29LT - 7/30/2024 1:48:04 PM - GMT (+2 )
The 29LT Azahar family comes in two categories: Text and Display, each available in five different weights: Light, Regular, Medium, Bold, and Black. In Latin and Cyrillic, each Upright style is accompanied by its respective True Italic, holding the same elegance and sobriety as the Roman, but with a gentle sense of speed and connection in the end strokes. The echoing Arabic style is a hybrid Neo-Naskh/Neo-Thuluth, giving the typographic style its unique high and low contrast letter structures.
29LT Azahar Superfamily currently contains: 29LT Azahar Display AL, 29LT Azahar Display LC, 29LT Azahar Text AL, and 29LT Azahar Text LC.
Kindly refer to the Script Suffixes paragraph of the Multi-Script 29LT Fonts article for more information regarding the meaning of the AL and LC suffixes.
Two axes allow extensive weight and optical size control in its variable font format, making it ideal for web design and other digital environments. This variety gives the designer a wide range of typographic hierarchy solutions.
The name derives from the beauty and delicacy of orange tree blossom, known as azahar in Spanish, which originates from the Arabic word الزَّهْرَة (az-zahra). This mixed origin symbolizes the blending of diverse cultures and reflects 29Letters Type Foundry’s commitment to creating multi-script typefaces. Likewise, 29LT Azahar’s name reflects not only the delicacy of the thin strokes, and the elegance and simplicity of the spiky terminals of the display style, but also the organic growth of the project, from seed to blossoming.
Like a seed, Azahar grew from an incomplete project, later blossoming into a fully functional variable family. With an old-style spirit but a contemporary heart, Azahar is pleasant and reader-friendly in the Text style, and sharp and graceful in the Display version.
Rooted in Jose Carratala’s practical – and experimental – project during his MA Communication Design: Typeface Design Pathway (MATD) at the University of Reading, UK, the original purpose was to design a typeface whose characteristics optimized typesetting at small optical sizes. After discussion sessions with Pascal Zoghbi about the design and expansion of the family, it evolved into a bigger typographic system that could meet the needs of contemporary users. Such talks also determined the classical and modern considerations that fine-tuned the letterforms and redefined the typeface’s new flavour across all the scripts.
Based on its origin in Latin design, the type family also includes Cyrillic and Arabic scripts for publishing. Pascal asked Krista Radoeva to consult Jose on the Latin script while creating the Cyrillic, and introduced Naïma Ben Ayed to the team as the Arabic type designer.
The design process for such an ambitious project required regular and consistent communication between the whole team: Jose (designing Latin), Krista (consulting on the Latin and designing Cyrillic), Naïma (designing Arabic), and Pascal (consulting on the Arabic and overseeing the progress on the whole type system). Comparing the multiple styles through several typeset proofs of both scripts was essential to ensure they reached the same color and texture on the page.
Planning for the multiscript expansion from the start was a rare and valuable opportunity to create a typeface with features working across all scripts.
At the Latin and Cyrillic end, Krista shared her experience with Jose, giving helpful tips for rethinking some design aspects of the letterforms. Straight from the start, she loved Jose’s determined design approach as well as the character of the Latin. They discussed how to keep that energetic feel, while making the font consistent across all styles.
For the Arabic script, Pascal shared his concept with Naïma for creating an Arabic typeface combining elements of the Naskh and Thuluth calligraphic styles. The aim was to develop a variable Arabic type system transitioning between text and display typographic styles.
Azahar’s Main Features and ProportionsIn Azahar Display, elements typically considered as practical design elements in text styles, such as a large corpus size (distance between the baseline and the mean line) to improve legibility, a narrow body to accommodate more characters in a line, and short ascenders and descenders to reduce leading and to fit more lines of text, are transformed into stylish design features. This mimics and reinterprets the practical features of the text style in a kind of skeuomorphism. On the other hand, more conventional proportions, such as a wider body, open counters, and longer ascenders and descenders for better readability, make the text version warmer and more approachable.
