Collaborator spotlight time for Fit Arabic, and first shoutout goes to @naimepakniyat !
Naime is a pixel artists and storyteller from Shiraz, Iran. She obtained her BA and MA from the University of Tehran in Graphic Design and Animation, respectively. Her MA project, a short animated film called Gambit was selected in more than 20 international festivals and was honoured with awards. Since then, she has continued to establish her art style by combining pixel art and traditional painting motifs as elements creating a bridge between the past and present, and ancient and modern life. Her deepest concern is to keep traditional elements from fading away, and making today’s generation more familiar with cultural roots.
Check out her page for links to see more of her incredible work. You can also buy of some her art in the form of shawls, scarves or a twilly at world.maqaze.shop
Thanks again for helping us out with the release of Fit Arabic, Naime!💚🫶
When we originally had a chat with @naimepakniyat about illustrations for #fitarabic, we told her the fonts would be released in spring. She immediately suggested the season itself as a theme. In our last post, you saw her turn that theme outward: lovers through the months and birdsong breaking open under a blue sky.
The illustration in this post however turn inward; the images live inside the letterforms and reflect on other ways Iranians have celebrated the arrival of spring: a celebration, a fresh start, a feast.
We so appreciate how Naime understood very well this essential aspects of the concept @djrrb had for Fit originally: that the white space plays a role just as important than the black space, that both the interior and exterior of the outlines are essential for the font to be what it is. Naime clearly reflected this crucial characteristic of the font in her designs, and I’m sure you’ll agree with us that the result is a stunning display of how far the font can go in tone and use. Thanks so much Naime 💚
As always, can download the trial fonts or buy a license for Fit Arabic on our website!
So incredibly happy to finally be able to share this with you all! We teamed up with the ever amazing @djrrb to design an Arabic counterpart for the fantastic font that is Fit ✨ this was such a dream project for us: collaboration at its heart, with both David and our incredibly skilled and generous friend @naimepakniyat who gifted us incredible animations that celebrate the design, as well as a project that allowed us to dive into the calligraphic heritage of Arabic while bringing a fresh perspective when utilising square Kufic.
Fit Arabic is available on our website (link in bio) where you can buy or try (trial fonts are free!). The font is also available through #adobefonts. Check it out:)
Design: @naimepakniyat
Commission and collaboration: @djrrb
Font: #fitarabic
Psyched that Mazhik was selected as one of the finalists in #tdc72 ✨ Huge thanks to the competition chairs, the judges, and everyone @typedirectors who put so much work into making this event happen year after year. We’re genuinely honored and grateful.
And as always thanks to our amazing friends @studiomelli for making amazing graphics to go with Mazhik, and the ever boundary pushing @studiometaphorr for inviting us to participate in the event that was the catalyst for this design to come to be what it is in the first place. So much 🖤 for our type community
SAHAR AFSHAR Type Designer Professor
Juror, FiftyFifty 2026
Submissions open until 20 April 2026.
Your glyph will be read within a global dialogue.
Link in bio.
It’s been a minute (we’ve mentioned why), but we are back to it now. Next dog of the week is a symbol of resistance: Negro Matapacos
A black dog with a red bandana, Negro Matapacos, became a protest icon during Chile’s 2011–2013 student demonstrations. He was known for braving tear gas and water cannons, and only ever attacking or barking at police. In this work by illustrator Maldito Perrito @malditoperrito Matapacos is seen hopping a metro turnstile with the word ‘EVADE’ written on the side, supporting fare evasion protests. Seen as a working-class hero, he first appeared in 2010 alongside students fighting for free education. He was later featured in a student documentary and a university mural. Artists continue to turn him into a folk hero, with his black and red colors symbolizing anarcho-syndicalism and resistance. Matapacos died of old age in 2017, but his legacy lives on.
Un perro negro con pañuelo rojo, el Negro Matapacos, se volvió un ícono de protesta durante las manifestaciones estudiantiles de 2011–2013 en Chile. Era conocido por aguantar gases lacrimógenos y carros laca, y solo atacaba o ladraba a los pacos. En esta obra del ilustrador Maldito Perrito, se ve a Matapacos saltándose un torniquete del metro con la palabra “EVADE”, apoyando las protestas por evasión del fare. Considerado un héroe de clase trabajadora, apareció por primera vez el 2010 junto a estudiantes que peleaban por la educación gratuita. Después fue parte de un documental hecho por estudiantes y de un mural universitario. Los artistas lo siguen convirtiendo en un héroe popular, con sus colores negro y rojo simbolizando el anarcosindicalismo y la resistencia. Matapacos murió de viejo el 2017, pero su legado sigue vivo.
