A licensed commercial institution based in Palestine, specialising in type design, licensing and font engineering.
About RTLtype ↗Independent type foundry since 2009
From the first glyph to the final technical test, we treat type as an architecture of meaning and a tool for institutional work. For that reason we apply the same rigor to visual personality, script pairings, spacing, vowel marks, OpenType features, and software compatibility.
RTLtype’s first release in 2009 was the bespoke typeface for the beIN SPORTS Middle East website. From that project we expanded into the Palestinian, regional, and global markets, gaining experience with each new writing system we design.
We were among the earliest contributors to Canva, supplying the platform with over 60 Arabic typefaces from our team. We have also developed type work for prominent organizations, including Riyad Bank, Arla, Goody Saudi, and the Saudi Ministry of Culture for the Year of Arabic Poetry initiative.
Our work has extended to media and corporate identity in Kurdistan, delivering projects for Al-Athaniya (The Eighth Channel), Radio Nawa, Awj Film Production, and Kurdistan24.net under Al Jazeera’s supervision. This diverse experience gives us practical insight into varied cultural and technical contexts and enables us to craft type that performs effectively within them.
Zakaria Saleh, founder and creative director of RTLtype, is a university lecturer and specialist in type design from Palestine. He holds a distinction in an MA in Creative Multimedia from Palestine Polytechnic University and leads an approach that combines academic research, design practice, and font engineering.