El hema Arabic design 10$El hema Arabic design

Contents

Advertising design

Projects

Photography

Books

Editorial04

EL HEMA , the Arabic fictive version ofthe famous Dutch HEMA depatementStore. EL HEMA originally a, idea of Me-diamatic was organized this yearthrough cosmoplis incollaboration withthe brand hotel and we were glad atTarek Atrissi Design to be commissionedfor the design of the design to be com-missioned for the design of the maingraphic and information design work in-voleved in the project.EL HEMA designswas a huge success the lines soon strete-ched around the block .The visitors couldbuy the designs The creativity aboutHEMA have many original idea ,no ar-tistic profession has been courted moreintensively by advertising in precedingdecades as that of visual artist.

Blog Tarek Atrissi: Pro-posal routes for MTVArabia is Identity andEl Ghad design . Mul-saqat project by khattfoundation design .

The work about thearabic artist photogra-phier Toufic Armanand a the concept, thevision and philosophyby this artist.

Event Art dubai 2009,leading contemporaryand internationnalGallery to go to theevent Dubai Art for thethird edition.

Interview with the ara-bic designer Yousef Ik-freis,he is a graphicdesigner and anima-tion industry, he is fromJordon.

20 ways ti avoid creative block,Use thefollowing 20 tips to avoid and getthrough a tough designer's block.

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Type design

Print

Software

InterviewThe new arabic type byBifan magazine it isdesign by Kassis Ma-riem , Bifan arabicarial type, it is inspiredby the latin Arial type.

The pantone MatchingSystem of color ,theaccuracy of Pantonecolor is critical in gra-phic design tools ofprint .

Creative Suite CS4:Photoshop,Illustrator,Indesign,Flash,Dreamweaweaver and Fireworks.

Gallery

Professional advice

Contents 03

« Visual narratives from Arabic» by TarekAtrissi and«Graphic design from theArab world »,Arabesque investigates Thebook collects of recent innovative andgroundbreaking design work .

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26 40 60

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The graphics professionals are always looking to preserve a certain spiritual free-dom and a special aesthetic sensibility and the evolution of new technologies for crea-ting, now the designer is expected to be about news of his domain. In particular,graphic Arabic is known to maintain and deepen its knowledge to affirm its identityand existence despite the obstacles that face and obstructing movement. It must alsoacquire the domain specific language to enter the world of graphic design and moreabout its methods and tools. The graphic designer Arabic must be open to the Gra-phic Arts and informed on new trends and the latest graphics tools and creative com-munication methods to be able to achieve its mission, Hence the mission of actors inthe Arab graphic design is not limited to the simple design, but any expression ofArab culture, a culture renewed and adapted to the new. The role of Arab graphicdesigner is not so simple but it is important . This is the main vehicle of our new ma-gazine " Bifan ", with mediation between modernity and originality to a new vision ofart in particular and Arab art world in general. We thank the whole team for their par-ticipation so that our publication is born.

Editor by KASSIS Mariem

Editorial04

Editorial

Welcome

welcome to Bifan magazine ,the newmagazine for Arabic graphic designersin our space of the universe and all gra-phics to the art and visual communica-tion Bifani is your new magazine invitesyou to join this world, our team is madeto ensure a good reading on areas andsubjects of interes.Gallery, Projects , ad-vertising design, Print,Books, Advice,Software...The Group of Khatt foundation(www.khatt.com)Tarek atrissiMariam Al Dabbaghkassis MariemHuda Abi farés

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Advertising design

El Hema Arabic Design

Hema becomes El Hema

HEMA stores are official suppliers ofmy bicycle lamps. HEMA annually bringstogether designers for a contest but thisyear, the mark was doubled by anotherdesign. Mediamatic is a very interestingcreative located at the foot of the provi-sional location of the Museum of ModernArt in the city Stedelijk Museum CS Post.Many facilities and conferences on des-ign and new media are developed.At themoment, this Mediamatic El Hema, anexercise in style on the opening of a storeHEMA North Africa. The exhibition wouldthen look like a shop whose display pos-ters and play on the Arabic typographyand a staging capable of creating a vi-sual id célèblres close to the shops. Ani-mations are organized works henna

tatouages of work on designArabist.HEMA and design are closely lin-ked we know. Mediamatic designershave presented their project El Hema inDutch Design Contest 2007 in the cate-gory visual id. Apparently it has rained.The metamorphosis of the contemporaryHema to an Arabic modern . Taking astep further in developing itsbrand,Hema seems to be smoothly intro-ducing its new simplified logo on theproducts. The Arabic version of the newlogo was designed based on the primaryEl - Hema, originally designed by TarekAtrissi .The difference is minor but givesthe shop a more updated image. The lo-gotype drops the blue underline and laysdown on a bright square with edges.

El HEMA logo was designed by TarekAtrissi using The Mix Arabic from theKhatt set of fonts.It was designed byLucas de Groot and Mouneer Al-Shaa-rani with the support of Pascal Zoghbi.

T-shirts very fashion about EL HEMA.

Advertising design06

Khatt Foundation

The Khatt Foundation was created in2004 in Amsterdam as a non-profit cul-tural foundation dedicated to design re-search and development throughprojects and programs that focus on re-juvenating (from within the culture) theapplied arts traditions of the Arab worldand the Middle East. The word khatt notonly refers to writing, script, lettering, cal-ligraphy, and typographic style. It alsomeans line, as in a trace on a page… aline of thinking… a direction. The storystarts with AbiFarès Huda Smitshuijzen,a young Lebanese woman married to aDutchman, author of the book "Typogra-phic matchmaking." In a spirit of culturalexchange and abolition of prejudicesabout the Arab community, the represen-tative of Khatter Foundation (Khatter orcalligraphy in Arabic),a nonprofit orga-nization working to develop and improvecommunication (Fwith a design that is

with the Western perception of typogra-phy. For Khatter foundation, typographyshould serve as a cultural bridge bet-ween Europe and the Middle East. Topromote the book and typo) chart in theArab world, has revolutionized the worldof typography to 5 asking to join Dutchdesigners to 5 designers to create ArabArabic characters with "a key Dutch inorder not westernize of Arabic typogphy,but to make it more contemporary, talkabout Arab culture, the Khatter Foundtionand the Dutch company Mediamatichave appealed to 5 young graphic des-igners, four Lebanese and a one Kuwaiti. In Holland, they have a very false ideaof Arabs, and for this reason that KhatterFoundation and organized an exhibitionin Holland for the book launch and im-plementation of these typefaces . It wasat that time that we intervene in this ad-venture.

Posters advertising the store with newlogo Arabized El Hema, is a key Arab.

The Khatt Kufi & Kaffiya Symposium onArabic Visual Culture.

Advertising design 07

Advertising design

EL HEMA MODESHOW

El Hema could not have opened itsdoors without an official Arabesquefashion show displaying some of theavailable merchandise at the exhibit. Themodels, which included the five El Hemagraphic design , strutted down the cat-walk wearing burkas and turquoiseropes around their heads as spectators,photographers and TV. Upon reachingthe end of the stage, a strategically pla-ced fan blew their burkas up revealingmodels wearing t-shirts with Arabic pick-up lines designed by intern Abrar Al-Mu-sallam, Arabic “I AMsterdam” t-shirtscreated by intern Wael Morcos, and achosen selection from the Morecultfashion label designed by Farida Nounaand Thomas van Gelder. The crowdcheered and applauded after each burkagracefully flew up. Choreographer Mar-tin Butler said he developed the conceptfor the show after returning from a tripto Istanbul two weeks ago. While on va-cation he said he saw someone step onthe bottom of a woman’s burka. Whenshe took a step forward it caused herburka to rise in the front revealing herpair of fashionable Jimmy Choopumps.“I wanted the [El Hema] show tobe more quirky, for it to be a full unvei-ling.”The concept worked well as the daynot only marked the unveiling of a newbook, exhibit and clothing line, but alsoa glimpse into modern Arab culture.Long queues leading up to the expositionarea, attention in the national press ofthe Netherlands, heated comments onweblogs about the loss or the very en-richment of culture: seldom has therebeen so much ado about typography.Five new Arabic fonts led to a symposiumdiscussing contemporary.

Advertising design08

An exposition of t-shirts, price tags, cho-colates and plastic bags. But the realpoint was the font.After the fashion show,the excited crowd hurried inside Media-matic’s exhibition room to experiencewhat an Arab version of a Hema storelooked like. Exhibit-goers were not allo-wed to buy any of the merchandise untilSaturday, but were welcomed to stay fordrinks and music outside the exhibitroom. "In Lebanon, nobody stands in linefor t-shirts," graphic design intern KhajagApelian said. "We didn’t expect this tohappen with El Hema—it’s exciting!" In-side parents and children ransacked thestore as they searched for their favorite t-shirts, djellabas, socks, bottles of wine,books and even Halal sausages. Organi-zers eventually had to limit the numberof t-shirts and which items customerscould buy in order to keep the exhibitlooking like an exhibit. Organizers said

the more popular items were the choco-late bars, embroidered kitchen towels,underwear and hamsa tank tops. Insidethe muggy exhibit room, attendee KarenVoors stood at the end of the long check-out line waiting to pay for a hamsa tanktop and an Arabic book. She said shehad been anticipating the opening of theexhibit and had even marked the date onher calendar. "It’s a fun way of combi-ning both cultures," she said. "People caneither take it for granted or go on andthink about it." Karen Mulder who boughtkitchen towels and a box of hagelslagdecorated with Arab patterns and des-igns said it would be nice if the realHema would provide Arabesque pro-ducts such as these. Both ladies agreedthe designers did an excellent job of ma-king the store look like a real Hemastore. Interns Apelian and Morcos saidthey were extremely happy .

Advertising design 09

Sticker pointing towards towards theKaaba in Mecca on the celling of the elhema show-room in amsterdam. the ins-cription reads al qibla, which is used toindicate the direction that should befaced when a Muslim prays.

A concentrate of creativity

The project had gotten quite a bit ofmedia attention as HEMA had been sostupid to threaten to sue mediamatic fortrademark infringement some 4 weeksback (which is more of less the best freepublicity you can get). the whole thing isreally well executed (much respect to thewhole team that worked on it over thelast two months). they did not sell any-thing on the opening night on fridayand when they finally started selling themerchandise they almost got run over byhordes of dutch people who acted as if t-shirts with arabic script are somethingthat that never existed before: just try toimage the opposite scenario: arabsgoing crazy over t-shirts with latin scripton it (hint: does not really happen unlessyou are taling about expensive brandnames). today when i passed by media-matic there was a linestretching almost100 m outside of the shop. El hema

while the t-shirts are really nice (al-though the my favorite one does noteven have text on it) my favorite part ofthe whole installation is the little arrow onthe celing in one of the corners that indi-cates the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca(’qibla’). makes me almost want to haveone for my flat…. The Khatter Founda-tion and the company Mediamatic provi-ded them this opportunity. A dream that,for these 5 hopes the Middle East, hasbecome a reality. Through this award,thedoors were opened for young peoplewho have found jobs upon their return tothe fold. Like what, intercultural ex-changes are always very positive.Hemadidn’t see it that way, however. Largeposters outside the exhibition waived allresponsibility for the project, emphasi-zing that Hema had no part in it. Theposters also said that Hema followed ElHema .

