Suyab

Suyab is a multi-script typeface family intended for language-learning textbooks and other complex multi-script typesetting environments, covering four scripts of various writing directions: Latin, Arabic, Chinese, and Mongolian. Each script includes three styles for text (Text, Sans & Informal) each in three weights, and one display style in black.

The core idea of the family is to provide an equal variety of styles and weights in each script in order to support complex multi-script typesetting in any combination of them, while respecting and balancing the typographic tradition of each script. Since three of the four scripts do not have a tradition of secondary styles, Latin is designed to accommodate the others and not having a regular italic but an upright one. As a result, all the styles can be used independently to set long texts, but also be combined and used in various ways according to the typographic conventions of each script.

The name of the typeface comes from the ancient Silk Road city, Suyab, located in present-day Kyrgyzstan. The city had been an intersection of cultures and languages, ruled by many different civilisations at various points of history, including Sogdian (Iranian), Turkic, and Chinese. The name in Chinese translates to “shattered leaves”, and in Persian “towards water”.

Many thanks to the instructors at Reading as well as external designers for their guidance and expertise: Gerry Leonidas, Fred Smeijers, Victor Gaultney, Fiona Ross, Borna Izadpanah, Mo Dakak, Najla Badran, Xunchang Cheng, Toshi Omagari, Jo De Baerdemaeker, and Tengis Khasbagana.

← Back