The first Arabic typeface in the FontFont library, Pascal Zoghbi’s design was originally called Sada, the Arabic word for “echo”. Accordingly, this face is the echo of FF Seria by Martin Majoor. FF Seria Arabic is a young crispy type based on the Nasekh style. The Regular and Bold are text typefaces, the Light is both display and text type, while the Black is purely a display typeface. Besides FF Seria, this Arabic face works well together with all modern serif fonts that share similar proportions and characteristics. FF Seria Arabic also functions independently as a modern Arabic type. More Details>>
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About FF Seria Arabic:
FF Seria Arabic, originally called Sada, by designer Pascal Zoghbi, is an Arabic type companion to FF Seria, designed in the nineties by Martin Majoor. The Arabic type family was part of the Typographic Matchmaking 01 project organised by the Khatt Foundation. Echo, which means “Sada” in Arabic, is the repetition of a sound caused by the reflection of sound waves from a surface. Accordingly, Sada/Seria Arabic is the echo of FF Seria. FF Seria Arabic is a young crispy type based on the Arabic Nasekh style. The Regular and Bold are text typefaces, the Light is both display and text type, while the Black is purely a display typeface.
The beta versions of Sada Regular and Sada Bold were released with the Typographic Matchmaking book in August 2007. The Arabic typeface works well together with FF Seria as with all modern serif fonts that share similar proportions and characteristics as Seria. FF Seria Arabic also functions as an independent Arabic modern type.
FF Seria Arabic combines basic Latin (Western) and Arabic character sets. As FF Seria does not have any Light and Black variants, the Seria Arabic Light comes with Seria Regular Western characters instead, while Seria Arabic Black contains the Western characters of Seria Bold. Type designer and engineer Hasan Abu Afash programmed the OpenType layout features that are needed for the Arabic script system.
Characteristics of the Sada type family
SHARP CURVES & ENDINGS
Sada consists of two different kinds of sharpness applied in the structure of the letters. When the stroke flows into a closed counter (a loop), only the sharp corner is applied on the inner part of the curve, and when the stoke flows into an open counter, the sharpness is applied both on the inner and the outer part of the curve.
NASKH & KUFI BASED STRUCTURES
Since Sada has to work with the serif FFSeria. A Naskh based structure was adopted with a high contrast structure based on the broad nib pen. Yet, the weight in FFSeria is applied on the horizontal strokes and not on the diagonals as in a traditional broad nib based structure. As a result, the weight in Sada had to be moved from the diagonals to the verticals and make the structure of the glyphs more straightened up.
The solution was to make all the toothed glyphs and the right side of looped glyphs straightened up and the weight applied on the vertical (which is more Kufik), while the stroke in the left side of the glyph was kept flowing more calligraphically and the weight is applied on the diagonal (which is more Naskh). This combination gave Sada a unique feel.
OPEN COUNTERS
Unlike most Arabic fonts, the counter shapes in ‘Sada’ are well opened and will not clot up at small point sizes. Additionally, the open counters enable ‘Sada’ to acquire more weights (from Thin to Black) and make it more legible and readable.
PROPORTIONALITY OF THE GLYPHS
Usually in Arabic font the ascenders and descenders are taller than the loop and tooth heights. That makes the Arabic script feel like it is a line with some upper and lower strokes coming out of it. In ‘Sada’, there is an even balance between the loop height, tooth height, ascender and descender. This gives the font a more balanced look.
COLOR OF THE TEXT
The color of ‘Sada’ in a set text is even. The grey of the text is the same as the grey of the Roman type. This is because the glyphs are proportional.
NO STRAIGHT BASELINE
Sada is a marriage between a stiff straight baseline and a very calligraphic curvy one. The glyphs connect in a slight curve but at the same time define a very clear baseline. The glyphs connect in a slight curve but at the same time define a very clear baseline. The glyphs sit clearly on the baseline without having a robust straight line.
