Aref Ruqaa

Aref Ruqaa brings the Ruqaa hand — the quick, compact script much of the Arab world uses for everyday writing — into type. The project is led by Khaled Hosny, with a Latin based on Hermann Zapf's AMS Euler, respaced for ordinary text rather than mathematics.

Ruqaa is short and clipped, with few flourishes and letters that hug the baseline, so it reads as personal and informal without the ornament of Diwani or Thuluth. That makes it good for invitations, quotes, menus and headings with a handwritten warmth.

It comes in a regular and a bold. Keep it to headings and short passages; the compressed forms tire the eye over long text.