Style combination · Contrasts

Arabic Calligraffiti × International Typographic Style

A neutral grotesque on a modular grid is the opposite of one sweeping Arabic gesture; put a small Swiss caption block against a calligraffiti wall for a sharp bilingual identity.

From the research on Arabic Calligraffiti

Mix them and make something Arabic Calligraffiti International Typographic Style

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Arabic Calligraffiti, their arrangement from International Typographic Style, the finish from Arabic Calligraffiti. Not a real work, and not an image of either style.

What each style brings

Each part of the design comes from the style with the stronger say in it, and each style gives at least two.

Arabic Calligraffiti International Typographic Style

Type from Arabic Calligraffiti: Brush & pen calligraphy
Type as image
Colour from International Typographic Style: Limited spot colours
Flat fields
Form from Arabic Calligraffiti: Biomorphic curves
Whiplash line
Composition from International Typographic Style: Modular grid
Dynamic asymmetry

Arabic Calligraffiti avoids modular grid: this is where the two pull against each other, which is the point of the contrast.
Surface from Arabic Calligraffiti: Painterly brushwork
Hard offset shadow

The type

Open fonts standing in for each style’s own type, which is often hand-drawn or commercial.

Display · Arabic Calligraffiti

New

Rakkas, standing in for Freehand Arabic script sprayed or painted rather than written with a reed pen, after calligraphy but without its rules or a uniform hand (as the Museum für Islamische Kunst describes eL Seed's work)

Text · International Typographic Style

A post-war refinement of the New Typography in which the mathematical grid, objective photography and neo-grotesque sans-serifs were used to communicate with clarity and neutrality. Taught at the Basel and Zurich schools, it became the default language of international corporate and institutional communication.

Inter; International Typographic Style used Akzidenz-Grotesk and Helvetica

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from International Typographic Style, with a counter-accent from Arabic Calligraffiti. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Arabic Calligraffiti International Typographic Style

#f2f0e9 ground · 36%
#111111 ink · 14%
#e1251b accent · 18%
#f07f1e accent · 14%
#1f4e9c accent · 10%
#f6c32b accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f2f0e9;
  --ink: #111111;
  --accent-1: #e1251b;
  --accent-2: #f07f1e;
  --accent-3: #1f4e9c;
  --accent-4: #f6c32b;
  --font-display: "Rakkas", cursive;
  --font-text: "Inter", sans-serif;
}

Use it with care

Arabic Calligraffiti: Many works carry Qur'anic verses, the names of God or devotional sayings, written on mosques and in religious communities: never use such text as texture or put it on floors, footwear or throwaway items, and have every Arabic or Persian word read and approved by a fluent reader before it is painted or printed. The style stretches and interlaces letters, so put a Qur'anic verse or a name of God into it only when a skilled Arabic-script writer composes it and the mosque or community approves it, as at the Jara Mosque; never digitally warp, crop or mirror existing sacred text. Never fill a design with invented pseudo-Arabic, which image models readily produce; do not ask an image model for eL Seed's Liquid Alphabet or any named writer's hand, and never present a generated wall as their work. The best-known walls rest on the consent of governors, imams, priests and residents, so get the owner's permission (spraying without it is a crime in most places), work with the people of the place, and commission and credit Arabic-script writers rather than faking the script for a brand.