A Comparative Study of the Dot’s Shape in Traditional Way of Nastaliq Script and Dot’s Implementation in Computer-based Types

In recent decades, calligraphy types have replaced the traditional calligraphy seriously. The form of the letters and dots in these types are subject to predetermined principles and rules set by computer designers and programmers based on traditional calligraphy principles. Since the invention of the Nastaliq script in Iran, this script has undergone many changes in its cohesion, most notably due to the advent of computer technology in the contemporary period as well as the advent of the printing industry in Iran. Computational changes to the Nastaliq script have been updated through programming tools and hence, investigating changes to the Nastaliq script through such types requires reflection on the visual basics of the various aspects of traditional calligraphy in this paper in the form of a typing-in-script study. Nastaliq and its appearance on the computer have been discussed in these topics. The main purpose of this study is to precisely identify the shape of the dot in the traditional way in comparison with the dot’s shape in computer implementation. In this study, we have attempted to answer the question of how compatible is the dot’s shape in computer implementation with its shape in traditional calligraphy? The research is conducted using a descriptive method and content analysis. Data was collected through library research. The paper adapts a comparative approach and draws on qualitative analysis. The statistical population consists of a set of computer variables that include fonts and software. The studied samples include Kelk software, Mir-Emad software and Mirza font, each of which has been created by three calligraphy professors, Abbas Akhavein, Amir Ahmad Phalsaphy and Mirza Gholam-Reza Isfahani respectively. In this regard, main  sources that are directly related to the topic of the research include documents related to theoretical research texts, related books, theories and documentary references in the field of calligraphy, and due to the newness of the subject in terms of punctuation, the researchers had to spend a considerable amount of time on the field data, and a huge amount of information that has been obtained through comparing images as well as comparing computer-based types with various aspects of the Nastaliq script in terms of shape and position. Regarding the qualitative study of typing performances in three computer-based types based on the calligraphers' method of producing these tools, the findings of the study included types and their distinctive aspects in form of singularities and combinations of the Nastaliq script in calligraphy. Furthermore, analysis of letters in traditional works revealed that the calligrapher has transformed the types based on the clarity of the letters and words as well as the principle of equilibrium and in order to maintain regular intervals between the letters. Comparing the dot’s shape in the handwritten scripts with its shape in types shows the components such as the angles of the point in the calligraphic style, the type of punctuation and the center of the stylus in the styles, and we can see that the dot’s angle in the calligraphy style corresponded to the computer representation of the letters in all three samples. But the findings in terms of variation of the size and thickness of the dots in different compositions show the inconsistency of the dot’s shape in calligraphic style with computerized instances. Accordingly, it is concluded that the kind of punctuation which was adopted by calligraphers who influenced the production of computer types, in addition to adherence to the angle of the pen’s nib in each of the methods are different in terms of legibility and impersonality. Also, the size of the dot in letters like "Noon", when joined together with other letters, is smaller than the dot in the letter’s separated state due to the spatial transformation of Noon’s circle and its decrease in size in its joined form. There are also two important principles when writing multi-letter combinations that contain a multiplicity of types, which involve the overlap of types in the word and the overlap of the letter with its next or previous letter, both of which have been found to be involved in the design of the letters of computer-based types by designers.