#dogoftheweek #design #illustration #resistance
Favourite internet find of the week: The manual alphabet/fingerspelling/dactylology, or just plain old representing letters or numbers of a writing system using the hands.
Slide 1. And 2. The dumb (their words, not ours) language, or the art of talking with the fingers. Wellcome Collection 17990i
Slide 3. The Manual Alphabet in: ‘Instruction of the deaf and dumb’, 1809, Watson, Joseph (1765?-1829). Source: Internet Archive.
Slide 4. Number fingerspelling, 15th century. This page is from ‘Summa de arithmetica’ (1494) by Italian mathematician Luca Pacioli (c.1447-1517), also known as Luca di Borgo.
Slide 5. Engraving from Reducción de las letras y arte para enseñar a hablar a los mudos (Bonet, 1620)
Slide 6. Close-up of the stylised sign language system frequently seen in the art of gay Chinese-American painter Martin Wong — for anyone interested, designer Nat Pyper @natpyper has designed a typeface based on this. You can see it (and more work from the artist in A Queer Year of Love Letters: Alphabets Against Erasure, Inventory Press & Library Stack, 2025.
#signing #signlanguage #manualalphabet #fingerspelling @wellcomecollection
دل من سبزتر از سبز است / از گل و آب وجودم گل روید / نگذارید بپایم اگر دشمن بهارید
— سیمین بهبهانی
My heart is greener than green / flowers sprout from the mud and water of my being / Don’t let me stand, if you are the enemies of Spring.
— Simin Behbahani
The mud and water of our being—the grief, the rage, the missing faces at the haft-sin spread, the bodies in the streets—this is where flowers sprout. The enemies of spring, of life, want us to believe that there is no space for joy, that resistance is futile. We refuse. We hold grief and hope, both.
And we set the table anyway. We polish the mirror anyway. We do this knowing the this past year does not leave everyone behind equally. In Iran, many families gather with empty chairs. We carry their heavy hearts in ours.
But spring does not wait for anyone to be ready. It comes. It insists. Behbahani’s flower does not ask for permission to grow. It declares: “My heart is greener than green.” It dares: “Don’t let me stand, if you are the enemies of Spring.” Not a plea, a dare; It is the voice of what will not be uprooted, it insists on its own existence.
Today is Norouz. Spring has arrived. The flowers sprout from the mud anyway. We stand anyway. Because life persists. Because we are greener than green.
#Nowruz1405 #WomanLifeFreedom #زن_زندگی_آزادی
Food for thought; glorification of the past, and nostalgia both hinder creative engagement and building of better futures.
Some important food for thought, and what we thought would be a good way to share an update of some wip from @jmsole.cl ; Loica is now called Litoral! And it has an italic! And we will release it soon (which in foundry speak means a few months from now)!
#galeano #wip #typedesign #quote #design
For a sovereignty not traded between empires. For a future we draft with our own hands.
Background image in the public domain, from Iranian women’s protest against the mandatory hijab at Tehran Judicial Palace, Unknown author - (۱۹ اسفند ۱۳۵۷). کیهان (۱۰۶۵۷): ۲
Poem from Simin Behbahani (1927-2014), translation to English from @sahafshar
#womanlifefreedom #Iran #freeiran #iranprotests #ایران
We sell letters. This is a dog. Welcome to Favourite Dog of the Week, the one part of our business plan that’s completely unprofessional and therefore our favourite: It has nothing to do with type, and everything to do with the fact that we all need more nice things to look at on a Friday. Think of it as a visual ampersand—it’s just there to connect things more beautifully. And this one has ears. Come for the letterforms, stay for the serotonin.
We’re starting with a Shiba Inu because, frankly, it’s the only thing that’s giving a fox a real run for its money in the cuteness department, and foxes aren’t dogs 🦊 🐶
#dogoftheweek #shibainu #instadogs
