Al Qalam Shahjahan, designed by font designer Muhammad Ishtiaq Ali Attari from Faisalabad, Pakistan, is a modern Urdu font released on October 7, 2017. Inspired by the Naskh script with modern influences and a touch of Kufic calligraphy, this font style embodies a fat, filled, and wide aesthetic with small negative spaces. With a glyph count of 497 and 444 characters and symbols, it offers extensive language compatibility, including Urdu, Arabic, Latin, Persian, and more.
The font features a dynamic thickness and impactful, changing strokes, adding visual interest to its decorative appearance. While it’s best for short text due to readability challenges over longer periods, it finds applications in branding, advertising, logos, Quran writing, invitations, and gift cards. Vertical characters are mostly straight but have varying sizes and decorative elements like pointy edges and sharp corners. The irregular size of the letters adds to its unique aesthetic, while decorative pointy edges and sharp corners enhance its visual appeal. The font’s wide and highly decorative spaces, influenced by Kufic calligraphy, contribute to its distinctive look and feel. Despite its decorative nature, Al Qalam Shahjahan maintains high legibility on screens, making it suitable for various design projects where visual impact is desired.
