Some very good looking work, if only I could read it.
Tim

Fredo, Many thanks for the link with Flowers
Timd, Hope this helps.

Related, and in English...

http://www.markbattypublisher.com/servlet/book_view?number=30

Thanks, Si, that’s a great site....

> Some very good looking work, if only I could read it.

Timd, “Wonders of Creation” is what the 2 Arabic words mean and translate. They have been Calligraphied in mirror symmetry by:
1 Transforming and manipulating the main letters and Ligatures.
2 Welding Last letter of the 1st word (Ba) with its mirror and Combining their Nuktas (dots) into one.
3 Combing First letter of the 2nd word (ALif) with its mirror into a down-arrow to stand for Male.
4 Duplicating and scaling Last letter of the 2nd (Ta) to form a circle with the 2 dots to stand for Female.
5 Distributing Nuktas (dots) where space allows without sacrificing readability.

Happy Exploring with Flowers

Aziz, thank you for your explanation and illustration, how difficult would an average viewer find it to decipher the various rotations and scales to understand the original meaning and symbolism (I realise an answer to this question depends on variables and of course study brings rewards)? Further to that, are the logos for Reza Abbasi Museum and Abouzar Publication in the article clear to you?
Tim

> Further to that, are the logos for Reza Abbasi Museum and Abouzar Publication in the article clear to you?

Yes. But I made a mistake in my explanation to that masterpiece of art, though it is a possible workaround. There, the 1st letter of the 2nd word (ALif) and its mirror have been combined into a slit-arrow to stand for Male as well as female. The Nukta (dot) centered above the said slit adds more meaning to the female dimension.

Sorry for the Confusion.

really good. right on time.

Gate to Iranian Art and Artists with Flowers

What a nice article! Thanks Fredrik.

> right on time.

Ah.

hhp

> right on time.
Ah.

new inspiration :) I’m working on couple/several Arabic fonts

Oh. Nice. With Hebrew companions I hope?

hhp

I’ll do that with the second round (hope so :), that’s the plan); the first one — Just Arabic (OTF).

Possible Only with Arabic Letters?!

By JALIL RASOULI MOHAMMAD from Iran

Very nice site, I would add to my bookmarks!

What does the bird sing in Farsi?
English+ Arabic Translations are also given.

Nice little demo of the compactness of Arabic.

But Aziz, are you sure those “filled-in” forms of ’ayn and ghayn are OK?

hhp

Hello Hrant, I miss you!
You mean the ‘ayn with the dot inside?
It is ‘ayn not ghayn! Nothing wrong with it.
The bird has no ghayn but One ‘ayn on the head. And that’s OK too.
By the way that reads Ali (peace be on him).
I Would like also to emphasize that the “Wonders of Creation” reads Arabic, and the bird sings persian (Farsi).

Sorry, I meant in your setting - the last line of the most-recent image,
which I assume is set in your own font, which is why I’m asking.

hhp

The font used there is Traditional Arabic (Windows Font).
I never install my Uncompromising Arabic Font on the computer at hand. I use it exclusively for communication because it is frequently attacked by Info Stealers. The Other computer has no fax-modem, no floppy and no CD, but 2 hard disks.

>>Iranian Typography Now

The fascinating calligraphic and graphic design presented in this article does not help the reader answer an obvious question: Where is typography here and why is it used in the title?

The writer speaks right away and all over about graphic design and calligraphy, with a brief couple sentences about the how common day script works. This is another sad addition to the pile of misleading articles mixing the art of Arabetic typography with the art of graphic design and calligraphy.

That happens in Latin all the time. Like “Hey, cool font!” said about even things like a long-exposure photo of somebody writing in the air with a light - remember that one argument on Typographica guys? :-)

hhp

Saad Abulhab, I miss you alot.
I do agree with you that there is more Calligraphy than typography there. But both share manipulation of letters, kerning and ligatures.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy?!

The essential difference between type and lettering is non-determinism,
especially of the white. Deep down, the two fields are totally different.

hhp

> Deep down, the two fields are totally different.

The difference between Soul and Heart?!
Calligraphy is more an Art than Font Lab?

I’d have to think about that.

hhp

Azizi Aziz! Nice to hear from you again too. The link to the Iranian site was great. I added to my bookmarks. Thanks.

Hrant wrote:

> Deep down, the two fields are totally different.

Calligraphy/graphic design and typography are different fields but are closely related. Treating them as same hurt and limit both. I once wrote that “Typography is the art of automated calligraphy” some colleagues objected but I still feel the same way about it.

Off-topic: I think it’s interesting that many of us spend a lot of time trying to convince people that English (and other “simple” Latin, Greek and Cyrillic based languages) should be considered as complex scripts. And others spend a lot of time trying to convince people that Arabic (and other complex scripts) should be treated like Latin-based languages.

I think all written languages should be able to claim citizenship in both the “complex” and “simple” camps and people should not try to bar them entry.

> I think all written languages should be able to claim citizenship in both the “complex” and “simple” camps and people should not try to bar them entry.

“No Entry” is meaningless today. That’s why people like these can claim simplifying the complex! and the fact of the matter, they are complicating the simplex.

