Arabic in Graphic Design: Al Jazeera's Cartouche

Over the last several years, Al Jazeera has become one of the world's most widely recognized brands, its calligraphic logo decorating not only its own news broadcasts but also those of every Western network that replays their much coveted footage. But the logo itself remains a bit of a mystery to many Western viewers unfamiliar with the Arabic script and the language's calligraphic tradition.

Reading Arabic calligraphy can be a challenge even to those familiar with the language. Whether a stylish abstract or a purposeful Calligram – words shaped like animals or objects – Arabic's unique calligraphy has long been among the main methods of artistic expression in Islamic cultures. And as the technique is more frequently employed to illustrate Arabic brands that operate in the international marketplace, a basic understanding of its graphic qualities becomes more valuable.

Here the Al Jazeera logo, given its near ubiquity, becomes a great tool for instruction. Mouse over the English or Arabic letters shapes below to see reveal the corresponding calligraphic design element – or vis-versa.



Al Jazeera's distinctive gold logo resembles a droplet of water, a symbolism reinforced by the networks current logo animation which features the globe dropping into the ocean and emerging as the Al Jazeera trademark. The elaborate calligraphic design spells "al-Jazeera" in Arabic, a word meaning "the island" or "the peninsula – terms used to refer to both the Arabian peninsula and the network's peninsular home state, Qatar.

The logo was selected by Hamad bin Khalifa, the emir of Qatar, as the winning entry in a design competition. Thus, like many other brands notable for their "inexpensive" logos, such as Nike and Apple, the Al Jazeera logo was not designed by a marketing firm or professional graphic designer. It was reputedly designed in just 20 minutes by a Qatari man who heard about the competition on his car radio.

Al Jazeera, the largest and most controversial Arabic news channel in the Middle East, is the fastest growing network among Arab communities and Arabic speaking people around the world. It focuses primarily on news coverage and analysis, and the station has earned the loyalty of a large audience. But it has also earned the enmity of various critics who argue that Al Jazeera is overly sensational, with a bent on showing bloody footage from war zones as well as giving coverage to violent groups. By holding to the network's motto, "the opinion and the other opinion," Al Jazeera also frequently shocks its native audience. The network presented Israelis speaking Hebrew on Arab TV for the first time and runs lively and far-ranging talk shows that address controversial moral and religious issues. Criticism from the conservative voices in the region have led to official complaints and censures from neighboring governments. The network's broadcast have been blocked, its correspondents deported. In 1999, the Algerian government even cut power to several major cities to censor an Al Jazeera broadcast. But these criticisms have only helped the channel garner credibility from an audience that is used to government imposed censorship and biased coverage.

Al Jazeera was the only international news network to have correspondents in Iraq during the Operation Desert Fox bombing campaign in 1998. The network only achieved international notoriety only after September 11 when it ran several Al Qaeda videotapes. But despite its unique access to the region, when the network expanded its English service to the United States, activists succeeded in keeping it off nearly every American cable and satellite provider's menu. Thus the U.S. audience rarely encounters Al Jazeera reporting outside of U.S. newscasts or special interest programming, such as Link TV's Mosaic. FB