Nick Bell Design

This exhibition we designed last year is coming to the end of its run at the Museum of Islamic Art Doha, Qatar. The first of its kind in the Middle East, it highlights the surprising connections between the scientific pioneers of Muslim civilisation and 17th-century western European scholars and scientists. Our typographic approach to the design was centred on making these connections visible. We used the typeface Koufiya (by Lebanese designer Nadine Chahine), the first to have matching arabic and latin scripts designed at the same time. The graphic interpretation is set out on a background grid of the shared geometry between latin and arabic scripts. Large typographic flourishes are derived from the grid, containing the calligraphic qualities of arabic and latin letterforms without being either. The 3D exhibition design was by Sian Hooper Design and the exhibition was led by Dr Rim Turkmani for 1001 Inventions.