Process
A convincing sketch is only the beginning. A typeface becomes useful through repeated drawing, spacing, testing, interpolation, language support and production work. This is roughly how a family moves from paper to font files at Awal Studio.
Start with a brief, not a letter
Before drawing, we write down where the type will live. A font for long Arabic reading on paper asks for different proportions than a font for app labels or a coffee cup. We note the scripts and languages, the sizes, the media and the tone. Every later decision is checked against that list.
Draw a few characters that carry the system
We do not draw the alphabet from A to Z. We start with a small set that sets the rules for everything else. In Latin that is usually n, o, H, O and a few diagonals. In Arabic it is the alef, the beh shape, noon, heh and meem in their joining forms, because those set the baseline, the tooth height, the bowl depth and the stroke contrast.
Those characters are drawn, set into words, printed and redrawn many times. A curve that looks right on its own often looks wrong next to its neighbours.
Spacing before kerning
Spacing is the white space built into each glyph. Kerning is the list of exceptions for specific pairs. Good spacing makes most kerning unnecessary, so we space first and test with real words in both scripts. Only after that do we kern the pairs that still collide or leave holes, such as To, Ve, or Arabic letters that meet a following dot or mark.
Weights and interpolation
A family usually starts as two or three master designs, for example a Light and a Black. The weights in between are interpolated, so every master must have the same points in the same order. Compatibility problems show up as kinks or twisted curves in the middle weights. We check every glyph across the full weight range, not only the masters, because a fix in one character can break another.
Language support
Latin coverage means accents, extended Latin and sometimes Vietnamese, with marks that sit at the right height on every base letter. Arabic coverage means initial, medial, final and isolated forms, ligatures, vowel marks that stack without crashing, and extra letters for Persian and Urdu. This logic lives in the OpenType features, and it is tested with real text in each language, not with a glyph chart.
Testing in real use
We print proofs at the sizes the font is made for. We set paragraphs, headlines, mixed Arabic and Latin lines, and numbers. Then we install the fonts on Windows and macOS and open them in Adobe apps, Microsoft Office and several browsers. Each environment handles line spacing, shaping and font menus a little differently. Most bugs a customer would notice are found here.
Production
The final files are OTF and TTF for desktop use, and WOFF2 for the web. Where it makes sense we also produce a variable font. Names, style linking, vertical metrics and file versions are set so the family shows up correctly in font menus and keeps the same line height across platforms.
The drawing is the part people see. Most of the work that makes a typeface dependable happens after it.