# R-05 RQ-type: What Arabic type conventions hold for screen and social video in 2025 and 2026, how is Arabic paired with a Latin sans, and which open-licensed Arabic typefaces do the sources name?
Runtime date: 2026-10-20 (system clock, Tue Oct 20 2026)
Status: partial: (1) no 2025 or 2026 source specific to Arabic type in motion or social video was found; conventions come from 2026 design and app-screenshot guides (S-01 to S-03) and one 2026 student motion poster (S-04); (2) videos were not watched; (3) licenses were confirmed in the Google Fonts repository metadata (S-05), not on each designer's site; (4) one query carried an untraceable term (flagged).
Brief slots used: language = Arabic and English (prompt); platform = YouTube, Instagram, TikTok (decision D-06); real_brand = Spotify (prompt); market = Egypt, MENA (decision D-05)

## Queries
| ID | Query | Language | Status (run / dropped: reason) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q-T1 | Arabic typography motion graphics 2026 | English | run |
| Q-T2 | Arabic fonts YouTube Instagram TikTok 2026 | English | run (results mostly vendor and template pages) |
| Q-T3 | Arabic script typeface design Latin pairing | English | run, deviation: "pairing" untraceable |
| Q-T4 | خطوط عربية فيديو موشن جرافيك 2026 | Arabic | run (no type source returned) |
| Q-T5 | Arabic typography video mistakes avoid | English | run |

## Trace check
| Query | Term | Kind | Slot and source / chain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q-T1 to Q-T5 | Arabic / عربية | slot | language (prompt) |
| Q-T1, Q-T5 | typography | frame | fixed list |
| Q-T1, Q-T4 | motion graphics / موشن جرافيك | frame | fixed list (Arabic equivalent) |
| Q-T1, Q-T2, Q-T4 | 2026 | date | runtime year (system clock) |
| Q-T2, Q-T4 | fonts / خطوط | frame | fixed list (Arabic equivalent) |
| Q-T2 | YouTube, Instagram, TikTok | slot | platform (decision D-06) |
| Q-T3 | script, typeface, design | frame | fixed list |
| Q-T3 | Latin | slot | script of language = English (prompt) |
| Q-T3 | pairing | none | untraceable. Deviation: the query ran with it; only S-01 (also returned by Q-T5) is cited from its results |
| Q-T4, Q-T5 | video / فيديو | frame | fixed list |
| Q-T5 | mistakes, avoid | frame | fixed list |
| (no query) | typeface names read in S-05 | second hop | Cairo, Tajawal, IBM Plex Sans Arabic, Almarai, Reem Kufi, Kufam, Lalezar, Mirza named in S-01 (found by Q-T3 and Q-T5); Noto Sans Arabic and IBM Plex Sans Arabic named in S-03 (found by Q-T5). Noto Kufi Arabic was named only in the dispatch, not in any found source: its metadata was read but it is listed apart, not as a found candidate |

## Sources
| ID | Title | Publisher or channel | URL | Published | Accessed | How used (watched / read / thumbnail) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S-01 | Arabic typography guide (Insights / Publishing & Arabic Craft) | Freezil, bilingual creative studio, Doha | https://freezil-website-wjfnk.kinsta.page/blog/arabic-typography-guide | 2026-04-28 | 2026-10-20 | read |
| S-02 | The Graphic Design Trends Defining the UAE in 2026 | Branex (agency blog, author Ashad) | https://www.branex.ae/blog/?p=10159 | 2026-09-03 | 2026-10-20 | read |
| S-03 | Arabic App Store Screenshots: 4 Typography Tripwires [2026] | AppScreenshotStudio Team | https://appscreenshotstudio.com/blog/arabic-app-store-screenshots-4-typography-tripwires-2026 | 2026-06-09 (updated 2026-09-19) | 2026-10-20 | read |
| S-04 | Cairo Design Week (student poster) | Ads of the World (The Higher Institute of Applied Arts, Egypt) | https://www.adsoftheworld.com/campaigns/cairo-design-week | January 2026 | 2026-10-20 | read (image not viewed) |
| S-05 | METADATA.pb files of the Google Fonts library (one per family) | google/fonts repository on GitHub | https://raw.githubusercontent.com/google/fonts/main/ofl/<family>/METADATA.pb for cairo, tajawal, ibmplexsansarabic, almarai, reemkufi, kufam, lalezar, mirza, notosansarabic, notokufiarabic | live repository (date_added per family below) | 2026-10-20 | read as text (no file saved) |

Cited by ID from R-01 (not re-researched): R-01 S-02 (Spotify's type advice to third parties), R-01 S-06 and S-07 (Spotify Mix), R-01 S-08 and S-09 (Arabic face on spotify.com).