Azahar Text reinterprets medium-contrast transitional letterforms, as opposed to the tension of the high-contrast Didone style of its display counterpart, carried to the extreme in its heaviest weight. Likewise, the sharp and flared serifs of the latter add a modern twist, making it optimal for daring headlines. Elegant and fragile in its lightest form, and brave and appealing in its darkest one, it pleases the eyes of contemporary users. Unlike Azahar Display, Azahar Text serifs are wider and thicker, in harmony with their classical proportions and weight distribution.
However, the angle of stress reflects transitional models of the 18th century, such as Baskerville, Fournier, and Caslon Roman, but with additional symmetry in the structure; the terminals of letters like a, c, and s are not rounded but triangular, emulating the sharp beak end strokes of Roman inscriptional capitals and stone carving.
At the start of the Azahar project, Jose (along with Krista’s keen eye) reconsidered the initial established metrics, weight distribution, and proportions of the Latin script. Some letters like ‘m’, ‘n’, and ‘u’ were too narrow, while others like ‘c’ and ‘a’ were on the wide side. Additionally, he adjusted the ascenders and descenders and increased the contrast to the extreme for the display styles. Finally, he restyled the terminals and end strokes to ensure all the features were in tune.
Contrary to the display version, Jose used wider proportions, lower contrast, as well as more open spacing for the text version. One of the most challenging aspects was to ensure consistency in the style and the compatibility of the serifs in both display and text.
Latin Script Stylistic FeaturesOne element making the overall aesthetic unique and stylish is the subtly curved incision above and below some serifs and terminals in characters like a, c, s, and z, and C, E, F, G, L, S, T, and Z. These pointed ends on the outside of the serifs resemble shapes seen in some display faces from the 1960s and 70s produced by ITC — themselves loosely based on typefaces from the Art Nouveau period — as well as the angled joins seen in lowercase and uppercase diagonals. These unconventional features add a defiant and sharp flavour to the character set.
Perhaps the most surprising design decision is the contrast applied to the letter g, contrary to the established conventions of the Didone models. This experimental approach comes from the logic of the pointed pen. Traditionally, in the modern style, the letter g is the only character in the Latin alphabet that does not follow the logic of the pen expansion effect in all its strokes, in which the stress remains in the vertical axis of the character (and all the characters of the alphabet). This exception usually applies to the horizontal middle stem, but in Azahar, this convention is successfully reversed, adding an extra hint of singularity.
The collaborative process also gave a solid foundation for the Cyrillic design. Krista’s focus (as always) was on creating harmony between the Latin and Cyrillic, while being respectful to Cyrillic traditions and conversions. She experimented with angles of terminals and stroke endings for shapes such as ‘д’, ‘л’, ‘к’, and ‘ж’. One key distinctive feature is the unusual shape of ‘б’, added to counterbalance the Latin ‘g’. She also had Pascal’s and Jose’s feedback and outside perspectives to help her make the right decisions.
The 29LT Cyrillic character set covers much more than what is traditionally referred to as Basic Cyrillic (with only Russian in its default form). Cyrillic was developed with many Cyrillic languages in mind: Ukrainian, Kazakh, Mongolian, etc. which are often completely ignored or simply added as an afterthought. Azahar pays special attention to the localised forms for Bulgarian, Serbian, and Macedonian, supported by OpenType features.
The design principles of Azahar Arabic are in line with those of its Latin and Cyrillic counterparts. Smooth curves meet sharp and crisp starting or ending pen strokes, giving the Arabic letterforms a unique structure. The contrast and vertical height changes between the display and text styles result in a diverse and original Arabic typeface. The large open counters are carefully balanced with relatively short ascenders and descenders for legibility. While departing from traditional Arabic calligraphic proportions, the contemporary structures are inspired by the Naskh and Thuluth scripts, newly interpreted.
In addition, the Arabic version includes a 1-degree baseline slant and an extensive set of ligatures and contextual alternates, which enhance the typeface with a calligraphic feel, for legibility and rhythmic flow in text.
Happily, this project came together very strongly on all points — balancing different styles and scripts, function and character, and tradition and modernity.
Check www.29LT.com website to download the type specimen for full information about each of the typefaces.
29LT Azahar Display LC Type Specimen
29LT Azahar Display AL Type Specimen
29LT Azahar Text LC Type Specimen
29LT Azahar Text AL Type Specimen
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