Modern Belya Arabic typeface is a revival of the work of one of the most influential Egyptian calligrapher of all times, Khodeir Elborsaedy (Mosaad Khudair), known for his work which dominated the Egyptian cinema and theatre scene in the 1970’s and 1980’s. His calligraphic work was very influential across the entire Arab world, as he introduced Avant guard styles of Arabic letterforms characterized by beauty, flexibility, and unique variability within each of the unique styles he introduced. Some of the most renowned movies of the Egyptian cinema had calligraphic opening titles crafted by khodeir Elborsaedy.
The typeface has many unique features, such as a wide stylistic set for specific letters which help support designers to have flexibility and variety in their designs. In addition, Modern Belya font has a vast number of ligatures and stylistic sets of some of those distinct ligatures. The typeface simply brings back the beauty of 70's and 80's Egyptian typography to the scene, in a digital type family consisting of 4 different weights, while maintaining the same level of beauty and flexibility without losing the core of the free-hand style developed by the artist
The display typeface is ideal for usage in headlines, logos, branding, and various graphic design contexts such as publications, motion graphics, or exhibitions. It insures adding to any project a touch of artistic hand-lettering character, that gives a sense of authentic and nostalgic Arabic spirit to any piece of communication using the font.
The typeface has been recognized and honoured in several international type design competitions; including being shortlisted at the prestigious D&AD design competition; and receiving a special mention at the Granshan international competition, in the category of Arabic Display Typeface.
The typeface was designed by Egyptian designer Najla Badran and Egyptian Calligrapher Khodeir Elborsaedy. It is exclusively published on www.ArabicTypography.com. Najla Badran initiated the project concept aiming to preserve and revive the intangible typographic heritage created by Khudair and to bring it back to life and reintroduce this rich typographic artistic heritage to a wider audience of Arabic designers.
The typeface was developed as part of a grant awarded to Tarek Atrissi Design NL, in partnership with Al-Qalam foundation in Cairo, by the Creative Industries Fund NL: the national and government-supported cultural fund for design, architecture and digital culture In the Netherlands. Tarek Atrissi Design curated the overall project by conducting a series of educational and research-oriented workshops, and supporting 5 Egyptian designers to get the creative, technical, and financial support needed to bring their design concepts to life and producing an Arabic typeface professionally produced and ready for publishing. All the typefaces created in the project will be available for licencing on www.ArabicTypography.com. Modern Belya is the first of these typefaces to be published in July 2022.