Comparing the 3 lines in the above illustration , you can easily see that:
• 2 spaces in the middle line have been replaced with 0-width non-joiners
• the same words superimposed (overlapped) in Iranian Calligraphy.
____________________________________
A bit of information I would like to share with Flowers

Si wrote:

>>I think all written languages should be able to claim citizenship in both the “complex” and “simple” camps and people should not try to bar them entry.

Si, this wonderful statement is what I am working for since 1998. Option needs to be open to gurantee survival. Any use of a font is a very legitimate use.

The grandfathers of Arabic calligraphy and scripts succeeded because they believed fully in this “open entry”. The varieties and styles are so different and endless. Why anyone should close the curtain now?

Aziz wrote:

>>That’s why people like these can claim simplifying the complex! and the fact of the matter, they are complicating the simplex.

Personally I do not like to use the words “simple”, “simplified”, or “complex”. They are relative terms anyway. I one should look at it in term of open design and options. Thousands of Latin types today are so “weird” and “complex” when compared to mainstream types. Are there complicating Latin? No. It is about removing “any and all” artificial and arbitrary design limitations.

-Saad

>>Comparing the 3 lines in the above illustration , you can easily see that:
• 2 spaces in the middle line have been replaced with 0-width non-joiners
• the same words superimposed (overlapped) in Iranian Calligraphy.

Comparing the the 3 lines in the above illustration you can eaily see that the top one is a prodect of “caligraphy” while the bottom ones of “typography”.

-Saad

Aziz

>>them http://www.arabic-calligrapher.com/index.html

But Aziz, listing them (http://www.arabic-calligrapher.com/index.html) as an example is very misleading. They are talking about “Simple creation of complex calligraphic artwork” These guys want the old complex (and only the old complex) styles with any cost!

On the other hand, simplifying the complex (i.e. making isolated or one shape per letter Arabic types) is a truly complex and challenging task that can be used as an example of “complicating the simplex” where “simplex” is taking the easy-way-out by re-creating old available calligraphic styles and ignoring Arabic script adaptation and survival needs!

-Saad

> These guys want the old complex (and only the old complex) styles ...!
> Typography is the art of automated calligraphy

Is it possible to make the elephant (Kaligrafi) pass through the eye of the needle (PC)? By cutting it into endless pieces? But then it is dead?!

> Why anyone should close the curtain now?

Why do you keep ignoring the crucial difference between restricting
options and trying to guide? Nobody can ever be truly neutral.

> Are there complicating Latin? No.

There are limits to how strong a parallel one can draw between two writing systems - both in terms of structure as well as the needs of their users.

> Is it possible to make the elephant (Kaligrafi)
> pass through the eye of the needle (PC)?

Nothing fully survives any transition.
But the more important question is: how is it useful?

hhp

Hrant wrote:

>>Why do you keep ignoring the crucial difference between restricting
options and trying to guide? Nobody can ever be truly neutral.

Typography is about design not guidance. We are not priests.

>>There are limits to how strong a parallel one can draw between two writing systems - both in terms of structure as well as the needs of their users.

It is not an issue of drawing “parallel” between writing systems. The questions are: Why one writing system allowed open options while another one is denied them? Should all scripts be allowed equal opportunity to evolve naturally or only some of them?

-Saad

In the “Wonders of Creation”, there was letter-by letter (word) duplication.
In a way similar to placing “graphy” on the right to Typo+Calli, the 3 letters common to the first 2 words here have been calligrphed with elimination.

> Nothing fully survives any transition.
> But the more important question is: how is it useful?

Including newly-born babies?!
As the fish dies out of water, Calligraphy dies inside Computer.
Any how artificial fish are not useless for Aquariums.

> We are not priests.

We are more priests than artists, since we -hopefully- care about
more than just the pretty things we can make on our screens.

> Why one writing system allowed open options while another one is denied them?

Not denied, discouraged. Because users are different,
and everybody needs guidance. Equality is death.

> Including newly-born babies?!

I have a theory that life starts when the cord is cut. Until that time
it’s one organism... which in effect does not survive the transition.

An artificial fish is worse than a fish dying slowly in an unsuitable
environment. But an environment is more important than what’s
trying to live in it.

hhp

> I have a theory that life starts when the cord is cut. Until that time, it’s one organism… which in effect does not survive the transition.

That what makes the fish swallow the hook?!

> An artificial fish is worse than a fish dying slowly in an unsuitable environment. But an environment is more important than what’s trying to live in it.

Then Dish in place of Fish?
Aquarium = Fish + Water +/- Wheels

> We are more priests than artists, since we -hopefully- care about
more than just the pretty things we can make on our screens.

An Artist can not be Priest because the first is the explorer of what the latter considers immoral?! That’s why the latter is considered VIP?

http://www.maryamsoft.com
Here you see a brilliant work for an Iranian named AzarShab. His MerEmad works on Windows 2000 and XP.
First in its class + Very Cheap < 20U$:
Calligraphy + Typography + (software) = Iranian Tasmeem?!
Flowers 4 All.

The fish parable sounds like something I’d expect to hear from Hoja Nasreddin!
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Personal Art and Design Portal of Ivan Gulkov
www.ivangdesign.com