## Observed
- Pairing: an Arabic face "needs to share x-height proportion, contrast, and overall colour on the page"; "A delicate Latin paired with a heavy Arabic looks like two brands collided." (S-01, 2026-04-28) Designers "often pair contemporary Arabic sans serif fonts with clean Latin sans serif fonts"; both scripts "must share the exact same visual weight and personality"; do not shrink the Arabic to fit a heavier Latin. (S-02, 2026-09-03)
- Arabic-first bilingual identity: "Arabic-first branding dominates the UAE market in 2026"; Arabic and English are built as one system, often with Arabic placed first. (S-02)
- What reads as careless or generic: a default Arabic system font next to a chosen Latin face "ruins a brand's credibility" (S-02); Arial Arabic and default Tahoma are named as generic fallbacks (S-01); Latin-only fallback fonts "produce disconnected glyphs" (S-03).
- Craft mistakes named: tracking Arabic like Latin ("Arabic responds badly to letter-spacing changes"); justifying by stretching word spaces; manual kashida should be rare; software italics slant the joins wrongly; text reversed or "flipped" instead of shaped. (S-01) Fonts must carry the Arabic positional forms (isol, init, medi, fina); bidi mixing of Arabic and Latin renders inconsistently across design tools; do not mix Eastern and Western digits in one caption layer; Saudi and UAE apps "increasingly default to Western digits" in productivity and SaaS apps. (S-03)
- Motion example, Egypt 2026: Arabic letters as "energetic, three-dimensional elements that convey movement" on black with bright contrasting colors. (S-04)
- Spotify context (not re-researched): Spotify Mix rolled out for Latin-script content; spotify.com sets Arabic in a face named CircularSp-Arab; Spotify asks third parties to use the platform's default sans-serif, then Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial. (R-01 S-06, R-01 S-08, R-01 S-02)
- Open-licensed Arabic faces named in the sources, license as read in the Google Fonts metadata (S-05):

| Typeface | Named by | Role given by the source | License (S-05) | Designers (S-05) | Scripts (S-05) | Added to library |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IBM Plex Sans Arabic | S-01, S-03 | sans for text; "designed for the IBM Plex family" | OFL | Mike Abbink, Bold Monday, Khajag Apelian, Wael Morcos | arabic, latin, cyrillic-ext | 2021-06-17 |
| Cairo | S-01 | sans for text | OFL | Mohamed Gaber, Accademia di Belle Arti di Urbino | arabic, latin | 2019-03-21 |
| Tajawal | S-01 | sans for text | OFL | Boutros Fonts, Mourad Boutros, Soulaf Khalifeh | arabic, latin | 2018-04-04 |
| Almarai | S-01 | sans for text | OFL | Boutros Fonts, Mourad Boutros | arabic, latin | 2019-06-04 |
| Noto Sans Arabic | S-03 | "free, broad weight range"; Android system face | OFL | Google | not read | 2020-11-19 |
| Reem Kufi | S-01 | display or headline | OFL | Khaled Hosny, Santiago Orozco | arabic, latin | 2016-05-31 |
| Kufam | S-01 | display or headline | OFL | Original Type, Wael Morcos, Artur Schmal | arabic, latin | 2020-07-14 |
| Lalezar | S-01 | display or headline | OFL | Borna Izadpanah | arabic, latin | 2017-02-28 |
| Mirza | S-01 | display or headline | OFL | KB Studio | arabic, latin | 2016-06-20 |

- Named by S-01 with no license stated and not checked: GE SS Two, Greta Arabic, Decotype Naskh. Named by S-03 as system faces (no license stated): SF Arabic, Segoe UI Arabic.
- Not found in any traced source: Noto Kufi Arabic (named only in the dispatch); its metadata reads license OFL, designer Google, added 2020-11-19 (S-05).

## Inferred
- The 2026 convention for bilingual Arabic and English work is a contemporary Arabic sans matched in weight, x-height and color to a clean Latin sans, built as one system rather than an Arabic afterthought. Confidence: medium (S-01, S-02; two practitioner sources agree, both Gulf-based).
- A default system Arabic (Arial Arabic, Tahoma, or unshaped fallback) next to a designed Latin face is the clearest marker of careless or dated Arabic on screen. Confidence: medium (S-01, S-02, S-03 agree).
- For motion text, the same craft rules apply with higher stakes: no letter-spacing animation on Arabic, no reversed strings, joins intact in every frame, one digit system per piece. Confidence: low to medium (S-01, S-03 are about static layout; no motion-specific source found).
- Families with a Latin companion drawn alongside (IBM Plex Sans Arabic in the IBM Plex family) are one path to matched pairs. Confidence: low (S-01, S-03 name it; no comparison source).

## Conventions found
- Arabic on screen in 2026 is set in a contemporary Arabic sans that matches its Latin partner in weight and proportion, right-aligned, untracked and properly shaped, with one digit system, and never left to a system fallback.

## Open spaces
- No sampled 2025 or 2026 source documents how Arabic type moves in social video (timing, reveal methods that keep joins intact); motion examples found are one student poster (S-04).
- Display Kufi faces are named for headlines (S-01) but no sampled source shows them in music or streaming communication.

## Stale or weak
- S-01 and S-02 are studio or agency blogs (Gulf-based) with commercial angles; S-03 is a vendor blog; S-04 is student work. No Egypt-specific type source was found beyond S-04.
- Licenses rest on Google Fonts metadata (S-05); designers' own license pages were not opened.
- Seen in results, not opened (not used): LAU repository thesis (2013), Linotype/MyFonts Koufiya page, ATypI talks (2018), Design Week Nadine Chahine interview (2017), Reading MACD network page, Palgrave "Arabic Script in Motion" (2019), a Gumroad Arabic font pack listing (ummdigits) and CapCut template listings, Adobe community threads, redspider.ae guides, W3C mailing list post.