A Central Asian and Middle Eastern System

This project focuses on the design and development of digital fonts for Central Asian and Middle Eastern scripts, including Farsi, Mandaean, Yezidi, Hebrew, Avesta, and Pahlavi – and Latin. By creating a system of fonts that can work harmoniously across scripts, we recognize the interconnectedness of cultures and the necessity of multilingual communication in contemporary scholarship and design. At the same time, fonts carry profound implications for cultural identity.

For minority communities such as the Yezidi, the Mandaean, or speakers of endangered Iranian languages, the absence of digital script support contributes to cultural marginalization. By designing fonts that allow their languages to exist online and in print, we contribute to cultural resilience and self-representation in the digital sphere.

From a scholarly perspective, fonts are tools of access, preservation, and interpretation. Scholars working on texts in endangered or less digitally supported scripts often face barriers that limit research, teaching, and publication. Many primary sources in scripts such as Avesta or Pahlavi remain inaccessible in the digital age because of the lack of standardized, high-quality typefaces. This project thus directly supports philology, history, linguistics, and digital humanities, enabling scholarship to expand across disciplines and borders.

This presentation will feature a brief introduction to these marginalized writing systems, and to the design considerations that were necessary in creating a harmonious typeface system of visually disparate scripts.”