Advertising design

Advertising design10

The dream of a typographer who grewup during the Lebanese civil war: Please,no more conflict."The cooperative projectTypographic Matchmaking was an initia-tive of the Khatt Foundation. The objec-tive of the Khatt Foundation is to initiatedialogue between the Arabic world andthe Western world, and to contribute toan Arabic identity. The foundation hopesthis will initiate cultural change. HudaSmitshuijzen AbiFarès of the Khatt Foun-dation: "The font was a logical startingpoint. Script is an identifying part of theculture." Identity is one word that was fre-quently repeated during the symposium.Not always in the same meaning, howe-ver. While visionaries talked about fin-ding and communicating one's culturalidentity, others were discussing the des-ign of a good corporate identity.

Advertising design 11

The interesting thing about the new fontsis not only how they were received, butalso how they were conceived. Teams ofDutch and Arabic typographers workedon designing modern Arabic fonts thatcan be combined with Western fonts wi-thout either of the two dominating. A dif-ficult challenge among the designers. Aswell as the different writing traditions.Nadine Chahine, one of the participa-ting typographers, explains: "Graphicdesign is improving in the Middle East,but many of the projects are done inLatin script. The beautiful things we haveare in museums, but the things that re-gular people see on the street are sougly! You want Latin and Arabic script onthe same page .

Advertising design

El Hema choclate

El Hema products

The EL HEMA exhibition will open at theMediamatic exhibition space. It is a tem-porary shop where the new Arabic type-faces are used in the styling of theexhibition and in the products, such asArabic chocolate letters and several otherproducts. The products of El Hema in anidentical with labels translated intoDutch, English and articles.." Arabic inthe new fonts created. "They wanted tomake the expo as true as possible,theplace resembles true supermarket Hema.So we began to study lighting, shelving,tiling, infrastructure in general, and any-thing that characterizes the supermarketHema.They have proposed to customersitems that had inscriptions in Arabic,chocolates Arabic letters .

A concentrate of creativity Chocolate let-ters reflect a cultural aspect of dutch tra-ditions and creating the first chocolateletters to include them in the exhibitionwas a must. Bernardo worked on themolds of the typeface Fedra Bold and re-vealed the first results on the koopavond,The idea directly coincides with the or-ganizers’ concept of creating an Arabicversion of the Netherlands’ Hema chainstores to publicize the release of five newArabic fonts. By creating products withArab inspired culture, El Hema organi-zers hope to expose locals to Arab cul-ture through script design. The proposalto create chocolate Arab letters was ins-pired by the traditional chocolate lettersavailable at Hema stores during Christ-mas time. “Kids usually receive their ini-tials for Christmas,” Gaeiras said. Theplan is to produce molds for all 19shapes of the 29-letter Arab alphabet.

However, with the exhibit less than 20days away, it would be quite costly andtime consuming to make molds for all 19letters, Baeiras said. It took him one anda half days to create one mold with a kitthat cost about 50 euros. Negotiationsare still being made. Similarly, measuresare also being taken to produce a do-it-yourself stamp kit designed by graphicdesign intern Maria Hakim.this is the firstArab chocoladeletters in the Nether-lands. In recent months, the Mediamaticmolds for the letters in the Fablab, pro-duction area of the EL HEMA made. To-gether with the corporate ChocolateriaJordino Amsterdam. A new Arabic font isused in the design of the various choco-ladeletters, it is one of the new digitalArabic fonts that this summer led to the ElHema formed, El Hema is an imaginaryArab Hema. The Mediamatic is a expres-sions of Dutch and Arab culture .

Advertising design12

Most of the items were very interestingto work on: Graphic and Typographicsolution for wine labels, chocolatepackaging, water bottles, Duo umbrellas(with fairuz’s famous rain song), impor-ted food, and much more; all with an in-tercultural twist. The focus remained onmaking a balance between the initial ElHema identity and drawing a parallelline with the real HEMA look- that haschanged a lot over the last year with theintroduction of a revised look andfeel.Images and impressions from theactual El Hema Exhibition & store in Rot-terdam. Above: Images of several itemsof the new the new collection, mostly ty-pographic design solutions for intercul-tural concepts and ideas.

El Hema project seems to always comewith its own challenges and problematicissues. Amsterdam’s mediamaric exhibi-tion was faced by an initial unpleasantreaction from the Dutch Hema depart-ment store. This year, the difficulties werefaced by the fact that many organizationsand parties were involved in the project,and not all of them shared necessarilythe same vision on some key issues forthe El Hema brand, particularly that theconcept has moved from its initial“home”. Not to mention of course an in-credible short deadline, by which an en-tire department store had to bedesigned!Above: Images of several itemsof the new El Hema collection, mostly ty-pographic design solutions for intercul-turl concepts and ideas.

Another Product

Advertising design

Adversting design14

El Hema, the Arabic fictive (yet real) ver-sion of the famous Dutch HEMA depart-ment store, is back again this year, withan exhibition (or rather a store) in Rotter-dam. El Hema, originally an idea of Me-diamatic, was organized this yearthrough cosmopolis, in collaborationwith the brand hotel, and we were gladat Tarek Atrissi Design to be commissio-ned for the design of the main graphicand information design work involved inthe project.The first El Hema project inAmsterdam organized by Mediamarictook an incredible press attention andwas a big success: It was simply very un-conventional to see a brand that is soDutch, HEMA, taking a small twist andbecoming in an Arabic form. A simpleidea that reflects much more on thehighly debated cross cultural integrationand communication in the Netherlands.,we designed at Tarek Atrissi Design the

Water bottle packaging for the El HemaOasis Desert water.

Adversting Design 15

Arabic logo of El Hema, working theArabic lettering version El Hema, theArabic fictive (yet real) version of the fa-mous Dutch HEMA department store, isback again this year, with an exhibition(or rather a store) in Rotterdam. ElHema, originally an idea of Mediamatic,was organized this year through cosmo-polis, in collaboration with the brandhotel, and we were glad at Tarek AtrissiDesign to be commissioned for the des-ign of the main graphic and informationdesign work involved in the project.Thefirst El Hema project in Amsterdam orga-nized by Mediamaric took an incrediblepress attention and was a big success: Itwas simply very unconventional to see abrand that is so Dutch, HEMA, taking asmall twist and becoming in an Arabicform. A simple idea that reflects muchmore on the highly debated cross cultu-ral integration and communication .

Advertising design

Vascular about EL HEMA product, it isinspireted to henna tattoos.

Describe the materials and techniquesyou will need to produce your design.Latex gloves and silicone-screen printingink. Zeefdrukkerij that the gloves can beprinted.Paperboard for packaging, cello-phane, printing inks and printing. Fin-ding a printing that the gloves can beprinted. The creativity about HEMA havemany original idea ,no artistic professionhas been courted more intensively by ad-vertising in preceding decades as that ofvisual artist. What to do if the dishesmust be done and you want the beautifulhenna tattoos on your hands not fade?(You will not, of course, they hide in ordi-nary household gloves) Do you not thedishes or you use Vascular-i-Maatjes forultimate protection and elegant. The de-coration is a simple means to an oerhol-lands product with a deep-rooted Arabtradition.By the name a double meaningto be given cultural - (and physical) brid

ged or without henna tattoos. HemaProduct, and then appeared on your re-tina household gloves with tattoos. It wasa ghost.

El Hema designs was a huge suc-cess the lines soon stretched around theblock. The visitors could buy the designsif they wished, and by the time a closingdown sale celebrated the end of the exhi-bit, tens of thousands had come to seewhat all the fuss was about. Theshow in-cluded a whole range oftextiles featuringArab text, Velthoven himself which said:“I can’t read this”, to underpants for menwanting to try their luck with: “Hey, swee-tie!”. The designers also used burqasand djellabas as inspiration, and Leba-nese wines were presented in classy bot-tles.‘Mother brand’ also providedinspiration. The el hema designers used-burqas and djellabas as inspiration toIslam society.

Buraqas and Djellabas

Vascular about El Hema

Adversting design16

Projects

Blog Tarek Atrissi

MTV Arabia have launched twoweeks ago, creating a buzz in the Arabworld, particularly Dubai, as the newyouth oriented and long awaited chan-nel that will compete with existing MusicChannels in the Middle East. For morethan 8 month, we have been working ati Design on supporting with the concep-tualizing, design nd production of someof their Motion Graphics (as well as acustom Arabic Typefaces font, see pre-vious Post)- and I will summarize in thispost the design process of our work, andsome of our comments on the visualidentity created for it.Unfortunately, wewere not behind the logo and visualidentity branding created for the MTVArabia Channel. We are not a big fan of

amatter of fact. We were invited to puta proposal for the logo and visual iden-tity of the channel, and we proposed anexciting, youthful and rich Arabic solutionfor a corporate Identity system,but wenever won that Pitch; the project wasawarded to a Dubai based agency. Thelogo created for MTV Arabia consisted ofthe classic MTV logo, filled with Arabicisolated letters that form the word “ara-bia”. While the concept of the logo haspotential, I found its execution to be verypoor. The Arabic letters in the logo werefrom the widely used Bassima Font- acalligraphic digital font that fails in myopinion to create a unique look, and thatin itself is a poor handwritten calligraphyimitation. That said, our most criticism .

the identity created was that it did not in-clude, beyond the logo and the brands-trapline, a clear and elaborate identitymanual that explains the usage of themulti-version very colorful logo, and thedefinition of a unique visual languageand graphic elements. And as users ofthis identity, at a later stage, we found itvery difficult as designers to understandthe visual brand, or how to expand itwhile working on several projects for thechannel.Back to our work involvement;Loosing the Pitch did not stop MTV Ara-bia from commissioning us at TarekAtrissi Design to create the identity of fiveShows of MTV- from logo, look and feeland motion graphics design and pro-duction- as well as design a series ofBumpers for the channel.The project waschallenging on many levels. On onehand, the five shows were very differentin style and content; On the other hand,

Proposal routes for MTV Arabia ‘s identity

Projects18

we were wondering what the bigger pic-ture of MTV is if they will just be impor-ting international Lack of elaborate briefsand a vague vision of the entire channeldid make things more difficult- and even-tually we approached the branding ofevery show as a separate project, tryingto base our process on the informationgiven to us about each specific show,and our understanding of both the Ara-bic culture and the Europe Culture. Weapproached most of the shows not spe-cifically with a visible Arabic style, be-cause we certainly did not want to havean imposed obvious “Arabic” visual lan-guage, and kept our consideration andunderstanding of the geography and cul-ture behind MTV Arabia on a deeper lessvisible layer. Each show’s look and feelrepresented the actual music genre orcontent nature present in the program:“Alternative Nation” visualized its grungeand rock nature; “World Chart Express”visualized the adventurous and travel as-pect of the international music showca-sed in the program; and “IntroducingBlocks” used a kitsch style to visualize the“gossipy” aspect of the program. Theonly show which truly looked Arabic in itsopening sequence and identity is “PureArabia” and hence the typographic ap-proach seemed the most appropriate. hefinal outcome was a series of flat andabstract short animations, starting withpatterns inspired from an arabesqueconcept- yet very modern- that builds upthe MTV logo. On the bigger picture, thesuccess of logos MTV Arabia as a chan-nel is to be judged . In the future, seeingMTV channel ,if it will be able to be asinfluential in Arabia both in music andcultur it has been in the West...

