Forma DJR Arabic
A typeface that evokes the warmth of the printed page
Forma DJR Arabic is designed by Khajag Apelian and Wael Morcos as a companion to DJR’s revival of Forma, a slick neo-grotesque typeface originally published by the Nebiolo foundry in 1968. The Arabic typeface is conceived for editorial and branding systems, inheriting distinctive design features from the Latin that are carefully implemented in consideration of the needs of the Arabic writing system.
Forma DJR’s round corners soften the typeface and add an inky, almost tactile, quality that evokes the feeling of ink on paper. Tapered stems have also been integrated in the Arabic design modulating the vertical strokes. They are most apparent in letters like the Alefs and the Lams, the diverse family of Nabiras as well as details like the Tah’s vertical bar. This slight flaring at the ends of strokes gives the typeface a graphic quirkiness and a friendlier attitude than the typical neo-grotesque.
The specimens on this page were designed by Lana Soufeh.
Flexible spacing, flexible connections
Much of Forma DJR’s flavor comes from its careful treatment of letterspacing, and this is just as true in a non-connecting script like Latin as it is in a connecting script like Arabic. In the Display and Banner sizes, the letters are very tightly spaced in order to set tight, compact headlines. As the intended size gets smaller in the Text and Micro sizes, the spacing is relaxed to make reading more comfortable in longer blocks of text.
Several design solutions were devised in order to achieve this tight spacing in the Arabic script. First, the connecting strokes entering and exiting the medial forms of the letters are shortened without changing the proportions of the letter itself. Additionally, kerning pairs are introduced to reduce the gap that occurs after specific letters such as the Rah. In other letter combinations, the horizontal two dots above and below the Nabirah are replaced by a contextual alternate consisting of vertically stacking dots. Finally, the vocalization marks have a steep angle allowing them to fit in a tighter horizontal space and avoid undesired shape overlaps.
الألِفْبائية الفينيقية
والأصباغ الأخيرة
طبعة ميكانيكية
مؤرخ الأبجدية
باحث معاصر
Get Forma DJR Arabic!
Latin + Arabic included in each font.
Forma DJR Arabic Elsewhere
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Forma DJR Arabic at Type Network
Hosted webfonts and larger licenses
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Forma DJR Arabic at Adobe Fonts
Easy integration with Adobe Creative Cloud
Design credits
- Khajag (KJ) Apelian Forma Arabic (insta, twitter)
- Wael Morcos Forma Arabic (insta, twitter)
- David Jonathan Ross principal type design (insta, twitter)
- Roger Black art director (twitter)
- Indra Kupferschmid copywriter, historian (twitter)
- Ruggero Magrì Additional Latin drawing (insta, twitter)
- Dyana Weissman Language expansion project manager (insta, twitter)
- Bahman Eslami Font engineering (insta)