The Dubai Font sets itself apart from other fonts because it was designed based on the main pillars that have turned Dubai into a remarkable symbol of success and tolerance.
Abdulla Al Shaibani, Secretary General of the Executive Council, Dubai.
Simultaneously designed in both Arabic & English, which was later extended to include 21 other languages. Dubai Font would be available globally to more than 100 million users.
Samer Abu Ltaif, president of Microsoft, Middle East & Africa.
The openness and harmony of the people in the UAE, the essence of Dubai & its vision to become the quintessential modern Arab city were our source of inspiration to design the Dubai Font.
The challenge wasn’t to create a quality font but to create a new and a special medium of expression to unleash ambitions and transcend borders.
The launch of the Dubai Font to the world is a very important step for us as part of our continuous efforts to be ranked first in the digital world.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Dubai's Crown Prince, on launching Dubai Font,Microsoft's first typeface created for a city.
I have personally overseen all the stages of the development of this font, from the first design sketches to the execution phase. I congratulate the project team and everyone who contributed to the success of this unique initiative.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Dubai's Crown Prince.
Dubai Font represents certain original values that the UAE is proud of, notably tolerance, happiness, giving, courage and modernity, adding that it also encourages creativity, innovation, pride in cultural heritage, co-existence and constructive co-operation with other peoples, which comply with the pillars and goals of the National Tolerance Programme that the UAE has previously declared.
We are delighted to support the Dubai Font initiative, which aims to revive an original value in the UAE community that is tolerance, which our beloved country is trying to convey to the entire world, with an emphasis on the mutual human traits that unite us.
Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, UAE Minister of State for Tolerance.
We were asked by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan to come up with ideas that would help to position Dubai at the forefront of innovation, and a font also fitted well with the UAE’s aim of promoting Arabic and literacy, which were promoted during the UAE’s Year of Reading in 2016.
Nadine Chahine.
In partnership between The Executive Council, Dubai & Microsoft, Dubai Font is the first font created for a city, made available on Office 365.
The fact that the Dubai font was going to ship through Microsoft Office and be for use by everyone meant that the font needed to be extremely versatile to allow different kinds of usages and that made it an extremely difficult task.
Nadine Chahine.
Usually the Latin is designed first, but that gives you less freedom with what you can do with the Arabic, which then has to follow the Latin and so you inherit design decisions that you would not have wanted to face.
It’s a reflection of who we are, what we want to be and of Dubai. The foreigners here don’t have to wear local dress and the locals don’t have to wear western dress, they all are comfortable in their own identities and they coexist.
But it was very important that we respect the heritage of each while meeting on middle ground and respecting the traditions of where we come from.