Projects 19

Projects

El «Ghad»Type Design

Since I started my Design Studio- TarekAtrissi Design, we have been more andmore involved in designing Arabic Type-faces- which resulted from our focus inour work on Typography and on creatingmodern Arabic Graphic Design. TheLack of variety of Arabic typefaces madeus develop our own fonts for some pro-jects, particularly corporate identity pro-jects. Eventually We started putting moreeffort in making our own fonts, and ondelivering custom Arabic fonts for a va-riety of our clients. The Challenges arealways many- but I always enjoyed theprocess of Type Design- and jugglingDesign and technology; And Type Designis one of the studio’s main focuses today.Several of our fonts will be soon availa-ble for sale, since I have launched a newtypographic Design in the office, focusedonly on type design.I am presenting herean overview on some of the Typefacesdeveloped over the last six year. The fontcomes in two weights, bold and regular,and was designed Particularly for screenusage. This font (shown Above) wasbased on a previous font developed forAl-Ghad newspaper, which was used forthe masthead and for the headlines ofthe newspaper, back in 2004.AnotherFont developed in 2004 was the Spirit ofDoha Typeface, developed for the AsianGames 2006, that will launch in aroundtwo weeks in Doh Qatar. With the ope-ning ceremony approaching, it is sogreat to see the typeface in use everyw-here in and outside Qatar, promoting theevent.This year I completed the type fa-mily for Amwaj Islands in Bahrain, thatneeded a three weights font for use asthe main Arabic font in their corporateidentity. By Tarek Atrissi

Projects20

The notion of “local Design” was themain field of investigation in the typogra-phy course. Through a variety of experi-mental assignments, the students werefocused on creating typographic andgraphic pieces that were a true reflectionof their own visual environment: The Taskwas to simply see if it was possible tocreate a graphic design language thatbelongs to their own surrounding, a vi-sual language that is unique to the loca-tion where the design work wasproduced, and that couldn’t be develo-ped elsewhere. Students were asked toexplore the rich environmental graphiclanguage that surrounds them: Signs,neon letters, big Arabic and English Pos-tings, wall graffiti .They started by takingphotos of a corner, a street, an angle thathas a cluster of signs with a lot of bilin-gual typography, particularly Arabic[type, handwritten lettering, Calligraphy.The end result is a series pieces develo-ped by every student, documenting thespecific environment they chose.Beloware some examples of the work develo-ped by the students: fo example shownbelow is a complete series of pieces de-veloped by student Dana Ahdab. the firstpiece started with a collage of a specificcorner that she decided to document,and she developed that collage graphi-cally and typographically into furthercompositions, with focus on type, ima-gery and interesting graphics. The lastbeing made only out of type found in theimages yet independent from the photosor the previous compositions. Note howinteresting for example composition is; abalanced combination of imagery andtype, giving a good feel of the street lan-guage of that specific area in Doha City.

Projects 21

Student work from VCU Qatar

Graphics in the evironment

Projects

Project mulsaq is a competition for ara-bic designers , about the home , or thearabic home .Homes and their interiorshave become a reflection of the perso-nality of Arabic house ,site web the siteweb about khatter fondation, their ow-ners ; an eclectic mix of international andlocal products , found objects and sou-venirs, and memorabilia from aroundthe world . Expressing one is identitythrough design commodities is a com-mon occurrence in the materialistic cul-ture of consumerism.In contemporarydesign and visual communication ,em-bracing global design trends and self-conscriously mixing them with local :thevisual culture is done with the aim of as-serting one is cultural identity in the bigmelting pot of world cultures.The homespace is seen as a way stake a uniquesense of place tha can be set apart fromthe greater equalizing and transient pu-blic spaces. In the age of global nomadiclifesdtyles , the temporary home that isalso a portrait of the life and experiencesof its owners is a secure and stable areain an otherwise stressful living enviro-ment. The designers whose work has for-med this special collection haveoriginated from all over the world ran-ging from aras who have lived in Europeand the Middle East to Europeans whohave traveled and lived in the ArabWorld ; From countries like Egypt , Leba-non ,Jordan , Iraq ,Kuwait, experiencesway of life and specific national socialnorms. Though the work is inspired bytraditional Arabic calligraphy and Islamicand Arabic symbols and customs are re-visited with a resolute and atypicalcontemporary look good humour andsomtimes thought provoking visual puns.

Project Mulsaq

The khatt Design collection of wall stickers

Projects22

The Khatt Foundation and the trend-set-ting company Mosaiques, in collabora-tion with Dubai-based design galleryTraffic, are launching for the first time awall stickers collection reflecting the mul-tifaceted Middle Eastern identity. Wallstickers are the latest innovation incontemporary interior design. They de-mocratise art by bringing it into ordinarypeople’s living spaces. They help consu-mers create a personalized sense ofplace.This design competition will there-fore provide a platform for talented KhattNetwork members to reach out to wideraudiences within and outside the designworld of Dubai, the Middle East andbeyond.The reputation of Traffic as ‘muststop shop’ for individuals and architectu-ral/design firms, and its location near theup-market Mall of the Emirates makes itthe perfect partner for the launch of thisculturally sensitive and sought-after des-ign product. A couple of months ago TheKhatt Foundation and the trend-settingcompany Mosaiques, in collaborationwith Dubai-based design gallery Trafficorganized a competition to design limi-ted edition vinyl stickers under the theme‘Reinvent our space, bring the middleeast home’.My submission, entitled Ifwalls had ears… eyes & mouths, was se-lected by the jury to be among the 20 fi-nalists of the competition. Inspired by thefamous, rather middle-eastern proverb ifwalls had ears I elaborated the conceptwith an analogy to the famous 3 wisemonkeys’ saying: see no evil, hear noevil, speak no evil. The idea focuses onthe fact that walls are better off notseeing, hearing or speaking about whathappens in the room or anywhere else.Away from evil, away from gossips.

Projects

Winner of Projects Mulsaq

Projects24

A trained painter and award winningphotographer, Toufic Araman spends histime between Dubai and New York. Hedoes advertising and conceptual photo-graphy. He has displayed his talentthrough major advertising campaigns.His conceptual work was shown at theNoorderlicht Festival, The Netherlandsand Brecht Forum, New York. He is theMiddle East official photographer forStarwood hotels. He also teaches photo-graphy at the American University inDubai. Araman's work is distinguished byhis propensity for story-telling, lightingwhich plays a character and images thatoften have a sense of humor. He studiedat the International Center of Photogra-phy. He is a member of the Middle East

Professional photographers in Dubai -MEPP.

Photography

Biography

Photolosophy

We are too involved in our emotions,beliefs and human conditions to portrayobjectivity in its finest forms. I don't buildmy creativity on a person's influence; ho-wever, I admire the pioneers, as they de-fine the concept of uniqueness(individuality) to me. They dared to dothe different against the mainstream,thus becoming the first in history. It iswhen you are able to view the worldfrom all sides and perspectives that youacquire that gentle touch of art, which re-flects your deep belonging to humanityin general. Photographs are not real.They reflect the reality of the person be-hind the lens. Photography is very sub-jective and it is very subjective, and sothe frame will reflect only what I havechosen to capture.We are too involved inour emotions, beliefs and human condi-tions to portray objectivity in its finestforms.I don't build my creativity.

I don't define myself as anything morethan an observer; I don't give solutions, Isimply reflect. My work takes the viewerthrough the journey of my thoughts, to-wards the exact feeling or moral I try toreflect. I want to be labeled as an effec-tive communicator, and let that bethrough photography, painting or film.Photography is modern and fast. Photo-graphy reflects the fragility of objects; itcombines different elements to produceone masterpiece. The reason I favorphotography is because of its stillness. Itcould gather all the elements of a 10 mi-nute film in one single frame. One shot,and the message is there: crystal clear.Photographs are not real. They reflect thereality of the person behind the lens.

Toufic ARAMAN

Photography26

He ended up interviewing me at onepoint.I was so taken by the level of depthand knowledge Araman showed duringour 2 hour interview, that I actually star-ted spilling out my personal sentimentsabout art, photography, politics, and life.I kept answering his questions, and withno recollection of time, I found myselfbeing interviewed by my subject. Ara-man, an intelligent artist, the way I woulddescribe him. Talking to him, I couldn'thelp but wonder about the resemblancebetween him and Socrates: they bothreached their versions of truth by ques-tioning everything else around them. Ihave always admired Socrates; conse-quently, my admiration of Araman wasinevitable. It didn't matter where he wasfrom, and what belief system he follo-wed. We talked and talked about somany aspects of life, without noticing thatthe bridges of cultures were connectedwithout human intervention, without sillyattempts and forced opinions. he bestthing about being an artist, or involvedin art like I am, is the common groundyou find with others who share the pas-sion. Life, for a moment, becomes a se-ries of questions and answers: humanityis what matters.I enjoyed every second Ispent talking to this young great talent,and I found it to be refreshing that somepeople still maintain that strong beliefsystem of the human being, and his abi-lity to reform the world. Toufic, you are aphotographer, a painter, a designer,would you simply call yourself an artist,and congregate all of these talents toge-ther? I won't define myself as anythingmore than an observer; I don't give solu-tions, I simply reflect... I send subtle mes-sages in order to change someone.

