Category Archives: typography / design

Flight from the Actual

Posted on July 20, 2012 by Ian Whiteman

I am one of the many who embraced each new technology as it presented itself over the last 50 years. It included multi-track analogue audio recording and phototypesetting in the 1960s, digital audio recording, digital cameras and mobile phones in … Continue reading →

Posted in miscellaneous, music, Publishing, religion, typography / design | 1 Comment

Purification of the Heart Revisited

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Ian Whiteman

The second edition of Hamza Yusuf’s Purification of the Heart is shortly to be printed, eight years after it’s first impression. It has been completely re-typeset in a typeface named Quadraat which was selected as Sandala’s house style ten years … Continue reading →

Posted in typography / design | 5 Comments

Mohamed Zakariya, Calligrapher

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Ian Whiteman

The 20th May just gone was Mohamed Zakariya’s 7oth birthday. He is not that well known outside the rarified atmosphere of Ottoman calligraphers but he has had a great measure of influence on people like myself over the years. His … Continue reading →

Posted in typography / design | 2 Comments

Ancient Prophets of Arabia

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Ian Whiteman

Following my tradition of announcing books I have worked on, here is a big one. Dr. Mostafa Badawi, (a medical doctor of Egyptian origin), practices as a psychiatrist in a hospital in Medina and is hidden away in that wonderful … Continue reading →

Posted in architectural, language, miscellaneous, music, Publishing, religion, typography / design | 4 Comments

A Brief History of Transliteration

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Ian Whiteman

Language is powerful; and its written word is like a weapon which when launched out into the world enlivens or maims. As cultures and civilisations have moved and evolved through history, the way they have chosen to write their language … Continue reading →

Posted in language, miscellaneous, Publishing, typography / design, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Meccan Rebellion

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Ian Whiteman

A new book, The Meccan Rebellion, by Thomas Hegghamer and Stephane Lacroix  has just been published by Amal Press, Bristol, and typeset by yours truly (not the cover I should add) and is now on sale. To quote some of the blurbs: … Continue reading →

Posted in miscellaneous, Publishing, typography / design, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

The Fly of God

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Ian Whiteman

Have you ever wondered why a mosquito or a fly lands on your face at precisely that moment in the early dawn when you know you should wake up and get out of bed? Did you swat it or did … Continue reading →

Posted in typography / design | 9 Comments

Relics of the First Computer Age

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Ian Whiteman

I just discovered in an old drawer a unique Seiko digital prayer wrist watch made in about 1986 in Japan. What’s more it’s gold plated which makes it pretty unique. How quickly things seemed to have moved on from that … Continue reading →

Posted in typography / design | 5 Comments

Be Near the Earth

Posted on January 15, 2012 by Ian Whiteman

Be Near the Earth is a phrase that caught my eye some months ago on a Zaytuna College web page. Sh. Hamza was quoting the advice of a Mauritanian shaykh he knew and its many meanings I thought worth expanding … Continue reading →

Posted in typography / design | 4 Comments