On the first morning of ATypI Sharjah, I walked into the hotel’s breakfast room and found myself surrounded by familiar names but unfamiliar faces. Type designers whose work I’d followed for years, people behind foundries whose fonts I’d used countless times, some even wearing their foundry's T-shirts. It almost felt like opening my browser and finding all my tabs suddenly in the same room.

This year’s ATypI conference took place at the University of the Arts Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, marking the first time in the association’s nearly 70-year history that its international conference was held in Southwest Asia and North Africa. Under the theme Between: Tradition, Transition, and Transformation, the conference brought together designers, researchers, educators, and typographers from around the world. But its location gave this gathering particular significance, especially for Arabic typography, a subject that has always been central to my interests and practice.

During the opening ceremony, ATypI president Nada Abdallah captured that significance in a few words. She reminded the audience that the region’s writing cultures, calligraphic traditions, and generations of designers and researchers had long existed. “What is new is that ATypI has finally come here.” It was a powerful way to begin the conference, recognizing the region not as a newcomer to typography, but as a place with a long history and an active role in shaping its future, one that hasn’t always received the recognition it deserves from the international type community.

Among the presentations, Yara Khoury Nammour’s Letterform Frequencies: Reading Arabic by Numbers was particularly fascinating. Developed in part during her 2025 residency at HMCT, her research examines the frequency of Arabic letterforms and their contextual variations through computational analysis, revealing patterns within the script that are often difficult to recognize by observation alone. What impressed me most was the technical depth of the research. Arabic type design has a rich visual and calligraphic history, but seeing its letterforms studied through data and frequency offered a different way of understanding the script. Research like this gives designers something concrete to reference, question, and build upon. Following her presentation, Yara held a signing for her book, Letterform Frequencies: Exploring the Visual Imprint of Arabic Type, published by HMCT in collaboration with Khatt Books and Draw Down Books.

In Twenty-Five Years of Transformation, Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès shifted the focus to the years of work behind the growth of Arabic typography. She spoke about establishing the Khatt Foundation in 2004 and its work over the following decades, from publishing books and organizing conferences to supporting research and creating platforms for collaboration. What interested me was hearing about the less visible work behind these initiatives and the effort involved in sustaining them over time. Her account also brought attention to the collective contributions of the designers, researchers, educators, and organizers who have helped develop Arabic typography and expand its presence internationally.

Laura Meseguer offered a different perspective on type design through her keynote, Seeing Through Type. She presented projects including Ella, an expressive stencil typeface developed in part during her residency at HMCT; and Qandus, a multiscript family developed with Kristyan Sarkis and Juan Luis Blanco. What caught my attention was her trip to Morocco to study local writing traditions as part of the Qandus project. Drawing from Maghrebi calligraphy, the team developed a type family across three scripts: Arabic, Latin, and Tifinagh. Laura worked on the Latin, taking inspiration from Arabic calligraphic forms rather than the other way around.

Across the rest of the program, I enjoyed how far the conversations could travel while still returning to type. One presentation might dive into software and technology, while the next explored centuries-old writing traditions or research into a completely different script. The subjects, speakers, and geographies varied enormously, yet somehow they all belonged at the same conference.

Beyond the talks, the conference also offered opportunities to engage directly with historical materials and contemporary tools.

During our visit to the Islamic Manuscripts House at Al Qasimia University, we explored Arabic manuscripts from different historical periods, encountering scripts such as Thuluth, Maghrebi, and Naskh. We were also taken behind the scenes to learn how these centuries-old works are preserved and restored. We visited the conservation laboratory, learned how manuscripts are carefully scanned and digitized, and ended the tour in the storage facilities, where they are kept under controlled conditions.

In the workshop “Glyphs 4: Upgrade Like a Pro”, Georg Seifert, the creator of Glyphs, introduced us to the software’s icon-design features before walking us through the process of building a plugin. I’ve spent plenty of time drawing letterforms in Glyphs, but learning how to create something that extends the software was new to me. What I found particularly interesting was the possibility of developing our own tools to suit the way we work. Rather than relying entirely on the features already available, we could create plugins to address specific needs in our workflows.

Near the end of the conference, there was also a moment of appreciation for David Berlow as he retired after decades of contributions to digital type design. It was an opportunity to recognize a career that has influenced generations of type designers.

Four days after walking into that breakfast room, I was leaving Sharjah with new ideas, new conversations, and quite a few new connections.

Now I know the faces behind the typefaces.