OUGD504 - Studio Brief 02 - Study Task 03 - Logo requirements - Typeface

The target audience of the exhibition is both Iranians and Americans in America, therefore to just design in English would be unthoughtful. I have to design in both English and Farsi (The most popular language in Iran).

The english alphabet, for you that didn't know.

Farsi aka the Persian alphabet.

"Since the script is cursive, the appearance of a letter changes depending on its position: isolated, initial (joined on the left), medial (joined on both sides), and final (joined on the right) of a word."

Farsi is written Right to Left.

32 Letters in the Farsi alphabet (+6 than English)

Almost every word can be written without the pen leaving the page.

"The secret lies in the script and its mechanics. This script, that is written in Persian or Farsi, is known as the Arabic Script. It should be noted that the technical term Arabic Script refers to the script used in Iran, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, other Arab countries, and more Indian regions where the Pashtu language is spoken. Moreover it used to be the official writing system in Turkey before its westernization by Ata Turk. Therefore its use for writing in over a dozen different dialects and languages has prompted a natural cultural adoption of specific styles and characteristics." - http://pingmag.jp/2006/12/11/iranian-typography-now/

Anatomy of Persian alphabet.

"Siah Mashgh was originally just a practice for the calligrapher to warm up his hand and to refine the shape of letters by repeating them over and over. These practices resulted in a page filled with words and letters, hence the name Siah Mashgh literally meaning “Black Practice”. When calligraphers realized how stunning some of these pieces were it was turned into a style of its own.In these pieces the sole intention of the artist is to create visually stunning works. Words and letters are repeated regardless of meaning, all for the sake of composition and style. In some ways, a Siah Mashgh explores the concepts of typography in a more complex manner." - http://pingmag.jp/2006/12/11/iranian-typography-now/

Siah Mashgh; typography as art, the focus is not the meaning of the words but the appearance.
Deconstructing the meaning of symbols.

Siah Mashgh; typography as art, the focus is not the meaning of the words but the appearance.
Deconstructing the meaning of symbols.

"29LT multilingual fonts (Arabic/Latin) were offered to the renowned Iranian graphic designer Mr. Reza Abedini to experiment with and create typographic posters for each of the typefaces:"

While looking at these examples, it was the description of the images that I took the most interest in. The juxtaposition of Latin and Arabic together creates an interesting mergence:

In relation to my project, I have to use both Arabic and Latin together just as the example above. However I believe if I am to do this with a logo, it isn't going to be as strong as a symbolic logo.

My logo needs to work in both Arabic and Latin context, if I repeated the brand name in both languages within the logo, 1 of the 2 will always be unnecessary, as one or the other won't be understandable to either audience. An iconic logo is the way to go.

ARABIC X LATIN

Farsi - Derived from glyphs created using calligraphy.

Arabian influenced Latin alphabet, the imitation of serifs created by calligraphy.

Calligraphy is a strong link between the two languages.

Arabian Influenced Latin alphabet, the imitation of joining every letter in the word just as Farsi does.

A Quill. The tool used in the conception of calligraphy. 

Script typefaces are derived from the use of tools such as a quill.

The flourishes and jagged stems here reflect similarities of arabic calligraphy.