Photography 27

Photography

Questioning Life, Art & Photography

He ended up interviewing me at onepoint. I was so taken by the level of depthand knowledge Araman showed duringour 2 hour interview, that I actually star-ted spilling out my personal sentimentsabout art, photography, politics, and life.I kept answering his questions, and withno recollection of time, I found myselfbeing interviewed by my subject. Ara-man, an intelligent artist, the way I woulddescribe him. Talking to him, I couldn'thelp but wonder about the resemblancebetween him and Socrates: they bothreached their versions of truth by ques

tioning everything else around them. Ihave always admired Socrates; conse-quently, my admiration of Araman wasinevitable.It didn't matter where he wasfrom, and what belief system he follo-wed. We talked and talked about somany aspects of life, without noticing thatthe bridges of cultures were connectedwithout human intervention, without sillyattempts and forced opinions.The bestthing about being an artist, or involvedin art like I am, is the common groundyou find with others who share the pas-sion. Life, for a moment, becomes a

ries of questions and answers: humanityis what matters.I enjoyed every second Ispent talking to this young great talent,and I found it to be refreshing that somepeople still maintain that strong beliefsystem of the human being, and his abi-lity to reform the world. Toufic, you are aphotographer, a painter, a designer,would you simply call yourself an artist,and congregate all of these talents toge-ther? I simply reflect... I send subtle mes-sages, as I believe that, in order tochange someone, you need to slowlywork on sending the desired message.

Photography28

thoughts, towards the exact feeling ormoral I try to reflect. I want to be labeledas an effective communicator, and letthat be through photography, art, pain-ting or film making. The medium is notimportant, what matters is thepurpose.Why Photography? Photogra-phy is modern and fast. I think I favor itsometimes for its production ease, thepossibilities of using different media, theclarity of the lenses, and my passion forlight and glass. Photography reflects fra-gility of the objects; it combines the diffe-rent elements to produce onemasterpiece. Do you believe that peopleare born artists? Or do they become ar-tists with time? In the sense, can art andcreativity be nurtured and cultivated? Tobe able to answer your question, I wouldneed to define the word Artist. However,to a greater extent, does it really matter?I don't think so. Whether you are bornone, or become one, what matters isyour will to do something about that gift.

stress on the important factors that play arole in making an Artist. We see in yourlast work, a lot of symbolism is involved.Do you believe photography is ultimatelythe strongest form of modern art in ex-pressing social moralities and senti-ments? Of course I don't. How can Imake such a strong assumption aboutone form of media? Again, I say itdoesn't matter what medium you use, aslong as you know what to do with it.Symbolism is not restricted to any form.It's just like a weapon, it can kill, and itcan protect.It's a matter of choice. In spiteof that, the reason I might favor photo-graphy is because of its stillness. It couldgather all the elements in a 10 minutefilm in one single frame. One shot, andthe message is there: crystal clear. Areyou into photographic realism? Do youlook to describe reality with your photo-graphs, or simply enjoy the artistic free-dom of subject and photographymanipulation?Photographs are not real.

Thus, for me photographic realism is anissue of controversy, it doesn't hold a spe-cific meaning. I believe photographs re-flect the reality of the person behind thelens. Photography is very subjective, as acapture. We are too involved in ouremotions, beliefs and human conditionsto portray objectivity in its finest forms.There have been many excellent photo-graphers throughout the evolvement ofthis form of art, which of them has hadthe greatest influence on you? There aremany that influence a person through hislife. Influencing people affect your life fora period of time, and then you move ondeveloping yourself. For example, for aperiod of time, my father was my rolemodel, however as I grew older, otherpeople triggered me and I moved fromone phase to the other, with different per-ceptions. Having said that, I don't buildmy creativity on a person's influence; ho-wever, I admire the pioneers, as they de-fine the concept of uniqueness to me.

Photography 29

Photography

They dared to do the different against hemainstream, thus becoming the first inhistory. An example of that is JheronimusBosch, who changed the way people loo-ked at art, with his screaming paintingand his vivid imagination.t I admire the-nonconformist Many artists complainabout the hardships of making a living;is providing the food on the table a pos-sible thing for you?Can photography beIn Dubai, yes you can survive as a pho-tographer only. However, my definitionof a decent living status might be diffe-rent from others. Still, Dubai is a city thatallows such professions as photographyto prosper without the need for other re-sources.In your opinion, and from your

your vision in their desired fields. Photo-graphy here is winning its well-deservedreputation as an effective form of art andmedia, and with time, it will become apillar of the modern city.Many argue thatphotography has not been defined yet inthe country, and some confuse that artis-tic aspect with the commercial one; doyou agree? Yes I do agree. A lot ofconfusion does exist, but that's why weare here isn't that right? There are a lot ofperceptions that should be changed, andit is my duty as an artist as well as others'to contribute to this community by defi-ning the art, and distinguishing it. Toufic,why do you think you are an artist now?Let me tell you this of : I am originally

Lebanese, I was born in Egypt, but lived10 years of my early childhood in Leba-non, until the war broke out, a traumaticexperience, which affects me still. I haveseen what a child can't tolerate, and thatleft me with memories of loss and pain.We moved to Egypt, familiar with thecountry I tried to fit in. But the truth wasthat I have always been an outsider, aminority, a foreigner in my home.I wasthe Egyptian in Lebanon, and the Leba-nese in Egypt. So to answer your ques-tion, it is when you are able to view theworld from all sides and perspectives thatyou acquire that gentle touch of art, toanswer your question reflects your deepbelonging to humanity in general.

Photography30

Type Design

The Design concept of Bifan Type

Today you can create characters for useon computers, there is no single method,each creator develops know-how of itsown, a few sketches on paper or moredirectly on the screen. From the Latin po-lice can create a police Arabic as thestructure and morphology of the Latin, itis well known that the Arabic writing isdifferent from the Latin script, it is underone form and character are linked, wewill suggest to reproduce the font in LatinArabic character, the study on the mor-phology of the font "Arial" will help us tocreate our new font Arabic. (Latinizedcharacters Arabs), with a simplifiacationthe structure of writing Arabic.The treat-ment of curves is softer and more com-plete than in most industrial style sansserif, the axes of the letters are vertical.The police "Arial" is extremely versatile, isa character that is used with success intext reports, presentations, magazines,posters in newspapers ... It is essential toknow the morphological structure of"Arial" to create our new Arab characterto facilitate the Latinized letters Arabs.With minimum ascender and descenderof heights and large x-height, are to betranslated naturally in the Arab style Bi-fani, "Arial" is a sans serif could work bet-ter with Arabic, and it actually did.Thedesign features.The design of Arabic Bi-fani can be summarized as follows:1.Contrast: Bifani Arabic is a robust andsimple Kufi characters, with monolinearstroke (from a low modulation thick andthin)giving a character of the contempo-rary and functional look. 2. Opennessand overall color: Arabic is Bifani gene-rous open windows that match the colorand the overall effect of its Latin counter-part.3. Proportions: In order to achieve

Bifan Arabic Arial Type

Type Design32

It is an aspect of the design type that isnot often applied to Arabic, but it ishighly necessary.5. And the rate base:Some horizontal loop in the connectionsbetween certain characters, a feature ins-pired by the more rounded Arabicscripts. This feature of the design helpsto create the same tone of gray and avoi-ding the pitfalls of dark ink. the sametone of gray and avoiding the pitfalls ofdark ink. making Arabic Bifani more ap-propriate for continuous playback astextface.Deleting Arabic Arial type sevirato communicate more with the designers

,world). And enrich the typothéque Ara-bic, the basics of Arabic and Latin arevery different, but a Latinized the Arabicletters can give us a very good result withthe characteristic of the simplicity ofArial.the creation of this policy was agood experience for me. The most diffi-cult part was handling the issue, thatArabic is drawn from scrata betterrhythm and break the rigidity world). en-rich the typothéque Arabic, the basics ofArabic and Latin are very different, but aLatinized the Arabic letters can give us avery good result with the characteristic .

Type Design 33

the great characteristics x-height of theLatin without compromising the integrityof the Arabic script, the height of thebody in the Arabic version was pushedas high as possible within the acceptablelevel of normalcy Kufi for design conven-tions. The descenders are short and tomatch the proportion of the Latin version,making position. 4. Strokes and details:the thinning of blows before the very eco-nomic comcommon in Arabic characters,where little work optical adjustment ismade by a majority of models available.This feature helps to achieve arial fonts.

The accuracy of color is critical in design.

Because what you see on your monitor is

never what will appear on a printed

sheet, designers need a standardized

color key. It can be very frustrating to see

the logo you worked hard to create look

deep blue on the client's letterhead, blue-

greenish on his business card, and light

blue on his very expensive envelopes. A

way to prevent this is by using a standar-

dized color , such as the PANTONE MAT-

CHING SYSTEM. Though PANTONE is

not the only color standardization system,

it is the most widely used and the one that

most printers understand. Aside from

being able to have consistency, PAN-

TONE Colors allow you to use colors that

cannot be mixed in CMYK.

Print

There are several types of swatch guides

that catalog the colors of the PANTONE

Library. Some are narrow swatch books

made of strips bound on one end with

printed rectangular samples showing the

different PANTONE Colors. The strips can

then be opened or spread out in a fan-

like manner. There are also binders with

chips (rectangular swatches) that can be

torn out and sent to a client with a proof,

so that the client knows how his colors

will look when printed.Some of the PAN-

TONE Colors can be reproduced by

mixing CMYK inks while others must be

pre-mixed inks. Pantone has guides for

their spot colors (called "Solid" or pre-

mixed ink colors by Pantone) and guides

which show the Process colors. Samples

in the process guides are therefore colors

achievable through mixing CMYK (or

The pantone Matching Systhem

Always show your true colors

Guides through a color

Print36

"process") inks. A special guide alsoshows you the spot color and how it willlook printed in CMYK along with CMYKvalues. This way, if spot colors, which arean added expense at print time, cannotbe used, close colors may be mixed inprocess.Same Colour, Different Looks.The type of paper used, will affect theappearance of colors. In separate swatchor chip books, Pantone shows you howtheir colors look on coated, uncoated,and matte paper. Therefore you have thenumber of the color (for example, PAN-TONE Red 032) followed by a suffix,which indicates on what stock your PAN-TONE Color is meant to be printed. Ifyou want PANTONE Red 032 on shinypaper, then you would specify the colorin this manner: PANTONE 032 C, whereC stands for "coated". You then have U,which stands for "uncoated", and then M,which stands for "matte". You get:C = co

ated U = uncoated and M = matte.These three are the most important PAN-TONE Library abbreviations. You may,however, encounter the abbreviation CVfollowed by C, U or M. CV stands forComputer Video, which is the electronicrepresentation of the PANTONE Colors.Now discontinued, but still seen in oldversions of software, CV merely meantthat the color was an on-screen simula-tion.There are also specialty guides fortints, metallic and pastel colors. Onenote of warning: If you use a color with acertain suffix, don't use it again with ano-ther suffix in the same publication, unlessthere is an actual need for that, such aswhen you use a color on a 4-colourglossy magazine with an insert printedon bond paper. In this case you would beusing the same color both on coated andmatte paper. If you use two different suf-fixes in the same publication,

Print 37

shing software will see the color as twodifferent colors and this will cause theproduction of one extra plate, and the-refore the expense of extra money.

