Harmonizing Bilingual Layouts: A Proposal of Latin–Arabic Typographic Classifications

Abstract

Under the influence of globalization and multinational communication, the English language has become the steering script utilized in visual design. It has displaced other local languages and scripts and imposed a monolingual design outcome. This affected the design process and the end-product both globally and locally, fueling the loss of local design culture and dismissing the local script in countries where English is not the primary language of communication. This paper highlights the importance of bilingual Latin-Arabic typographic layouts, in order to preserve the Arabic script, the local language and culture alongside the mainstream. It aims to serve as an initial model for other multi scripts approaches. It stages the process and the challenges of designing bilingual systems. The focus is on applying suitable and harmonious bilingual Latin-Arabic typographic schemes to maintain the local script while equally and harmoniously coexisting with the multinational English counterpart. This proposal presents multiple bilingual layout classifications to equip designers in better understanding duality and creating harmonious bilingual compositions while preserving the local script.