The typography industry is a USD 13 Million industry where illegal downloads and usage of fonts deprive typographers of valuable income. One of them is legendary Arabic Typographer, Ibrahim Hamdi, who is now diagnosed with Keratoconus and is rapidly losing his eyesight. While his fonts have been downloaded by many, he's never received any of the profits, which could have been pivotal for his eye surgery.

We launched 'Zael', the Disappearing. A font that loses clarity as its creator loses his eyesight.

To make font downloads legal and ethical in the commercial world.

In the Arab world, there are only a handful of Arabic Typographers. And Ibrahim Hamdi is one of the greatest. He has been commissioned by global entities like Grand Theft Auto, Doom, Lays Arabia, etc. Today, as he is losing his eyesight, it became increasingly important to open the industry's eyes to the problem of illegal downloads and help typographers like Ibrahim get their rightful income.

In the typography industry, downloading illegal Arabic fonts results in millions of dollars of losses.

A painful reality for typographers like Ibrahim, who also happens to be losing his eyesight due to a condition called Keratoconus. Preventing him from contributing to the craft he loves and accessing the medical treatment he deserves.

Millions of downloads

None of the profits

One fading hope

Protype (protype.studio), an independent type foundry, wanted to bring this issue to the industry and help typographers get the rightful income they deserve.

We created 'ZAEL, the disappearing'. A font that loses clarity as its creator loses his eyesight.

Working with Ibrahim’s ophthalmologist, we analyzed his condition and designed the entire Zael type family. Every Haraf, Tashqeeleh, Noqta and Kashida perfectly crafted. As designers started illegally downloading and using the font, we sent them updates that degraded the fonts, depicting the declining stages of Ibrahim's eyesight. We used the font update file to bundle a powerful direct message from Ibrahim, educating everyone on the consequences of their illegal downloads.

In the world of Commerce, brands attract customers through communications. And fonts are the medium for any written communication. While the typography industry is estimated to be worth USD 13 Million, typographers rarely get paid for their designs, as their fonts are illegally downloaded on free font websites, which also display the number of free downloads.

Our audience, designers, art directors, agencies and brands, download free fonts from these websites, without realizing that they are depriving typographers of their rightful income. They need to know that every free download is income lost for its creator.

Fonts need updates from time to time to improve its use. But for Zael, we decided to use font updates to degrade the fonts instead of improving it, telling a compelling story about Ibrahim's deteriorating eyesight, eventually leading them to a powerful message from Ibrahim himself.

We launched the font online and thousands of eager designers illegally downloaded it.

We tracked each user and sent them updates that gradually degraded the typeface with

every font update. The worse Ibrahim's condition got, the more degraded the font became.

We used the font file to bundle a powerful direct message from Ibrahim,

educating everyone on the consequences of their illegal downloads.

Zael sparked a dialogue in the design community.

Even the region’s top design universities echoed and supported our message.

As illegal downloads of Zael began to drop, licensed downloads soared.

Zael started to spread and real hope started to appear, showing increased licensed

downloads across his entire catalog of existing fonts.

Industry leaders like Adobe, Monotype and Fontstand

are now integrating protocols to protect typographers like Ibrahim,

What started as a typeface telling a single story grew into the face of a changing industry.