Style combination · Pairs well

Contemporary Arabic × Roman-like Thai Typography

Both redraw a non-Latin script to sit beside a Latin sans as an equal; dual-script Arabic keeps its calligraphic structure, while loopless Thai changes the letter itself, so pair them in a multiscript identity only with native readers for each script.

From the research on Roman-like Thai Typography (modern loopless Thai)

Mix them and make something Contemporary Arabic Roman-like Thai Typography

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Contemporary Arabic, their arrangement from Contemporary Arabic, the finish from Contemporary Arabic. 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.

Contemporary Arabic & Dual-Script Type Design Roman-like Thai Typography (modern loopless Thai)

Type from Roman-like Thai Typography: Grotesque & neo-grotesque
Geometric sans
Colour from Roman-like Thai Typography: Flat fields
Limited spot colours
Form from Contemporary Arabic: Rectilinear
Ornament-free
Composition from Contemporary Arabic: Column grid
Modular grid
Surface from Contemporary Arabic: Flat

The type

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

Display · Roman-like Thai Typography

Index

Inter Tight, standing in for Helvetica, the Latin model for Manoptica

Text · Contemporary Arabic

A twenty-first-century type culture that redraws Arabic as a family matched to a Latin companion in weight, proportion and contrast, so the two scripts can share a page, screen or sign as equals. The Khatt Foundation's Typographic Matchmaking (2007) did much to launch it, and foundries such as 29LT and TPTQ Arabic carried it forward. It favours low-contrast Kufi- and Naskh-derived forms, a firm horizontal baseline and mirrored grids for identities, wayfinding and interfaces.

Fira Sans; Contemporary Arabic used Frutiger Arabic and Helvetica Arabic and 29LT UA Neo B and UA Neo N

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Roman-like Thai Typography, with a counter-accent from Contemporary Arabic. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Contemporary Arabic & Dual-Script Type Design Roman-like Thai Typography (modern loopless Thai)

#f6f5f1 ground · 36%
#141414 ink · 14%
#f5b800 accent · 18%
#c1272d accent · 14%
#0f6e6e accent · 10%
#8c8c8c accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f6f5f1;
  --ink: #141414;
  --accent-1: #f5b800;
  --accent-2: #c1272d;
  --accent-3: #0f6e6e;
  --accent-4: #8c8c8c;
  --font-display: "Inter Tight", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Fira Sans", sans-serif;
}

Use it with care

Contemporary Arabic & Dual-Script Type Design: Arabic must be set with correct contextual shaping and right-to-left direction; disconnected or reversed letters are a common and offensive error. Have every Arabic word checked by a fluent reader, avoid setting Qur'anic verses or the names of God and the Prophet as decorative texture, and commission or credit Arabic type designers rather than deriving Arabic glyphs from a Latin font.

Roman-like Thai Typography (modern loopless Thai): Loopless Thai is contested inside Thailand. Researchers such as Rachapoom Punsongserm find it harder to read in small, bold or justified body text and less legible across viewing distances than a Thai universal-design face, with letters that can be taken for Latin (พ.ร.บ. can read as W.S.U.), so keep it mostly to display sizes and set body, legal and small interface text in a looped face. Critics also see it as eroding the looped forms that mark Thai identity, and Cadson Demak, which popularised it, has since turned back towards looped faces. Have every Thai word checked by a fluent reader, since image models invent or garble Thai letters, and never pass shaped Latin letters off as Thai.