| Honorific Prefix: | Dr. |
| Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès | |
| Native Name: | هدى سميتسهوزن أبي فارس |
| Native Name Lang: | ar |
| Birth Place: | Beirut |
use both this parameter and |birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) -->| death_place = | death_cause = | nationality = Lebanese| education = | alma_mater = | occupation = Typographer, writer, researcher, graphic designer, lecturer, and design consultant| organization = Khatt Foundation| agent = | known_for = Arabic typography| notable_works = Arabic Typography: a comprehensive sourcebook| spouse = }}
Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès is a Lebanese typographer, writer, researcher, graphic designer, lecturer, and design consultant from Beirut.[1] [2] She is the founder and director of the Khatt Foundation. As a designer and researcher, she specializes in Arabic and multilingual typography.[3] [4]
AbiFarès was born in Beirut in 1965.[5] She studied in the United States, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in graphic design from Rhode Island School of Design in 1987, and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Yale University in 1990.
When working as an assistant professor of graphic design at the American University of Beirut, she determined that the literature necessary to teach her students about Arabic script, calligraphy, and typography had not yet been written.[6] [7] In 2001, she published Arabic Typography, in which she examined Arabic typography from a structural and theoretical point of view. She also taught visual communication at the American University in Dubai and served as the department's chair for 3 years.
She founded the non-profit Khatt Foundation for the advancement of Arabic typography in Amsterdam in 2004. In 2016, she became a member of Alliance Graphique Internationale. She earned a PhD in Middle Eastern studies from Leiden University in 2017.
AbiFarès resides in the Netherlands.[8]