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huda abifarès

huda smitshuijzen abifarès, was born in beirut in 1965.

author of arabic typography
‚a comprehensive sourcebook’ (saqi books, london, 2001); ‚experimental arabic type’ (saatchi & saatchi, dubai, 2002); ‚typographic matchmaking’ (bis publishers, amsterdam 2007), and a number of articles on multilingual communication in the middle east.

she holds degrees in graphic design from yale university school of art and rhode island school of design, and specialises in bilingual typographic research and design.

she has worked as a designer for a number of years, in the us, amsterdam, france and beirut.

she has taught typography and graphic design at the american university of beirut. she was the chair of the visual communication department for three years at the american university in dubai and special projects director and associate professor of graphic design until june 2008.

she is the director and founder of the khatt foundation, center for arabic typography.

she is currently pursuing a phd at leiden university while still teaching and working in dubai.


„typographic matchmaking:
arabic typography’s role in contemporary visual culture of the middle east


this presentation will address the role of arabic typography in contemporary arab and middle eastern visual identity, taking the collaborative typographic matchmaking pilot project as a case study.

the first typographic matchmaking project was initiated in april 2005 by the khatt foundation (www.khtt.net) to address design issues relevant to contemporary middle eastern/arab identity and visual culture. initiated and coordinated by huda smitshuijzen abifarès (founder and director of the khatt foundation), this first pilot design project focused on the most emblematic element of arab culture – the arabic script.

it served the khatt foundation’s main goals of creating cross-cultural dialogue through collaborative projects, of furthering the development of contemporary design in the arab world, of asserting the arab identity by providing it with a visible platform for discussion, of sharing information and resources, of building a virtual community where knowledge can be collectively created, and ultimately facilitating for arab and middle eastern designer a potentially active and effective role on the international design stage.

the typographic matchmaking project will be used to draw useful conclusions on how to best create effective cross-cultural strategies and culturally relevant development projects.