Spread the Seed
Typography
Project Details
Project Overview + Topic
Created by
Date
Context
Medium
In a project about playing around with letterforms, I began to experiment with trying to create an interesting typeface using traditionally farsi letterforms. The poster states "spread the seed of the word" and although it is hard to make out, it follows the same styling used in ancient Persian calligraphy and art.
Paniz Adiban
2019
creating letterforms
poster
Design Problem
For this project, I wanted to focus on the idea of middle eastern typography and trying to assimilate two cultures. As an Iranian Immigrant, the topic deeply interested me. I also thought it would be an added challenge to try and represent a typeface that is written in the opposite direction with completely different alphabets and merge it with the latin letterforms. I think that in a design program that is based in a western country, it is not often that the middle eastern cultures are represented, especially a Persian one. Due to the level of freedom allowed in this typography course, I decided to push the boundaries and try to be as abstract and representative as I could.
Initial Research and Illustrations
I started the design process by doing some research into various typefaces. At first, I looked at different english and Arabic typefaces that played with contrast a lot. Although there were many Arabic fonts I could use as inspiration, no english fonts looked quite similar to what I wanted to create. I chose to draw my own type using illustrator. One approach used a broken up Arabic font as parts of a letter and the other approach was completely based on my own sketches of a phrase is calligraphic styles. Due to wanting to maintain a classic somewhat rounded shape that many calligraphy fonts have, I chose to create a rounded font myself. The phrase I used was “Spread the Seed of the Word” which is a popular line from a historic Persian poetry book. I wanted to ingrain the idea of cultural identity without making the subject matter religious.
Proposed Solution and Results
The three final versions of the assignment all had similar shapes and movements but slightly different flourishes that changed the overall shape of the text.
As an overall poster, the information is seen as a more abstract pattern rather than specific letterforms, which is often the case with very decorative Persian calligraphy. Although the letterforms may not be the most legible, they create an image that is similar to what is often seen in Persian calligraphy and creates a pleasing image. Due to the similarities between the three final iterations, I was allowed to present all the drafts and choose the one I liked best to be submitted.
