AdawatArabic Calligraphy Styles and How to Choose One
4 min readBy The Adawat team
The right Arabic calligraphy style for a name depends on where it will appear. Kufi is angular and works for logos and modern branding, Naskh is rounded and the easiest to read, Ruqaa is quick and informal, and Thuluth and Diwani are ornate styles for titles and decoration. A free font will not give you the full art of a calligrapher, but it can get you very close.
This guide explains what makes each style different and how to pick one. You can try every idea with your own name in the Arabic name designer, which shows the name in more than fifty free fonts grouped by these families.
Steps
Write the name exactly as you want it spelled, with the right hamza and ta marbuta, before you compare styles.
- 1
Know the families
Kufi uses straight, geometric strokes. Naskh uses small, round, regular letters. Ruqaa is compact with short, slanted strokes. Thuluth has large sweeping curves, Diwani is dense and flowing, and Nastaliq hangs diagonally. Each grew in a different place and period.
- 2
Match the style to the use
Choose by purpose: legibility for profiles, ornament for cards, simplicity for logos. A style that looks stunning at poster size can turn into a smudge on a phone avatar.
- 3
Type the name in Arabic
Open the name designer and type the name in Arabic letters. Latin letters fall back to another font, which hides how the calligraphy really looks.
- 4
Compare many styles at once
Scroll the cards and filter by family. Look at how the letters join, whether dots collide with neighbouring letters and how the name looks in the middle of the card, not just at its largest.
- 5
Customize the one you like
Change the color and the background, try the stretch on Kufi and Naskh, add a frame for a card, and choose the output size: square for profiles, tall for stories, transparent for logos.
- 6
Check it small
Shrink the preview or look at the downloaded image on your phone. If you cannot read the name at the size it will really be used, pick a simpler style.
The styles in a sentence each
Kufi is the oldest formal style, built from straight lines and right angles, which is why it suits logos, headers and modern branding. Naskh is the style of most printed books and the Quran in print; its clear, rounded letters read well in long text. Ruqaa (or Riq‘a) is the everyday handwriting of the Arab world, short and fast, common in shop signs and advertising. Thuluth is a large, stately script used on mosques and book titles. Diwani, from Ottoman court documents, is tightly packed and curved, used for greetings and certificates. Nastaliq is the flowing, sloping script of Persian and Urdu.
What free fonts can and cannot do
The Google Fonts catalogue has good Kufi (such as Reem Kufi and Noto Kufi Arabic), Naskh (such as Amiri), Ruqaa (Aref Ruqaa), Nastaliq (Noto Nastaliq Urdu and Gulzar) and many sans and display designs. It has no real Thuluth or Diwani family, so the most ornamental choices there are display designs such as Katibeh or Rakkas that borrow some of that character. For a name that will be engraved or printed on a formal certificate, a human calligrapher is still the better choice, and a free font is a good draft to show them.
Picking by occasion
For a logo or shop name, use Kufi or a clean sans and export the transparent PNG at 4x. For a wedding invitation, Naskh or Ruqaa on a paper-like background with a frame feels warm. For a social profile, a bold Kufi stays readable when the picture is tiny. For a story or post, any style works on a dark background if the letters are light and a little shadow lifts them off the picture.
Common problems
The letters look disconnected
The name was probably typed with spaces or with Latin letters. Remove extra spaces and type it in Arabic letters so the font can join them.
The dots or marks are cut off
Some display fonts have tall marks. Lower the size slider so the name has more room, or choose a plainer style.
My name looks different from how I write it
Calligraphy styles change letter shapes by design. If a form must match your ID, use a plain Naskh or sans and keep the decorative version for pictures.
The stretch looks too heavy
Switch from every joining letter to one per word, or shorten the stretch length to 1.
Frequently asked questions
Which Arabic calligraphy style is the most readable?
Naskh, because its letters are regular and rounded, which is why most printed books use it. A clean sans is just as readable on screens.
Are Thuluth and Diwani available as free fonts?
Not as true families on Google Fonts. Some display fonts borrow their feel, but a calligrapher is the best choice for authentic Thuluth or Diwani.
Can I use these fonts in a logo?
Usually yes. The fonts in the designer are open licenses such as SIL OFL, which allow commercial use. Check the license link of the font you choose.