there is a very good book by Huda Smitshuijzen Abifares on Arabic Typography.
that's what i can think of now.

good luck

---
JH, London

This sounds very interesting.

You should also discuss and compare the notion of readability as it has changed over time, such as from print to screen. While serif designs are generally considered to be the most readable in print, when it comes to mobile devices, sans serif is generally better, perhaps due to the more uniform stem widths. In fact, some sans serif designs actually have small serif-like thingies at the terminals, or the stroke terminals are flared. The serifs and flares are actually detrimental when it comes to mobile device use.

BTW, I cover CJK writing systems in CJKV Information Processing, Second Edition, though I don't cover the topic of readability per se.

Dr. Ken Lunde
Senior Computer Scientist, CJKV Type Development
Adobe Systems Incorporated
lunde@adobe.com

At ATypI Masayuki Yamamoto presented some legibility research, part of which compared gothic (sans) and mincho (serif) style Japanese fonts.

To me the most interesting angle in this topic is the role of serifs in the relationships in multi-script systems. Let me give an example from my own experience. When making a text face with Latin and Armenian components, the Latin (Roman) can be upright and can possess the conventional serif scheme without problems*, but if one follows the (flawed) tradition of making the Armenian based very closely on the Latin one ends up with upright forms and... too many serifs! Because the Armenian "x-height" is choc full of vertical stems. One alternative is to give the Armenian a slanted semi-serif form; one reason this works well is Armenian needs Italics far less than Latin (since it has a floating emphasis mark that can be placed on any vowel). Now, if one makes the Armenian upright, semi-serifs cause the letteforms to appear slightly backslanted**. I have an article about all this entitled "Latinization: Prevention and Cure" in back issues of both Spatium and Hyphen - it might be useful to read it.

* Not that there's no room for massive innovation in this area!

** Although Bloemsma showed an interesting solution to this in his Avance.

Here's one view of the type system in question:
http://themicrofoundry.com/ad/CR.pdf

hhp

Thanks everyone for the help.

@hartmannsgruber: I will certainly try to get a hold of Huda Smitshuijzen Abifares' book

@Ken Lunde: I will discuss readability in relation to different types of media/circumstances. E.g.: Low resolution screens and highway signs demand a simpler letterform; a sans...

@Hrant: thanks for the very interesting examples. I love the solution of a slightly slanted, semi-serif roman as a companion to the armenian font. Very nice to see the latin being moddeled after the Armenian, instead of the (usual) other way around.

The role of serifs in relation to multi-script systems is indeed the interessanting angle. Unfortunatly I don't speak/read any language in a non-Latin script. So I won't be able to do extensive research and I will have to rely on other people since I can't tell wether a certain script has been latinized and if the result looks odd

Thanks again
Wouter

In what school and in what program is your thesis?

Who is your supervisor?

I study graphic design at KASK (Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten / Royal Academy of Fine Arts) in Ghent, Belgium.

This thesis is for my Master's program.
The main goal in this year is to create an artistical work. (I will create a typeface)
The secondary goal is to create a theoretical piece (my thesis). The thesis only has to be 10.000 words long.

my supervisor for the artistical work is Danny Dobbelaere
my supervisor for the thesis is Stijn van Rossem
my extra (external) supervisor is Jo De Baerdemaeker. He's helping me design my typeface and I hope he will also help me a little with my thesis.