Basma Hamdy is a research-based designer, author and educator. Currently Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, Hamdy earned an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is currently a candidate at PhDArts: Leiden University and The Royal Academy of Art (KABK), The Netherlands. Hamdy has exhibited and spoken at several international art and design festivals and conferences such as Duke University's Arts of the Revolution, Spielart Festival Munich and The Graphic Design Festival Breda. Her publications include Walls of Freedom: Street Art of the Egyptian Revolution . www.basmahamdy.com Noha Zayed is a photographer and creative entrepreneur based in Cairo, Egypt.

She has extensive experience in creative direction, product design, travel and documentary photography. Zayed's interest in exploration and Arabic calligraphy led her to travel extensively across Egypt documenting found examples of Arabic calligraphy around the country. She was invited to co-curate the highly popular Instagram account 'Arabic Typography' which has a following of over ninety thousand users. Zayed has exhibited in festivals and platforms across the Middle East such as Dubai Design Week as part of the 'Cairo Now!' exhibit and the Sharjah Calligraphy Biennial. Zayed's other creative endeavours include film and music projects such as a documentary on travel and education produced by Axeer Studios and aired on Al Jazeera Documentary Channel in 2017. Dr Huda Abifares is a renowned Arabic typography expert. She holds a PhD from Leiden University in Middle Eastern Studies, an MFA from Yale University School of Art in Graphic Design and a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design. She specialises in bilingual typographic research and design.

She has worked as a designer for a number of years, in the US, Amsterdam, France and Beirut. She has taught typography and graphic design at the American University of Beirut. She was the Chair of theVisual Communication Department for three years at the American University in Dubai and founder of the Khatt Foundation, Center for Arabic Typography (Amsterdam).