This software trial is a fully functionalversion of Adobe® Creative Suite® 4Design Premium edition in a DVD set.Every feature and aspect of the productThe six different editions of Creative Suite4 is available since October 2008 in theUnited States. Each suite includes a set ofsoftware to meet the needs of specifictrades. Both suites Design (Standard andPremium) are intended to start their crea-tive projects focusing on paper (But this isa sampling of the many innovations pro-posed by the Creative Suite 3. Indeed, allthe software component have been des-igned to be compatible with both Win-dows XP with Windows Vista and toexploit the strengths, which is incompa-tible with Vista until the last .

Premium version allows you to increasethe production on the Web or on mobileterminals. In this suite comprising inclu-ding Photoshop and Illustrator, the cen-tral tool is the InDesign desktoppublishing software. The latter is not in-cluded in both suites "Web" (Standardand Premium) addressed themselves todesigners of websites and rely mainly onDreamweaver .For trades of the video,following "Production" is a platform forpost-production that manages the flowfrom capture to distribution, through edi-ting and creating special effects. Finally,"Master Collection", which brings toge-ther all the twelve software, is the mostcomprehensive suite offered by Adobe.Among the new software offered by thepublisher, it should be noted PhotoshopExtended, an enhanced version of Photo-shop offers 3D processing functions,video and image analysis for the world

content for mobile terminals . This "revi-sion" of the Adobe Creative Suite also ledto a huge gain in performance, espe-cially for Mac users who benefit mostfrom the new Intel processors used byApple through a direct method of execu-tion instead of 'Emulation, due for pre-vious versions to the use of lines of codecreated for Apple processors. Moreover,Adobe has done a great job of homoge-nization, for all software, including thosewho were already in the Creative Suite 2,including to propose a similar interfaceespecially for software from the acquisi-tion as Macromedia Flash, which wasdeemed to have an interface separately.Adobe has also worked for the establish-ment of a cross-reference format of eachof its software. The native Photoshop for-mat (. Psd) is now supported in Flash, Fi-reworks and Dreamweaver and thelaunch of Device Central, which creates.

Software

Creative suite CS4

Software38

Photoshop CS4

Photoshop Creative Suite is most widelyused application: Revolutionary featuresof painting and compositing 3D.Nowpaint directly on 3D models, dress 2Dimages of 3D forms, convert curvestransfer grading 3D objects, give inten-sity to layers and text, get exceptionalprint quality with the new rendering en-gine for raytracing and export your workin formats 3D currents.PanelMasks:Create and quickly correct yourmasks since the new panel masks. It of-fers all the tools needed to create masksand pixelated editable vector, to adjusttheir density and contour of their pro-gressive, selection of things not conti-guous, and so on.Preserve sharpnesswhen automatically optimized merging

layers perfectly colors and shades andthis extends to your depth of field, auto-matically correcting the vignetting anddistortion lens:Modification of propertiesand 3D objects .Enhance, brighteningand manipulate 3D images using a sim-plified interface without dialog boxes.Adjust the lighting, nets and materials.Orient objects and easily move the ca-mera with axes and a 3D projection ho-rizontal plane: Fluid rotation of theworking area.With a simple click, rotateyour work area and view your work in anon-destructive in terms desired - the for-gotten torticollis!ouplesse pan andzoom:Navigate easily to any part of theimage using new tools to zoom and panultra-flexible.

pixel and operate easily touch the zoomfactor is greater with the new grid ofpixels. Scale adapted content: Use therevolutionary new function to scale intel-ligently to automatically redial a pictureas you resize, preserving the essentialparts. Get away from a perfect image,without expanding operations croppingand editing.Display Options files:Handlemultiple files easily opened with the pre-sentation by the tab or for multiple docu-ments.pixel and operate easily touch thezoom factor is greater with the new gridof pixels. Scale adapted content: Use therevolutionary new function to scale intel-ligently to automatically redial a pictureas you resize, preserving the essentialparts. Get away from a perfect opera-tions cropping and editing.

Software 39

Explore new avenues with vector dra-wing tool par excellencen-Work Plansmultiple: Create files containing up to100 work plans of various sizes, whichcan be stacked, juxtaposed or superim-posed. You can also save, export andprint them separately or together. Fi-nally, you can save all or part of themas a PDF file of several pages.-Transpa-rency gradients: Set the opacity of diffe-rent colors of a gradient. Reveal theobjects and images underlying layersand use, break and melted to createrich mixtures of textures and colors.-Changes in appearance in one panel:Change the characteristics of an objectdirectly in the Appearance control paneland avoid opening the signs of subs-tance, or contour effects.

and display control to speed up rende-ring. Shape tool-spot: Use a brush thatproduces a perfect vector, even if thetraits overlap. Draw as on paper usingthe tools Form spot, and Rounding gum.-Graduated: Speaking on the degradeddirectly at the object. Set the angle of thegradient, its position and size elliptical.Add and change colors to the aid of sli-ders, you immediately see the result.-In-tegration and dissemination .Overviewof separations: Avoid unpleasant sur-prises such as unexpected spot colors,missed the overlays, unwanted or whiteand black in the CMYK text files and im-ported. Elegant style graphics:Combinestyles to produce original effects andapply them without changing the appea-rance of an object.

humbnails and an extensive library ofpredefined styles.-Simpler masks clip-ping: Handle easily masks only viewingarea capped objects. Use the insulationand the Modify the mask for a Mastersaccrue predefined styles.

Software

Software40

Adobe Illustrator CS4

Upstream control dynamics:Perform aupstream as your creation. With thecontinuous control upstream, the poten-tial production problems are reported inreal time. You can quickly access the mis-take, correct it directly and continue yourwork.-customizable:Use this panel tosearch, sort and manage all the files im-ported from your document. Display keyattributes of your feed production such asscale, rotation and resolution.-Export toAdobe Flash CS4 Professional (XFL). Ex-port documents to the XFL format andthen open them in Adobe Flash CS4 Pro-fessional who faithfully keep the InDe-sign layout of origin. Use Flash to addinteractions, animations and navigationfeatures sophisticated models for a com-plex reading attractive. Cross-Refe-rences. Simplify writing, production andmanagement of long documents throughcross-references, both flexible

, which update automatically when thecontents of a document is changed ormoved. Milestones -commentés - Align,space, rotate and resize quickly one ormore objects with dynamic benchmarks.Thanks to the dynamic benchmarks, ob-ject dimensions, angles of rotation and xand y, you can quickly magnetize theedge of an object or its center horizontalor vertical on other objects in the layout.-Creating interactive documents with ex-port SWF files:Turn your layout dynamicSWF files without going through the des-ign environment of Adobe Flash ®.Create digital documents complete withinteractive buttons, hyperlinks andunique page transitions, to be read inAdobe Flash Player.Compass commen-ted :Align, space, rotate and resizequickly one or more objects with dyna-mic benchmarks. Thanks to the dynamicbenchmarks, object dimensions, angles

of rotation and x and y, you can quicklymagnetize the edge of an object or itscenter horizontal or vertical on other ob-jects in the layout. Display key attributesof your feed production such as scale,rotation and resolution.-Export to AdobeFlash CS4 Professional (XFL). Export do-cuments to the XFL format and then openthem in Adobe Flash CS4 Professionalwho faithfully keep the InDesign layoutof origin.Rotation of planche:Rotate temporarilyfor a plate without having to turn yourscreen and pull full editing features to 90and 180 degrees to include non-hori-zontal elements in your models.-Crea-ting interactive documents with exportSWF files:Turn your layout dynamic SWFfiles without going through the designenvironment of Adobe Flash ®.

Adobe Indesign CS4

Software 41

Animation-based objects: Exercise tightcontrol over the various attributes of ani-mation using the animation-based ob-jects, which can apply to objectsinterpolations, not keyframes. Easilychange movements with Bezier handles.Inverse kinematics with the tool SegmentCreate animation effects chain with a se-ries of related objects or misrepresentingquickly to a single tool Segment. 3Dtransformation: Animate 2D objects in3D space with new tools rotation andtranslation 3D, which can create anima-tions on the axes x, y and z. Apply localor global changes to any object. Proce-dural modeling tools decoration withbrush and spray.Turn any symbol instantdesign tool.

create kaleidoscope effects and use offunds with the tool Deco, spray or sym-bols at random from a defined areathrough the brush tool sprayer.Support for metadata (XMP): Add yourmetadata to SWF files from the newpanel XMP. Assign quickly tags to im-prove collaboration and content for mo-bile terminals.Presetting movement. Starta project quickly through the integratedanimations for any object. Choose froma dozen presets or create and save yourown animations. To save time, share pre-sets with your colleagues.Support for theH.264 standard: Encode the contents inany file format recognized by AdobeFlash Player with Adobe Media Encoder,a tool Adobe video software which now

Software

Flash CS4

Software42

etadata to SWF files from the new panelXMP. Assign quickly tags to improve col-laboration and content for mobile termi-nals.Presetting movement. Start a projectquickly through the integrated anima-tions for any object. Choose from

With the new Live View mode Dream-weaver CS4, you design web pages inreal navigation while maintaining directaccess to the code. The code changesare immediately visible on the screen.Indicators code frameworks for Ajax andJavaScript.Create more effective JavaS-cript code through better care of basicdata types and main JavaScript objects.Implement Civil extensive programmingDreamweaver CS4 incorporating currentJavaScript frameworks, including jQuery,Prototype and Spry.New User Interface:Anew common user interface allows youto work more quickly and efficiently inthe various components of Adobe Crea-tive Suite ® 4. Go quickly from one en-vironment to another work with the new

geover work area.Dynamic objectsAdobe PhotoshopYou can insert a docu-ment in Dreamweaver Photoshop PSD tocreate an image. The dynamic objectsare closely related to the source file. Youcan modify the source and update yourimage in Dreamweaver without openingPhotoshop.Subversion:You can updateyour site and save the changes directlyfrom Dreamweaver. Through its integra-tion with the Subversion software system,open source version management,Dreamweaver CS4 streamlines opera-tions archiving extraction.Methods advi-sed CSS:Apply methods advised CSSwithout writing any code. Create rules inthe CSS Properties panel and get clearindications on the as Display key .

Software 43

Dreamweaver CS4

The dynamic objects are closely relatedto the source file. You can modify thesource and update your image inDreamweaver without opening Photo-shop.Integration with Subversion:Youcan update your site and save thechanges directly from Dreamweaver.Through its integration with the Subver-sion software system, open source ver-sion sociation properties and styles.

Integration with Adobe ConnectNow:Gather client and creative in a meetingonline in real time with full screen sha-ring, all platforms combined in the coun-tries implementing the Adobe ConnectNow.

