefly shed light on the function and role of text in architectural spaces, discussing specific historical and contemporary examples from cities like Beirut, Dubai, Muscat, Cairo, Rotterdam and Amsterdam, and addressing the various roles of monumental typography in public space. discussing specific historical and contemporary examples from cities like Beirut, Dubai, Muscat, Cairo, Rotterdam and Amsterdam, and addressing the various roles of monumental typography in public space.
This book, like the design research project that preceded it, provides concrete observations on differences as well as shared principles between the Latin and Arabic scripts, and on cultural and architectural conventions for the use of typographic design in three-dimensional urban space in different cities and cultural contexts. It raises thoughtful questions and provides useful tools that designers can use in creating new works for interventions in their own cities.
About the Editor
Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès is a typographer, writer, researcher, graphic designer, lecturer, and design consultant from Beirut, Lebanon. She is the founder and director of the Khatt Foundation. As a designer and researcher, she specializes in Arabic and multilingual typography.
About the Publisher
Khatt Books is a specialized publishing house, established in 2010 as a commercial arm of the Khatt Foundation. Khatt Books focuses on topics such as typography, graphic design, architecture, other applied and visual arts from or dealing with the MENA region.
