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Qalam

The project

9 calligraphers. Hundreds of cards. One tool no one had used like this before.

Collaborating with 9 internationally renowned calligraphers and typography artists, we created hundreds of unique greeting cards in Tilt Brush — capturing the essence of this ancient art in a truly modern, shareable way.

Named after the Arabic word for a calligraphy brush, Qalam was born.

The web app

A responsive canvas for a billion people.

The bespoke art pieces were incorporated into a responsive web app where users can personalise and customise their own Ramadan message. Mobile-first, designed for low bandwidth — built to work across countries where connectivity is limited.

We sweated every detail to ensure an immersive, smooth experience that felt worthy of the art within it.

Thousands of variations

Static images.
Looping animations.
Endless creativity.

The platform enabled thousands of unique outputs. Users embraced it and created a variety of messages — from calm, elegant stills to richly animated cards — sharing them with friends and family across WhatsApp and beyond.

The making of

"To use a tool no one had used this way before, I had to become an expert — fast."

Low-fi scamps and scrappy prototypes were created early to fail faster and arrive at a better experience. Since multiple artists would be working in Tilt Brush, I had to master it quickly and become a mentor to all nine of them.

Recognition

FWA of the Day — twice.

Awarded FWA of the Day for both Desktop and Mobile — recognised as one of the most innovative and beautifully executed web experiences of the year.

Soraya's Story

A launch film to close the loop.

To celebrate Qalam's release we created a launch film. This is the story of a young woman who reaches out to thank her calligraphic master for years of guidance and tutoring using a completely new medium. One he has never witnessed before.

Silver Lovie Award Winner for Best Internet Video Editing.