Tags
typography calligraphy alphabets

Wonderfully written and illustrated article from Smashing Magazine on the typography of Asian and Arabic languages. As well as discussing how to differentiate diacriticals from radicals, the article helps the reader to appreciate the innate aesthetic qualities and possibilities of non-Latin alphabets. Particularly touching and symbolic is the anecdote about the Chinese and Japanese tradition of making a writing brush from the hair of a newborn, as a once-in-a-lifetime souvenir for the child.