Create your prototype Adobe ® AIR ™directly in Adobe Fireworks ® and de-ploy instantly to the HTML and CSS,Adobe Flex ® or SWF. Easily convert yourmodel. Export-PDF: Generate, from yourcompositions Fireworks, PDF documentsprotected and faithful to the original fa-cilitating communication with customers.Protect your work password - passwordscan be assigned separate to the consul-tation and other tasks (print, copy or addcomments).Exporting CSS: Design yourfull web pages within a powerful graphi-cal environment and then, a simple click,export layout with CSS style sheets out-side. Integrate, in the foreground andbackground images, including new typesof installment.. Performance Tuned:

Gain speed and efficiency through opti-mized performance since the openingand saving files to intensive manipulationof bitmap and vector images throughupdating of symbols.Integration withAdobe Kuler:Fireworks go for the latestcolor themes of Adobe Kuler web service:test them and apply them to your webcreations. Design color harmonies foryour personal use or to be transferred toKuler.Typography-sophisticated: Sign ty-pographical creations of emergency withthe functions of composition engine op-timized text Adobe.Import or copy andpaste the double-byte characters from Il-lustrator (CS3 or CS4) and Photoshop(CS3 or CS4) without compromisingquality.

Software

Fire works CS4

Software44

spent the later days like a fugitive withthis word “Softimage”, it was like theholy sword that will empower me tocreate my creatures and will enforce thedisbelievers to bow to that little child vi-sions. By Softimage I will recreate myworlds. At the time Softimage was unk-nown and not available in Jordan, I star-ted investigating about computergraphics and someone told me that thereis a good software called Photoshop,with flicker speed I purchased a bookabout Photoshop, I read it three times (itwas hard at the beginning), then I startedlearning Illustrator, CorelDraw, Macro-media Flash, Premier to help me in mypresentations, After Effects, 3Ds Max,Maya, Digital Fusion,ZBrush, SoftimageXSI…etc, also learned script writing,screen play, storyboard….etc. Until nowI spend a lot of time, effort and moneyspent the later days like a fugitive with

Q. Can you tell our readerswhat’s the actual work of theArt Director and what qualifi-cation is necessary for this job?

Interview

Q. Could you tell us a bitabout yourself (age, location,country, and education in CG)and your background in CG?

My name is Yousef Ikhreis, I’m 30 yearsold, and I live and work in Amman, Jor-dan. I’ve been involved in the graphicdesign and animation industry for 10years; I now work as an Art Director inJAID Productions with 70 employees andthis is a subsidiary of ITG Solutions, oneof the leading companies in design, ani-mation and e-learning in the region. Iam self-taught artist, and this is my storyof how I got involved in thisbusiness:Going back to the beginningsof the eighties, when I was a child, I wasafraid to go to the bathroom alone andalways looking for my mom or wakingher up to be around with me, because Iused to see strange faces and creaturesin the corners, and was always very upsetwhen my mother and brothers would notbelieve me and stare at me with strangefaces with a hectic smile, sometimes Iwould run naked to get them to watchthem, pointing with my little fingers, butno one see….so they couldn’t believe.Later in 1995, when I was watching TVprograms with boredom feeling, movingfrom one channel to another I watchedthe last minutes of behind the scenesprogram, and they were talking aboutthe making of “Alien” character (H.R.Geiger) and while watching it with greatenthusiasm I kept telling myself (ha, youcan do that!! it’s easy, you are a grownup now to watch such things, you alwayssee these creatures,but don’t tellanyone…they will start joking on youagain), I waited for the next episode, andit was about “ Jurassic Park”where theymentioned “Softimage”, a word which

Yousef Ikhereis

Interview46

Actually, There are different Art Directingtypes, the actual work of the Art Directoris depending on the nature of the type;Printing Art Director, Multimedia Art Di-rector, Life Shot Art Director, e-learningArt Director, Architectural Art Director,games Art Director, Cartoon Art Direc-tor….etc. so every Art Directing type hasits own consistent workflow that is built toguarantee, achieve and reach the hi-ghest levels, and each workflow has itsown specialty such as; the targets, theproduction pipeline, the Soft tools, theHard tools, the resources… My responsi-bilities in JAID Productions are:Direct thedesign and production of graphics andanimations. Formulating concepts andsupervise workers engaged in executinglayout designs for art work and copy tobe presented by visual communicationsmedia. Review illustrative material andconfers with client regarding backgroundinformation, objectives, presentation ap-proaches, styles, techniques, and relatedproduction factors. Formulate basiclayout design concept and conduct re-search to select and secure suitable illus-trative material. Assign and direct staffmembers to develop design conceptsinto art. Review, approve, and presentfinal layouts for approval. Mentoring,training, career directing and performingevaluations for the Art teams. For the ArtDirector qualifications, I will consider hisphilosophy, personality, vision, creativity,educated and cultivated as the most im-portant qualifications. Those simple des-criptions will lead him to present the mostunique and innovative results, those arespiritual resources for the real talent,which will give him the ability to visualizethe ideas and visions

Q. What’s your comment onthe Autodesk acquires Soft-mage?

IMr. Marc Peti reflect that.6- Who canguarantee that Softimage will be down inthe near future?

Interview 47

ting this word ” Yesterday we had philo-sophers. Today we have directors”.

t was like a shock or bad Joke, and Iasked myself: for god sake why is thefate of Softimage to be dealt like that?(He) doesn’t deserve that …then after ac-cepting the fact, I thanked mygod...why?1- Crying can’t turn anythingback.2- No one can blame Autodesk be-cause they are a successful company 3-Autodesk is the most powerful companythat is able to understand and undertakeSoftimage.4- Autodesk has excellentknowledge and experience in the CG in-dustry. 5- Softimage has a solid historyand very powerful to compete so...Softi-mage will stay alive and healthy, becauseeverybody loves the power.

7- By looking at the last two versions ofMaya (Autodesk) we will notice very goodenhancements, such as the n cloths, nparticles, selection tools, UV folding, ani-mation layer, speed…, all of that shouldbe considered as a confident points. 8-As we remember, when Adobe acquiredMacromedia everybody thought that allMacromedia products will be distorted ormetamorphosed, on the contrary Flashhas great features with Action script 3,bones, Animation tracks…9- If you are awealthy rich man and start to bankrupt,and you have a Rolls-Royce car that youlove very very much, but you have to sellit, and you got two buyers, rich arro-gance man whoknows how to deal withsuch a car and strange man who has nolicense to drive, for whom will you sell thecar? Of course to the rich man becausewith him it will stay clean and live, I knowyou will feel that your pride is heart but

this is the fact. Facts are the strongestwords. 10- Hatred waves are increasingfor Autodesk, EA, Adobe, Microsoft... butthese things are always happening formthe beginning and changing naturally,look at ZBrush for example, they are theinnovative of Digital sculpting technique,and everybody thought that it will be do-minating on the digital modeling indus-try, but look around you now, newMudbox, Silo, Modo created their owndisplacements,… even Softimage orMaya after three or four releases will beable sculpt as we do in ZBrush, on theother hand for the last release of ZBrushit’s revealing their pure vision by workingthree steps ahead. Everything is chan-ging whether Autodesk or Adobe or anyelse, but now it will be faster.This is aNEW ERA, and I agree with Mr. Kim Da-vidson President and CEO of Side EffectsSoftware.

Interview48

Interview

There is an old say, describing the pro-blem is half the solution, everybody inthis industry knows that most of the was-ted time is lost in the management andthe project planning, the leftover time willbe divided to the production phases withkilling deadline, including the extra re-quests, and how hard to modify andchange the pipeline or the plan. My ser-vices is to present common languagebetween all sides and save the precioustime, all I need is a ful list of the projectrequirements, available infrastructureand resources, human skills, software,hardware resources…hen I start studyingthe project requirements and targets, re-searching, planning to produce the re-commended reasonable pipeline,recommendations for software based onthe project demands, deadlines for theproduction phases and more… alsogood knowledge in choosing the rightsoftware’s could affect positively on thepipeline, deadline,and performance,be-cause of the variation of the procedura-lism in the software’s workflow and thevariation in the strong features in thesesoftware’s.Someone could ask; what arethe differences in my services that otherstudios could not offer? When the man-ger loses one hour from the project timeit will be discounted from every leveldown, my pipeline is to built and basethe pipeline from down up of the pyra-mid, on the contrary of other pipelinesthis will afford more time for allquality,and less stress. Thank you for thischance to talk with you and Good luckfor all.

Q. You provide lots of services to theclients and one of these is “Pipelinesand Software Consulting”,please tellus in detail what exactly is this andhow much this service is in demand?

Interview50

Interview

Gallery

The Arabic world has always apprecia-ted art in all its forms and in recentmonths there has been a resurgence ofinterest in contemporary art, not only inDubai, but across the region. This, I be-lieve, is due in part to the growing reco-gnition of some excellent artists that wehave among us as well as the awarenessgenerated amongst the art-loving publicthrough visiting art galleries as well asthe efforts of the Dubai International Fi-nancial Centre through initiatives such asArt Dubai and its own collection. Sincethe inception of the DIFC in late 2004,we have had a clear desire to promotethe arts of the region in theregion andthe world. As DIFC bridges the East andthe West and serves as the gateway tothe financial world to people in forty-twocountries, we additionally aim to be thegateway for art. Selected from over 300applications, the participating galleries ,

Art Dubai, a DIFC subsidiary, has beenvery successful. The DIFC has a signifi-cant art collection of its own, and haslong considered the collection, displayand promotion of regional and contem-porary art as integral to our vision. Wefirmly believe that Dubai can become atruly global centre for art and that theDIFC can play an integral role in thatprocess. Indeed. The DIFC art strategy isto establish itself as both an internationaland regional presence collecting, dis-playing and promoting artists from thisregion and across the world.Art Dubai isvery important to us. It is an expression ofthe cultural philosophy of the DIFC andas such is themed to promote Dubai andthe DIFC in all its aspects as a hub for arta meeting point of the Occident and theOrient. Selected from over 300 applica-tions, the participating. Of the arts gal-leries were chosen by an international

The honorary Patron of Art Dubai HisHighness Sheikh Mohammed Bin RashidAl Maktoum ,Vice President and PrimeMinister of UAE, Rule of Dubai. Visitingthe art fair in March 2007 with JohnMartin Fair Director.

Art Dubai was the first internationalcontemporary event Art fair in the Mid-dle East.

Event Art Dubai

Introductory starements

Gallery52

As the DIFC brings together and pro-motes financial union across the globe,Art Dubai and other art initiatives ofDIFC aim to promote cultural understan-ding through art. Art is an internationallanguage that appeals equally to diversepeople. Art Dubai is not just a display ofart pieces that is held for a couple ofdays once a year. It is an on-going pro-cess that takes place throughout the yearin an ever-expanding cycle. For exam-ple, the planning of the next event be-gins right after the current one is over.That includes a marketing and promo-tional campaign which aims to introducethe public to Art Dubai and what is newin it. What art means and what is avai-lable in the market and who is new andwhich work is in demand. It also high-lights trends and fashions increasing thevisibility of both local and regional art.Works bought at Art Dubai or as a result

local and regional art. Works bought atArt Dubai or as a result of it benefit thebuyers who may have acquired works ofart forpleasure or as an investment.Du-ring the inaugural Gulf Art Fair, we recei-ved 9,000 visitors over the three days itran. We are pleased that some1,500 ofthem came from overseas.We had worksfrom 41 galleries and collective sales du-ring the event had stood at US $9-11million, a significant figure for a first-timeevent of its kind in the Arab World. ArtDubai 2008 is already double the sizewith seventy international galleriesconfirming participation. We are payingspecial attention to the galleries and ar-tists from the region, South and CentralAsia and the Far East to ensure tha thistruly global event serves as an importantshowcase for contemporary art to theworld.local and regional art. Worksbought at Art Dubai .

