Al-Musabiki Al-Raqami

A-Qalam offered a three-month intensive online program dedicated to all artists who are interested in Arabic Calligraphy and typography in Egypt and from all around the world. It started in mid-August 2020 and it covered all the technical aspects that enable the participants to design a typeface, starting from how to translate a design into a digital form, ending with designing a ready-to-use typeface (a digital font). Ten participants from different backgrounds who are passionate, committed and dedicated, enrolled in this course, from calligraphers, typographers, graphic designers, Fine Arts faculties alumni, software development companies, IT companies, who are working or looking forward to diving deeper into the world of typeface design and typography to be able to enhance their career in this field.

Dr. Khaled Honsy, the instructor of this course, has designed and has participated in designing many open-source typefaces that are accessible and available to the public. For instance, ‘Amiri’ font, ‘Rana Kufi’ font inspired by Fatimid Kufi and ‘Cairo Kufi’ font inspired by Mushafi Kufi (Quran Kufi). 

This course comprised academic sessions, and every participant was committed to working on a final project of their choice (individually or in groups) to design and develop an Arabic typeface.