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Cat drawn with black swooping lines and red dots, spelling "cat" in Arabic

Furry, Feathered (and more) Arabic Font Friday

Architect and graphic designer Mahmoud Tammam has translated his love of word manipulation into a delightful series celebrating language. Based in Alexandria, Egypt, the creative started the project as a “personal challenge.” He explains*, “I manipulate Arabic words and transform them into their meaning, and I made a total of 40 illustrated words.” In addition, the pronunciation of these Arabic illustrated words is included on every picture to help you sound them out.

Using the Arabic characters, Tammam fashions their sloping curves and dots into the bodies of animals, pieces of fruit, and distant landscapes. His pictorial manipulations are seamless and elegant, fusing words and images so well that it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. This bridges the gap between language barriers—even if you can’t read the language, you can look at Tammam’s illustrations and instantly understand what you’re reading.

*The text at this link seems to be authored by “Mahmoud El Sayed,” not “Mahmoud Mallam,” but he’s talking about the same project. Not sure what’s up with that.


Visit this link and scroll down for more.

Rust-colored and brown fox, made up of swooping lines and dots, to spell "fox" in Arabic

Whale in 3 shades of blue, with the darkest shade's lines and dots spelling "whale" in Arabic
Duck with brown and green lines spelling out "duck" in Arabic, and yellow-orange feet and legs
Dark brown lines and maroon dots spelling out "giraffe" in Arabic, with lighter brown legs
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