Qabbany
Concept · 09 / 12 · Self-initiated · 2026

Mubadara.
An Arabic-first
typography journal.

مبادرة
Status · Concept Discipline · Editorial · Typography Year · 2026
The thesis

Why RTL is design's biggest blind spot.

Most "Arabic versions" of Western sites are mirrored CSS hacks with the wrong font, broken kerning, and ignored ligatures. Arabic isn't a Western font flipped — it's a different typographic logic. Mubadara is a self-initiated editorial platform that treats Arabic as a first-class citizen: a CMS built around RTL flow, ligature-aware layout, and a custom font pairing system between Amiri (Arabic) and Instrument Serif (Latin). Issue 01 publishes Q4 2026.

  • + Custom RTL-first layout engine
  • + Ligature-aware line-breaking
  • + Mixed-script typography (Arabic + Latin in the same line)
  • + Editorial CMS · 6 article templates
  • + Print-mode bonus · serif tabloid layout
الخط العربي ليس مجرد كتابة معكوسة.
Arabic typography isn't Latin reversed. It has its own rhythm, its own breathing, its own grammar of negative space.
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