Nadine Chahine

Nadine Chahine is an award-winning Lebanese type designer working as the Arabic Specialist at Linotype and Monotype Imaging. She studied Graphic Design at the American University of Beirut and has an MA in Typeface Design at the University of Reading, UK. During her study at Reading, she focused on the relationship of the Arabic and Latin scripts and the possibilities of creating a harmonious relationship between the two. Her typeface Koufiya was the first to include simultaneously designed matching Arabic and Latin parts. She taught Arabic type design as a visiting lecturer at the American University in Dubai and at the Lebanese American University in Beirut. In 2005 she joined Linotype, Germany, as the Arabic specialist, and has been living in Germany since then

In September 2007 she started a PhD program at Leiden University, and her focus is on legibility studies for the Arabic script. She has won the Dean’s Award for Creative Achievement from the American University of Beirut in 2000, and an Award for Excellence in Type Design from the Type Directors Club in New York in 2008 and 2011. Her typefaces include: the best-selling Frutiger Arabic, Neue Helvetica Arabic, Univers Next Arabic, Palatino and Palatino Sans Arabic, Koufiya, Janna, Badiya, and BigVesta Arabic.