29LT MAKINA: Multilingual Typewriter Typeface

29LT Makina is a revival of an Arabic and Latin typewriters. The typeface mimics the rough ink prints of a typewriter machine and utilizes advanced font technology to impersonate the randomness and uniqueness of a typed text on paper taken out from the role of the typewriter. The fonts were created to be as faithful as possible to the original typewriter effect.

Typewriters are known to be mono-spaced (all glyphs have the same width), but this is not the case with Arabic. It has three different widths defined depending on the need of each letter: tight, normal, wide. This is echoed in Makina where the Latin glyphs were kept mono-spaced while the Arabic retained tri-spaced width. Due to the limited number of keys on the typewriter keyboard, the Arabic script needed to be simplified and letter variations were reduced except for the complex letters like the Ain and the Ha’. Three glyph alternates are created for each letterform in the Arabic and the Latin script in order to mimic the randomness of the print the typewriter leaves on paper. Basic Ligatures where retained on the typewriter keyboard, advanced stylistic sets and contextual alternates were added to the fonts allowing a random cycle of glyphs’ alternates representing the mechanics of the typewriter system, and machine is, after all, what Makina means.

A number of elements bring both Arabic and Latin scripts together: the design approach, open counters, proportions, terminals and finials, weight and contrast. Both scripts were created based on Arabic and English typewriter from the same manufacturer.