Anna Seaman
Don’t know the work of Mourad Boutros? Think again: the prominent Lebanese calligrapher and typographer is the man who designed the Expo 2020 logo.
In Dubai this weekend for the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, Boutros will appear on a panel about calligraphy as well as participate in a session about its importance in the world of communication today.
Along with his wife Arlette, Boutros designed the font Boutros Advertisers Naskh in 1977 to work alongside the common Latin-alphabet font Helvetica.
Since then, it has been the most-used typeface for signs across highways, airports, hospitals and offices in the Arabic-speaking world. Patrons include Dubai and Riyadh international airports, 3M, The Bechtel Corporation, Al Arabiya news channel, Al Hayat newspaper and BBC Arabic. Boutros has also worked on two seminal books on the topic – Arabic for Designers (2007) and Talking about Arabic (2009), published by Thames & Hudson.
In 2011, he updated the font and in 2012 published a second edition of Arabic for Designers, with an expanded chapter on The Value of Cultural Knowledge, looking at ad campaigns that failed because of grammatical mistakes or an incomplete grasp of Arabic.
“The book is for western people who want to understand our culture,” says Boutros. “But, importantly, it also addresses the fact that there is no respect for Arabic typography in the Arab world. It is also about branding and translation on a wider scale. We live in a world that revolves around communication, so this topic affects everyone. How can you communicate effectively if the tool for communication is leading you in the wrong way?
“I think many Arabs don’t take enough time to look at these messages and it affects the whole Arabic-speaking area.”
• Calligraphy, Typography & the W orld of Communications Today is on Friday at 5pm; the calligraphy panel (Mourad Boutros, Long Kaisheng, Hassan Massoudy and Dave Wood) is at 11.30am on the same day. Visit www.emirateslitfest.com for more information
aseaman@thenational.ae
F1 The Movie
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Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
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ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
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What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
Brief scores:
Day 2
England: 277 & 19-0
West Indies: 154
Gothia Cup 2025
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1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
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