LANGUAGES SUPPORT & FIGURES
Sada supports Arabic, Farsi and Urdu Languages and offers the choice between Arabic hanging figures, Indic figures, Farsi figures and Urdu Figures. Usually, most of the Arabic typefaces only have the Indic figures while a few other new Arabic typefaces have lining Arabic figures. Since there are no capitals in the Arabic script, lining uppercase Arabic figures look bigger than the Arabic text. My solution was to borrow the hanging figures of FFSeria and modify them to work better with the Arabic script.
FF Seria Arabic, originally called Sada, by designer Pascal Zoghbi, is an Arabic type companion to FF Seria, designed in the nineties by Martin Majoor. The Arabic type family was part of the Typographic Matchmaking 01 project organised by the Khatt Foundation. Echo, which means “Sada” in Arabic, is the repetition of a sound caused by the reflection of sound waves from a surface. Accordingly, Sada/Seria Arabic is the echo of FF Seria. FF Seria Arabic is a young crispy type based on the Arabic Nasekh style. The Regular and Bold are text typefaces, the Light is both display and text type, while the Black is purely a display typeface.
The beta versions of Sada Regular and Sada Bold were released with the Typographic Matchmaking book in August 2007. The Arabic typeface works well together with FF Seria as with all modern serif fonts that share similar proportions and characteristics as Seria. FF Seria Arabic also functions as an independent Arabic modern type.
FF Seria Arabic combines basic Latin (Western) and Arabic character sets. As FF Seria does not have any Light and Black variants, the Seria Arabic Light comes with Seria Regular Western characters instead, while Seria Arabic Black contains the Western characters of Seria Bold. Type designer and engineer Hasan Abu Afash programmed the OpenType layout features that are needed for the Arabic script system.
Characteristics of the Sada type family
SHARP CURVES & ENDINGS
Sada consists of two different kinds of sharpness applied in the structure of the letters. When the stroke flows into a closed counter (a loop), only the sharp corner is applied on the inner part of the curve, and when the stoke flows into an open counter, the sharpness is applied both on the inner and the outer part of the curve.
NASKH & KUFI BASED STRUCTURES
Since Sada has to work with the serif FFSeria. A Naskh based structure was adopted with a high contrast structure based on the broad nib pen. Yet, the weight in FFSeria is applied on the horizontal strokes and not on the diagonals as in a traditional broad nib based structure. As a result, the weight in Sada had to be moved from the diagonals to the verticals and make the structure of the glyphs more straightened up.
The solution was to make all the toothed glyphs and the right side of looped glyphs straightened up and the weight applied on the vertical (which is more Kufik), while the stroke in the left side of the glyph was kept flowing more calligraphically and the weight is applied on the diagonal (which is more Naskh). This combination gave Sada a unique feel.
OPEN COUNTERS
Unlike most Arabic fonts, the counter shapes in ‘Sada’ are well opened and will not clot up at small point sizes. Additionally, the open counters enable ‘Sada’ to acquire more weights (from Thin to Black) and make it more legible and readable.
PROPORTIONALITY OF THE GLYPHS
Usually in Arabic font the ascenders and descenders are taller than the loop and tooth heights. That makes the Arabic script feel like it is a line with some upper and lower strokes coming out of it. In ‘Sada’, there is an even balance between the loop height, tooth height, ascender and descender. This gives the font a more balanced look.
COLOR OF THE TEXT
The color of ‘Sada’ in a set text is even. The grey of the text is the same as the grey of the Roman type. This is because the glyphs are proportional.
NO STRAIGHT BASELINE
Sada is a marriage between a stiff straight baseline and a very calligraphic curvy one. The glyphs connect in a slight curve but at the same time define a very clear baseline. The glyphs connect in a slight curve but at the same time define a very clear baseline. The glyphs sit clearly on the baseline without having a robust straight line.
LANGUAGES SUPPORT & FIGURES
Sada supports Arabic, Farsi and Urdu Languages and offers the choice between Arabic hanging figures, Indic figures, Farsi figures and Urdu Figures. Usually, most of the Arabic typefaces only have the Indic figures while a few other new Arabic typefaces have lining Arabic figures. Since there are no capitals in the Arabic script, lining uppercase Arabic figures look bigger than the Arabic text. My solution was to borrow the hanging figures of FFSeria and modify them to work better with the Arabic script.