Setar

When you ask your foundry partner to design a not‑too‑quirky Grotesk Latin font, you have to be ready for them to then turn around and ask for a kooky simplified Naskh Arabic in return. The thing is, I live for briefs like this, for someone asking for a perfectly logical algorithm that chooses to output confetti, but make it fonts. Constraints fuel me.

Setar is as ambitious as its partner Sets Grotesk in scope; 9 weights in 4 optical sizes, and while the smaller text sizes do that thing of blending into the background to not distract you as a reader, the large size is there to get your attention. This isn’t just about scaling up. It’s a complete personality shift. The skeletons of the characters widen while the connections become shorter, and the counters expand. Big counters, long teeth, bigger dots⁠—⁠all the workings of a design that stands out and catches the eye. And while bigger teeth are often a recipe for disaster in Arabic fonts⁠—⁠because clashes⁠—⁠Setar contains all the necessary contextual alternates to make sure clashes don’t happen (unless we want them to).

On a small technical note: for all the final forms with a bassinet (think your seen, sad, noon characters), I have included versions with elongated tails, because I know from my time as a graphic designer (in a previous life) dealing with Arabic fonts that sometimes you need to justify your text and you need to do it with style. Sometimes you just want to add some drama and be extra. Setar has you covered either way.

—S.