The gallery sources the most unique andcaptivating Australian artworks fromacross the vast landscape, includingcontemporary oil painted landscapes,ex-pressionistic portraits and intriguing pho-tographic compositions.In recent yearsIndigenous art has grown in popularityin Australia and is gaining recognitionworldwide in Europe, America and Asia.

Gallery 53

Gallery

Taking place from March 19-21 2009,over 65 carefully selected galleries willgather in the beach resort of Madinat Ju-meirah for the third edition of Art Dubai.Emphasis will be placed on galleries re-presenting artists from the Middle East,South and Central Asia and the Far East,showing along side established artistsfrom the West. The participating gallerieswere chosen by an international selectioncommittee that considered the merits ofeach individual exhibition proposal tocreate an innovative and diverse event,appealing to new and experienced col-lectors alike.“The quality and strength ofthe applications from galleries round theworld offers continued proof of the gro-wing importance of Dubai as a new artmarket centre.” said John Martin, Co-founder and Director of Art Dubai. “In aneconomic downturn, the best galleriesstill require a global presence and musttake advantage of the opportunities thatArt Dubai offers them to engage with thechanging face of the regional and inter-national collecting community.” Accom-panied by the Abraaj Capital Art Prizethe critically acclaimed Global Art Forumas well as a comprehensive programmeof projects, films, performance, eventsand tours, Art Dubai provides visitors anunrivalled vantage point onto the shiftingglobal art scene.” said Martin. “The qua-lity of the event and the tightly selectedgroup of galleries reaffirms Dubai’s re-putation as one of the most in the world,”An exclusive selection of more than 60 ofthe world’s leading contemporary galle-ries from more than 30 countries will ga-ther in Dubai next March for the thirdinstallment of the Art Dubai 2009contemporary art fair.

Participating Gallery

Leading contemporary Gallery to go to Art for the third edition

Gallery54

Trends in the Art Dubai 2009 gallery se-lection include: Over a third of the galle-ries are returning to Art Dubai in 2009,including , Bodhi Art (Mumbai), WhiteCube (London) and The Third Line(Dubai). Galleries new to Art Dubai 09include BREENSPACE (Sydney), AlmineRech Gallery (Brussels), Galerie Emma-nuel Perrotin (Paris), Max Protetch, (NewYork), Fredric Snitzer Gallery (Miami)Goff + Rosenthal (New York) and Ele-menta. A strong selection of US and Eu-ropean galleries pioneering exhibitionsof Middle Eastern and Asian aritists in-clude Albion, BISCHOFF/WEISS, Rossi &Rossi, Green Cardamom, Aicon Gallery,Bitforms Gallery, Goff + Rosenthal, FreyNorris Gallery and Salon 94. Mongst theinternational participants there is strongpresence of the most important galleriesfrom the Middle East, North Africa andSouth Asia (MENASA), Tunisia region.

Located beside the beach at the stunningMadinat Jume iand Silk Road Gallery(Tehran)rah resort, Art Dubai presents aunique opportunity for international andregional art lovers to experience the vi-brancy of the region’s thriving culturalscene. Quotes from participating galle-ries about Art Dubai: “Being a contem-porary art gallery from India, Dubai isclose enough to be a hub for marketsaround the area. As the fair has gainedsignificant status from the moment it wasconceived, it has become relevant forgalleries from within India to be part of .. . In order to develop the growing inte-rest of persons from the Middle East aswell as expat Arabs in Indian contempo-rary art, our participation at Art Dubaigained particular significance. It’s awonderful platform to reach collectorsand curators from the Middle East. Thefair is meticulously managed”.

A These galleries include: Agial Art Gal-lery, Galerie Janine Rubeiz, Sfeir-Semler(Beirut), Anant Art Gallery (New Delhi),Atassi Gallery (Damascus), B21, TheThird Line, Elementa (Dubai), Bodhi,Chemould Prescott Road, Project 88,Sakshi Gallery (Mumbai), Dirimart, Ga-leri Artist (Istanbul), Galerie El Marsa (LaMarsa, Tunisia), Art Dubai is helping fos-ter the UAE’s reputation as a meetingplace for the international art world. Inthe last two years, the art fair has witnes-sed robust growth in thenumber of artcollectors, artists, dealers, curators, criticsand art enthusiasts Selected from over300 applications, the participating galle-ries were chosen by an international se-lection committee . With the added ofthe newly opened Museum Art Dubai isseeking more than 5000 visitors fromoverseas, doubling the number of inter-national visitors from Art Dubai 2008.

Gallery 55

Gallery

DUBAI.- Taking place from March 19-21

2009, over 65 carefully selected galleries

will gather in the beach resort of Madinat

Jumeirah for the third edition of Art Dubai.

Emphasis will be placed on galleries repre-

senting artists from the Middle East, South

and Central Asia and the Far East, showing

along side established artists from the West.

Selected from over 300 applications, the

participating galleries were chosen by an

international selection committee that consi-

dered the merits of each individual exhibi-

tion proposal to create an innovative and

diverse event, appealing to new and expe-

rienced collectors alike.“The quality and

strength of the applications from galleries

round the world offers continued proof of

the growing importance of Dubai as a new

art market centre.” said John Martin, Co-

founder and Director of Art Dubai. “In an

economic downturn, the best galleries still

require a global presence and must take ad-

vantage of the opportunities that Art Dubai

offers them to engage with the changing

face of the regional and international col-

lecting community.” Accompanied by the

Abraaj Capital Art Prize the critically acclai-

med Global Art Forum as well as a com-

prehensive programme of projects, films,

performance, events and tours, Art Dubai

provides visitors an unrivalled vantage point

onto the shifting global art scene.” said

Martin. “The quality of the event and the

tightly selected group of galleries reaffirms

Dubai’s reputation as one of the most exci-

ting and stimulating new centers for art in

the world,” he added. An exclusive selec-

tion of more than 60 of the world’s leading

contemporary galleries from more than 30

countries will gather in Dubai next March

for the third installment of the Art Dubai

2009 contemporary art fair.

Participating Gallery

Leading contemporary Gallery to go to Art for the third edition

Gallery56

Trends in the Art Dubai 2009 gallery selec-

tion include: Over a third of the galleries are

returning to Art Dubai in 2009, including

Galerie Krinzinger (Vienna), Bodhi Art

(Mumbai), White Cube (London) and The

Third Line (Dubai). Galleries new to Art

Dubai 09 include BREENSPACE (Sydney),

Almine Rech Gallery (Brussels), Galerie Em-

manuel Perrotin (Paris), Max Protetch, (New

York), Fredric Snitzer Gallery (Miami) Goff

+ Rosenthal (New York) and Elementa

(Dubai). A strong selection of US and Euro-

pean galleries pioneering exhibitions of

Middle Eastern and Asian aritists include Al-

bion, BISCHOFF/WEISS, Rossi & Rossi,

Green Cardamom, Aicon Gallery, Bitforms

Gallery, Goff + Rosenthal, Frey Norris Gal-

lery and Salon 94. mongst the international

participants there is strong presence of the

most important galleries from the Middle

East, North Africa and South Asia (ME-

NASA) region.

Located beside the beach at the stunning

Madinat Jume iand Silk Road Gallery (Teh-

ran)rah resort, Art Dubai presents a unique

opportunity for international and regional

art lovers to experience the vibrancy of the

region’s thriving cultural scene. Quotes from

participating galleries about Art Dubai:

“Being a contemporary art gallery from

India, Dubai is close enough to be a hub

for markets around the area. As the fair has

gained significant status from the moment it

was conceived, it has become relevant for

galleries from within India to be part of . .

. In order to develop the growing interest of

persons from the Middle East as well as

expat Arabs in Indian contemporary art, our

participation at Art Dubai gained particular

significance.” - Chemould Prescott Road.“It’s

a wonderful platform to reach collectors

and curators from the Middle East. The fair

is meticulously managed”. - Galerie Kashya

Hildebrand.

AThese galleries include: Agial Art Gal-

lery, Galerie Janine Rubeiz, Sfeir-Semler

(Beirut), Anant Art Gallery (New Delhi),

Atassi Gallery (Damascus), B21, The Third

Line, Elementa (Dubai), Bodhi, Chemould

Prescott Road, Project 88, Sakshi Gallery

(Mumbai), Dirimart, Galeri Artist (Istanbul),

Galerie El Marsa (La Marsa, Tunisia), Art

Dubai is helping foster the UAE’s reputa-

tion as a meeting place for the internatio-

nal art world. In the last two years, the art

fair has witnessed robust growth in thenum-

ber of art collectors, artists, dealers, cura-

tors, critics and art enthusiasts from around

the world visiting the event. With the

added benefit of the newly opened Mu-

seum of Islamic Art in Doha and coinci-

ding for the first time with the Sharjah

Biennial, Art Dubai is seeking to attract

.more than 5000 visitors from overseas,

doubling the number of international visi-

tors from Art Dubai 2008.

Gallery 57

Gallery

Trends in the Art Dubai 2009 gallery. Ta-

king place from March 19-21 2009, over

65 carefully selected galleries will gather

in the beach resort of Madinat Jumeirah

for the third edition of Art Dubai 2009.

Emphasis will be placed on galleries re-

presenting artists from the Middle East,

South and Central Asia and the Far East,

showing along side established artists

from the West. Selected from over 300

applications, the participating galleries

were chosen by an international selection

committee that considered the merits of

each individual exhibition proposal to

create an innovative and diverse event,

appealing to new and experienced col-

lectors alike.“The quality and strength of

the applications from galleries round the

world offers continued proof of the gro-

wing importance of Dubai as a new art

market centre.” said John Martin, Co-

founder and Director of Art Dubai. “In an

economic downturn, the best galleries still

require a global presence and must take

advantage of the opportunities that Art

Dubai offers them to engage with the

changing face of the regional and inter-

national collecting community.”Trends in

the Art Dubai 2009 gallery selection in-

clude .Art Dubai is helping foster the

UAE’s reputation as a meeting place for

the international art world. In the last two

years, the art fair has witnessed robust

growth in the number of art collectors, ar-

tists, dealers, curators, critics and art en-

thusiasts from around the world visiting

the event.The added benefit of the newly

opened Museum of Islamic Art in Doha

and coinciding for the first time with the

Sharjah Biennial, Art Dubai is seeking to

attract more than 5000 visitors, doubling

from Art Dubai 2008.

