The design concept of the Tifinagh

Tifinagh is an ancient script used to write the Amazigh (Berber) languages in several countries of the North of Africa. It has survived a long period of displacement by foreign scripts, namely Arabic and Latin. Therefore, its use has been scarce over the centuries, although it is undergoing a significant growth and governments promotion in past decades.

The most outstanding consequence of this historical context is the lack of models other than inscriptions engraved, scratched or painted on stones in remote areas. There is not a calligraphic tradition in Tifinagh. Actually there are no known manuscripts using this script, so the modern digital fonts designed so far sought for inspiration in the geometric shapes of those inscriptions.

This state of affairs gives rise to a whole set of challenges when it comes to approach a multi-script project in which Tifinagh has to match the Arabic and Latin scripts. Their utterly different nature, history and tradition makes this matching a complex enterprise in which multiple factors need to be considered. Moreover, the fact that the three weights present diverse approaches, goals and features, posses an added challenge to the project.