Aswat Al Abjaddyah started with a font, Tabati, created by Lara Assouad Khoury, a typographic expression of a story (also titled Tabati) animated by basic shapes-circles, rectangles, squares, triangles and primary colours, out of which sprung a complete constructivist visual language of type and illustration.
Published by Dar Onboz, Beirut
Aswat al Abjaddyyah_BookCover -
Tabati offers an alternative reading of the Arabic alphabet, through the simple underlying geometric shapes or masses it defines rather than the lines it traces on paper.
Aswat Al Abjaddyah - The Sounds of the Alphabet, written by Nadine R.L Touma, came as a natural expression of such an 'animated' and playful typeface, which naturally lent itself to the richness and musicality of the Arabic language. For each letter a sound-verb-'ha', 'hafhaf' for the sound of rubbing leaves, 'zain', 'zaqzaq' for the sound of chirping birds , 'sadd', 'sahsah' for the sound of loud laughter-a play on rhythm and sound repetition.
This book is a tactile, visual, auditory experience to share with the young and old, celebrating the beauty of the written Arabic word and the richness of the Arabic language.
