Omantel makes the first Arabic dyslexia-friendly font — 'Maqroo'

Arabic is written right-to-left with 12 million words and many letters that differ only by a dot, which makes it especially hard for dyslexic readers; 86.4 million Arabic speakers have dyslexia, yet none of the 650 Arabic fonts in use were designed for them. Omantel wanted to differentiate in Oman's competitive telecom market by making connectivity meaningfully more inclusive.

Instead of an ad, build and give away the first Arabic dyslexic-friendly font — enlarging dots and marks so similar letter shapes stop causing errors.

Leo Burnett Dubai worked with regional type designers and dyslexic volunteers to test all 650 Arabic fonts, tracking reading and stress levels; then they enlarged noqat (dots) and tashkeel (diacritics) by 200%, eliminated ligatures, gave each letter distinctive irregularities and increased letter heights. Maqroo ('readable') launched free at maqroo.com on 3 December 2023, International Day of People of Determination, with a targeted social campaign.

The font was downloaded over 23,000 times and Omantel began working with Oman's Ministry of Education to put it into schools and textbooks; the initiative won a Dubai Lynx 2024 Grand Prix in Industry Craft plus a Healthcare Silver, a Bronze at Effie MENA 2024, and a D&AD Wood Pencil.

Arabic is one of the world's most complex scripts for readers with dyslexia: letters differ by a single dot, diacritics are small and dense, and the language is written right-to-left. According to Omantel, 86.4 million Arabic speakers have dyslexia, yet none of the 650 Arabic fonts in global use were designed to help them read.

Omantel, Oman's telecom incumbent, chose to solve that gap rather than advertise around it. With Leo Burnett Dubai, it analysed all 650 existing Arabic fonts alongside dyslexic volunteers — tracking reading and stress levels — then rebuilt the letterforms: dots and diacritics enlarged by 200%, ligatures removed, letter heights increased, and inner spaces made irregular so each character is distinctive. The result, Maqroo ('readable'), was released for free on maqroo.com on 3 December 2023.

The object became its own campaign: a targeted social media push accompanied the launch, and the font spread by usefulness. Within a year it had been downloaded over 23,000 times, and Omantel began collaborating with the Ministry of Education to integrate it into schools and textbooks.

The awards circuit validated the idea: Dubai Lynx 2024 Grand Prix in Industry Craft (Typography) plus a Silver in Healthcare, a Bronze at the Effie MENA 2024 awards, and a D&AD Wood Pencil — all for a product the brand gave away.

The brand's promise — better access and connectivity for everyone — was turned into a downloadable object, so every use of the font re-proved it.

Nothing else like it existed: the insight that all 650 Arabic fonts failed dyslexic readers made 'first of its kind' a real claim, not a slogan.

The design process itself was the evidence: testing with dyslexic readers and enlarging dots/diacritics by 200% made the solution measurable and credible.

Launching on International Day of People of Determination anchored the idea in a shared civic moment, not a sales calendar.

Giving the font away and opening up the design thinking invited schools, brands and the design community to carry the idea further than one campaign could.

When the 'ad' is a free, useful product, the brand claim is proven by use rather than asserted — the font did marketing's job through the object itself.

Maqroo kept accumulating recognition — Dubai Lynx 2024 Grand Prix and Healthcare Silver, Effie MENA Bronze, D&AD Wood Pencil, and an Oman CSR Summit 'Trailblazing CSR Initiative of the Year' award — while Omantel pursued education-sector adoption and open-sourcing the design approach so other brands could make Arabic typography more inclusive.