But despite their modest knowledge of these scripts, the instructors are capable of guiding you through your final project. ( Image source)Īdapting these principles to the specifics of other scripts, like Arabic and Armenian, had to come from a more personal learning effort. This continued over the year through sketching exercises, designing type for different media and screens, and historical revivals.Ī couple of type-drawing exercises on TypeCooker. We mostly learned the fundamentals of contrast, letter structure and spacing. It’s incredible how much you develop when surrounded by teachers who are considered to be the top of the typographic world and classmates who were selected from different places around the world, each bringing their own knowledge and experience to the table.ĭuring the first semester, we tackled the basics of type design in calligraphy classes, practicing and exercising the principles of Latin type. Khajag: The year at KABK was one of the best times I’ve had. Did you focus only on designing Latin typefaces, or were you able to develop your skill in designing Arabic faces, too?
That did it for me - two years later, I was there!
I only found out about the program at KABK during my final year at the university, when NDU graduate Pascal Zoghbi came to the school to present his Type and Media thesis project. Then, I started to work more and more with letters, although I never knew I could develop this interest, let alone study it later on. The outcome is nothing to be proud of, but the process was a lot of fun. So, that was the first project I worked on that could be considered close to designing type. Actually, it was more like a project within a course, where we were asked to design an “experimental Arabic typeface” - something that was quite basic and that didn’t really involve type design, which I later realized when I entered the Type and Media program. Khajag: We had a foundational course in type design at Notre Dame University in Lebanon (NDU) during my bachelor’s degree. The font is not released yet but will be soon, hopefully in the coming year, so keep an eye on Typotheque if you’re interested. I’ve also worked on developing the Arabic companion of Fedra Display by Typotheque. In this project, five teams were commissioned to explore bilingual type for usage in public spaces.Īrek is a dual-script Latin-Armenian typeface family in four weights, with matching cursive styles. Nuqat was part of the “ Typographic Matchmaking in the City” project, initiated by the Khatt Foundation between 20.
I later developed a Latin counterpart in order to make it available through Rosetta, a multi-script type foundry.Īnother font I designed is Nuqat, with René Knip and Jeroen van Erp. Arek was my first original typeface, and it was in Armenian, which is why it is very dear to me. It started as my final-year project in the Type and Media program at KABK (Royal Academy of Art, the Hague). Khajag: Well, I’ve only designed one retail font, and that is Arek. Q: Could you please start by telling us more about some of the typefaces you’ve designed? Given his experience in working between languages, it’s only logical that Khajag’s studio maajoun was chosen by the well-known and beloved Disney to adapt its logos for films such as Planes and Aladdin into Arabic, keeping the visual feel of the originals intact. An Interview With Type Designer Akira Kobayashi.Beautiful Handwriting, Lettering and Calligraphy.Khajag goes deeper still, having designed a Latin-Armenian dual-script typeface in four weights, named “Arek”, as well as an Arabic adaptation of Typotheque’s Fedra Display. Designing a quality typeface is a daunting task when it’s only in the Latin alphabet. Having started his career studying under some of the best typographic minds in the world, Khajag Apelian not only is a talented type and graphic designer, unsurprisingly, but also counts Disney as a client, as well as a number of local and not-for-profit organizations throughout the Middle East.Įven more impressive is Khajag’s willingness to take on work that most people would find too challenging.