Anti, 20 mm Letraset dry transfer sheet, designed by Alex Anti, 1978

Anti, 20 mm Letraset dry transfer sheet, designed by Alex Anti, 1978

Proper experiments in Arabic type design, before the
invention of digital technology, peaked with Letraset’s
invention of the dry-transfer type. The relative low cost and
ease of use of this Arabic type production medium brought
the concept of ready-made scripts close to Arab
designers, eliminating the need for a calligrapher. Digital
technology was slow to spread in the Arab world, and Arab
type designers did not have a large market demand
relative to the size of the region. Governments were
struggling with developing their economies as well as
dealing with manifold social and political issues. Thus
Arabic type design was not at the top of their agendas. A
lack of patronage and governmental interest, the pirating of
fonts, and small market demand delayed the progress of
Arabic typography. This resulted in a deficiency in
sophistication and variety in Arabic fonts on the market.
For the thousands of Latin fonts available in the world,
there are only a few hundred in Arabic. Fortunately, this is
changing with the growing needs of economically
developed Arab countries, and more importantly with the
awareness by Arab designers of the cultural impact a welldesigned
typeface can have in a global village.
Before the introduction of computers, artists and designers
used manual techniques to present their work. At first they
hand-scribed words, but a new invention in the 1960s
helped speed up their design process. Letraset was a
company responsible mostly for manufacturing sheets of
typefaces and other design elements that could be
incorporated in an artwork's preparations. Founded in
London in 1959, Letraset offered a new specialized work
tool for typography to both commercial artists and
designers. The company's prime project was the Letraset
Type Lettering System that catered to many languages. By
1961, Letraset's dry rub-down Instant Lettering was
refined, becoming the company's core product for the next
thirty tears until the invention of computers put a lot of
companies and crafts out of business.