Font pairing across writing systems

KP Mawhood

Are there good articles about "off-the-shelf" font pairing between writing systems? 

For instance, brand approaches to font pairing text hierarchies in Latin, Arabic, and Greek (display, text, etc) that looks beyond Latin aesthetics. There are many discussions about type design harmonisation between writing systems, and countless articles on font pairing within writing systems (e.g. text / display pairings). 

The problem: Existing brand identities may use typefaces that have limited support. When expanding quickly into new markets, they need an "off-the-shelf" type solution that supports multiple scripts before considering time/cost intensive custom work. This follows on from a previous post on i18n brand equity, and spurred by Azza Alameddine's excellent interview: 'How to Translate the Character of a Typeface Across Multiple Scripts'. 

Any thoughts or resources?

Olexa Volochay

First of all, it depends on the market. Not all brands consider it necessary to invest in the development of the national part of the font. Moreover, not all European brands operating in the EU have Greek and Cyrillic in their corporate fonts. My experience is that most often in these cases, system or free fonts are used, which are most suitable in style. Or they buy a ready-made commercial typeface, which can be much cheaper than having their typeface refinished.

AzizMostafa AzizAli

Many Thanks your for sharing with Flowers.

How to go Font pairing across writing systems?!

As far as Latin & Arabic are concerned, right-to-left and left-to-right letter-forms, with & without dots, can be made as follows:

select I (as is) for Alif = ا

select @ (as is) for ههه and drop its petals for the final ه

select i (as is) for ن ‍ن‍ ‍ن and flip it vertically for ب‍ ‍ب‍ ‍ب

select ï (as is) for ت‍ ‍ت‍ ‍ت and flip it vertically for ي‍ ‍ي‍ ‍ي

select î (as is) for ث‍ ‍ث‍ ‍ث and flip it vertically for پ‍ ‍پ ڽ

select o (as is) for ممم م

select o and center one dot above for ف‍ ‍ف‍ ‍ف

select ö (as is) for ق ‍ق‍ ‍ق

select ô (as is) for ‍ڤ‍ ‍ڤ

select q (as is) for و‍ and center one dot above for the doted waw (v)

select S (as is) for ککک ک

... and center one dot for ݢݢݢ ݢ

select j (as is) for ‍ز and drop the dot for ر

select c (as is) for ع‍ ‍ع‍ ‍ع ع

… And center one dot above for غ‍ ‍غ‍ ‍غ غ

… Or center three (3) dots above for ڠڠڠ ڠ

select c and flip it horizontally for دد

select ċ and flip it horizontally for ذ‍ذ

select b (as is) for ط

… And center dot above the round part for ظ ‍ظ

select v and rotate 75 degrees counterclockwise for ح‍ ‍ح ح

… And center one dot above for خ‍ ‍خ خ

… Or center one dot above below for ج‍ ‍ج ج

… Or center three (3) dots below for ‍چ‍چ‍چ ‍چ‍

select d and rotate 90 degrees counterclockwise for ص‍ ‍ص‍ ‍ص

... and center one dot above the round part for ‍ض‍ ‍ض

select m and flip it vertically for س‍ ‍س س

... and center three (3) dots above for ش‍ ‍ش ش

That's right: Excluding stand-alone Arabic letters like Alif, d and r,

1. The Middles = Initial letters @ short tails to the right

2. The Finals = First or middle letters @ longer tails to the left

ii Making use of Telegram? https://Telegram.org 

All the Best with Flowers  https://T.me/FlowerCrosswords/40 @ https://T.me/FonJawi/485

KP Mawhood

Olexa Volochay said:

Not all brands consider it necessary to invest in the development of the national part of the font… My experience is that most often in these cases, system or free fonts are used, which are most suitable in style. 

Type people always talk about how "fonts matter". But, many cease to champion their value upon departing the Latin script. 

To suggest that system fonts are a "style" suitable across "non-Latin" designs makes for a blander type world, and signals that fonts do not matter. Unique and memorable design will be achieved elsewhere, which allows brands to bland type in Latin too.

If type people agree that "fonts matter", surely we should challenge this attitude?

KP Mawhood

@AzizMostafa AzizAli

I enjoyed your letter-pairing, it read like typographic poetry.

You're familiar with the historical ties between Arabic and Latin script? A different journey, but our presumed origins are the same.

Olexa Volochay

KP Mawhood said:

Olexa Volochay said:

Not all brands consider it necessary to invest in the development of the national part of the font… My experience is that most often in these cases, system or free fonts are used, which are most suitable in style. 

Type people always talk about how "fonts matter". But, many cease to champion their value upon departing the Latin script. 

To suggest that system fonts are a "style" suitable across "non-Latin" designs makes for a blander type world, and signals that fonts do not matter. Unique and memorable design will be achieved elsewhere, which allows brands to bland type in Latin too.

If type people agree that "fonts matter", surely we should challenge this attitude?

Unfortunately, brands do not always listen to type designers. Many of the brands have a system for assessing the need for localization of corporate fonts - this is an additional cost, so you need to assess the need for such work. I have my own example, when a mobile communications company does not consider it important to make a non-Latin part for their corporate font. Therefore, he uses Roboto in local advertising.