Power and Politics in Arabic Type Design

About this video

Description

This talk combines Nadine’s research on the forms of power with visual communication. Power. Politics. Identity. Typefaces embody the unspoken messages in our words, which is why it’s more important than ever that there is plurality for the voices of the Arabic culture.

Dr. Nadine Chahine explores the theories of power in international relations and link them to the forms of power available to designers to use. This thread is then linked to the politics of Arabic type design, identity, and expression. Nadine argues that there’s a place for both the classical and the modern letterforms in contemporary language and presents her exploration of Arabic type design through key projects and milestones.

About Dr. Nadine Chahine

Dr. Nadine Chahine is an award winning Lebanese type designer. She has an MA in Typeface Design from the University of Reading, UK, and a PhD from Leiden University, The Netherlands. Nadine’s research focus is on eye movement and legibility studies for the Arabic, Latin, and Chinese scripts. She has numerous awards including two Awards for Excellence in Type Design from the Type Directors Club in New York in 2008 and 2011. Her typefaces include: the best-selling Frutiger Arabic, Neue Helvetica Arabic, Univers Next Arabic, Palatino and Palatino Sans Arabic, and Koufiya. Nadine’s work has been featured in the 5th edition of Megg’s History of Graphic Design and in 2012 she was selected by Fast Company as one of its 100 Most Creative People in Business. In 2016 her work was showcased in the 4th edition of First Choice which highlights the work of the 250 top global designers practising today. In 2017, Nadine was selected by Creative Review to their Creative Leaders 50 which aims to celebrate, educate and inspire those who are leading creative businesses, organisations and teams in the UK.

Tag

• Typography