Nadine Chahine

The text below says fa-jii'a, a combined phrase roughly meaning "and it arrived."

Which is easier to read, the black or the blue type? That's the question Lebanese typeface designer Nadine Chahine--creator of some of the best-selling Arabic fonts--is trying to figure out. She developed these texts and uses computers to track people's eyes as they read them. It's relatively new work in Arabic; there's little research into which typefaces improve readability. And the stakes are high: "The Middle East has lower literacy rates," she says. "The best way to resolve our problems is to encourage people to read more."