BFA+MFA 2022

Sara AlHelal

Nephophile [Noun.]. Definition: A person who loves clouds

Graphic Design

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Nephophilia is a typographic research project that investigates two distinct writing systems. By focusing on poetry and proverbs in Arabic and Hangul—specifically of clouds—this typographic exploration and rigorous experimentation poetically fuses two cultures. 

As a student of Korean and a native Arabic speaker, my intent for Nephophilia is to create a typographic interweaving of culture through poetry and proverbs with the intent of highlighting the similarities and differences between the Arabic and Korean scripts. Through a formal study of typographic shapes in relation to poetic content, I examine the aesthetics of the two sets of alphabets and unite them in unexpected ways. Hangul is systemic, scientific, logical and reasonable, therefore I tried to apply these features to Arabic, a cursive connected script that is continuous, fluid, and poetic, by using syllable blocks. The goal of this project is to reaffirm, appreciate and celebrate the excellence of the beautiful Korean and Arabic languages and to create evocative artifacts for my audience to poetically contemplate.