Typography: Where East Meets West

Mathaf, Arab Museum of Modern Art (pronounced mat-haf) is a new modern art museum in Doha, Qatar. Its mission is to showcase modern and contemporary art from the region, shifting existing perceptions of arts practice in the Arab world, and provide a forum for dialogue and scholarship. An existing building, in the traditional style, was redesigned by French architect Jean-François Bodin and the new branding was handled by the Dubai office of Wolff Olins with two custom typefaces, one by Tarek Atrissi Design and another by Pascal Zoghbi from 29ArabicLetters. Branding for art organisations, particularly museums and galleries, have an almost universally accepted visual language, code, or style. Some of the more adept branding practitioners have managed to confound those expectations rec