Gallery58

The third edition of Art Dubai

Professional advice

As a designer everyone has experienced a point where they just can no longer think of anything worth while. It’s in these situations

when you have to reevaluate your perception of what works and what doesn’t. Use the following 20 tips to avoid and get through

a tough designer's block.

Almost all graphic designers have a ca-

mera with them, so why not use it? Can’t

find that perfect texture or color That’s

fine, go out and take a picture of what

you need. You may find inspiration in a

very uncommon place. Be sure to take

plenty of pictures, not just a few, then re-

turn to your office and review them to re-

call special feelings or smells from those

memories.

Sometimes all it takes is a friend to say

something worthwhile. Call your friend(s)

and discuss past events to help you recall

something enjoyable, being in the right

set of mind is what it’s all about, and

friends bring you out of the “working

mode” and into a much more pleasant

frame of mind. Remember not to call them

and interrupt them when they are at work

as it may work the opposite way in that

case.Read and Get Inspiration.

From Graphic Design Books ,There

are a ton of books out there that were

made just for people that have des-

igner’s block. The authors of most of

these books have compiled huge

amounts of graphi design work into

one comprehensive picture book.

These are often sorted to help you

find a specific idea or theme. Just

don’t underestimate the power of any

ole' books,even novels, comic books,

Most tutorials are out there for people

who want to learn about design, layout,

graphics and illustration software, but for

graphic designers it can also be used to

brush up on old techniques or to see the

newest trends. These sites also often

contain links to sam

ples of how the tutorial was used in

context of an actual design piece. With

the latest design suites, it’s often impossi-

ble to learn every new feature of a new

software and these tutorials can also help

show you what it new and useful with a

software update. Here is a huge list of Tu-

torial Sites.

20 Ways to avoid creative block

1. Take Photography

2.Call a friend

3 . Flip through Design books

4. Read Tutorials

5. Visit inspirational websites

and short stories can also help get

you out of slump. Here is a great list

of graphic design books.

It’s almost a given that you know about a

whole range of inspirational sites that you

frequent for ideas. However, going into

these sites is almost a guaranteed way to

break a difficult graphic designer’s block.

Professional advice60

Laughter is truly the best medicine. Whe-

therit is within a group or by yourself,

laughter will help relax you and has been

thought to stimulate current parts of the

brain that control a person’s artistic and

cognitive abilities. Use this fact to your

advantage and don’t be afraid to really

let it out. A few chuckles is good, but a

real good “knee-slapping” laugh is even

All graphic designers doodle as it’s a

habit that you have probably been doing

since you were in school instead of liste-

ning to your teachers. Doodling can often

help you focus and think freely. Instead of

trying to create something with a pur-

pose, you simply let your mind create so-

mething. Forcing creativity can often

drain a graphic designer quickly of any

good ideas they might have had. Some-

times it is just better to just let everything

go and draw freely.

Music is food for the soul, and also a gra-

phic designer’s mind. You may find that

listening to certain types of music may

cause you to design a certain way, whe-

ther it be hard rock to create a grunge

design, or acoustic jam for those soft ele-

gant designs. Use the mental “flow” you

get from music to your advantage and it

will set up your entire session. Something

even better is if you are a musician, step

away and play some music. All the same

rules apply except that it sparks a creative

part of your brain and will help get rid of

that nasty designer's block.

Being on the computer all day long, every-

day, can be excruciating. Don’t let it hap-

pen to you. Instead, find a hobby that has

absolutely nothing to do with graphic des-

ign or being creative or artistic. Hobbies

such as fishing, camping, collecting, bil-

liards, chess, or working out are great ways

to relax your mind. Trying to be creative all

day is too stressful and you will quickly burn-

out as you need a way to completely step

away sometimes.

Also, don’t go to the same inspirational

sites all the time, but instead try to find

new ones, as the process alone could

spark the idea of what you were looking

for. Here is a great list of 180+ of the top

sites that list inspirational designs.

The key to staying sharp and up to date

is to frequently produce art for just your-

self. Practicing is really the key to perfec-

tion. Not only will you become more

proficient with design software, but you

will also come across new ways to do the

same thing, in turn creating something en-

tirely new and unique. Use these personal

projects in your office to recreate those

techniques for a client.

Not everyone will be able to do this as

many of the readers of this article are

freelancers. But if you are in an office en-

vironment, speak to colleagues when time

permits and if they’re not busy. Often you

can have small quick brainstorming ses-

sions that may help you to open your

mind to a new focus. Colleagues can also

help to relieve a lot of tension and stress

built of from not being able to think about

new designs ideas. If you don't work in

6. Create Art for personal use

7.Speak with colleagues

8. Watch a funny movie orvideo

9.Doodle in a sketch-book

10.Listen to music

11.Find a separate hobby

an office environment, you probably have

online peers who are also designers.

Chat, skype, or email them to ask for help

or to just talk.

61Professional advice

Language is within a different part of the

mind that thinks about words so you can

work them hard and it will still let your

design muscles rest. This is a way to get

rid of designer’s block and plays very ni-

cely into the next method.n your quest to

write an amazing piece of literature, you

may find that you lack a correct way to

say something. When this happens, you

should use a thesaurus.

I Finding related words will often help you

look at the same thing with a different

spin, and finding antonyms can help you

narrow your ideas. Maybe buy a “word-

a-day” calenda. This is a great way to

keep your vocabulary fresh and they are

also pretty good conversational pieces.

If weather permits, go out to your car, roll

down the windows (or sunroof), and just

take a cruise around the countryside or

within the heart of the city. Just try to drive

somewhere you don’t normally go, find

new back roads, or get lost somewhere.

Listen to some music while you are driving

as well, it’s a win-win situation really, but

just make sure you don’t get too lost,

you’ll eventually have to come back to the

office.

16.Visit the local coffee shop

14.Look up synonyms or anto-nym

15.Go for a drive

13.Write poetry or prose

17.Work in puzzle books

Probably the most widely used method of

trying to get rid of designer’s block is to

just to take a quick stroll outside. The pro-

blem lies within us. Most graphic des-

igners step outside expecting ideas to

come out of them. In other words, by

doing that, you are not taking a break.

Just step outside, smells some fresh air, lis-

ten to the birds, and enjoy the feeling of

just being with nature. Ignore everything

except what you can see, smellor hear.

Then you can step back into your office

and feel refreshed..

and sounds to help sketch out ideas for

your design and you will find that you

can think better if you are not really trying

to think at all. In addi tion to all of that

the caffeine you are drinking, you should

focus your mind on a particlar thought.

Just don’t drink caffeine in excess as it

can lead to addiction with many nasty

side-effects..

12.Take a step outside

Often as a graphic designer you run

across an idea or phrase that gets stuck

in your head. Use that, write a short

poem about it. Flex those verbal muscles.

Yes, that means Starbucks too. Coffee has

caffeine and as most people know, caf-

feine can help stimulate the brain (when

used in small quantities). However, don’t

sit inside the coffee shop, but rather sitout-

side and enjoy the weather and bring a

pencil and paper as well. Use the sights

These little workbooks are great andusing them will increase your focusand help you process thoughts andideas more effeciently. Solving pro-blems is the job of a graphic des-igner and anything you can use tohelp with your problem-solving abili-ties is a must. There are also puzzlebooks that will help with proof-rea

Professional advice62

Professional advice

Remember this, if you are going to try

any of these techniques, do not perform

them expecting positive results every time.

The trick is to really let your mind wander

in different directions, because if you are

trying too hard to be creative, then it will

never work. If you have any suggestions

or additions to these, please feel free to

leave a comment and I will try and put it

in the article. Here is another article

about The Best Ways That Graphic Des-

igners Can Overcome Their Creative

Block.

fworking in an ergonomic environment.

Try not to sit too far away, above, or

below your keyboard and monitor, make

sure your monitor has the correct refresh

rates and resolution, your chair should

have proper lumbar support as well as

plenty of cushion, and have lighting other

than flourescent bulbs.

18. Sleep on it

19. Look for interesting newfonts

20.Straighten up your office

ding and error-checking as graphicdesigners need to have the ability tocheck over their own work and noticesmall differences with shapes and co-lors.

Sleeping does many things, such as in-

creases energy, enhances focus, and

helps memorization (just to name a few).It

helps graphic designers by allowing them

to think about something without actually

thinking about it. Most of the time, co-

ming back to a design layout the next

morning is the best way to look at some-

thing with fresh eyes. You will also find

that you can judge your work much better

with a fresh look at your design. It will also

help you determine if it still portrays the mes-

sage the way that you had wanted it to.

Naps are also another way. Eat while you

are working and use your lunchtime to take

a nap in the car. You will find that this helps

boost your creativity a noticeable amount.

Fonts spark ideas for layouts and some-

times designers actually base an entire-

design on a font that they have found.

Also, most really creative fonts include

design elements within the lettering and

ligature that can be used in an entire

layout as shapes and backgrounds. make

sure sure you have a good font manage-

ment program as well as your font collec-

tion can get pretty big. Here is a

humongous list of free font sites.

Finding fonts is a pretty fun thing for gra-

phic designers as it creates this sense of

“What can I use this for?” in their mind.

Having a clean environment is very

conducive to your creativity. Clutter across

a desk is the same as cluttering your

thoughts. Organize your desk and your

mind, file away old projects, put together

doodles into one older, keep hard-copies

of all work on the wall or desk, and just

get comfortable. Which brings up ano-

ther point ...

63Professional advice

Books

The book collects examples of recent in-

novative and groundbreaking design

work that is inspired by the richness of the

region’s visual culture. In addition to a

wide range of Arabic fonts and type-

faces, it presents graphic design, modern

calligraphy, logos and illustration by ar-

tists from Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the

United Arab Emirates and Lebanon. Des-

pite their rich tradition of calligraphy, the

Arab World and Persia are not known for

their contemporary graphic design, illus-

tration and typography. Especially now,

it’s worth taking a look at the region’s

creativity. Young designers are just begin-

ning to chart their own compelling course

between local visual convention and a

modern, international style. Arabesque in-

vestigates the creative potential of the

Arab World and Iran. This book features

examples of recent innovative and

groundbreaking design work that is ins-

pired by the richness of the region’s visual

culture. Given the important role of calli-

graphy in the Middle East, Arabesque fo-

cuses on typography. The book presents

a wide range of modern Arabic fonts and

typefaces; these are accompanied by a

rich selection of applications. Further

examples of design and graffiti serve as

powerful demonstrations of how text can

be used illustratively. This work is particu-

larly relevant to those now creating street

art and poster design. Regardless of the

location and ancestry of their creators, all

of the examples included in Arabesque

combine modern design with the traditio-

nal, letter-based canon of Arab forms in

striking ways. Supplemental texts des-

cribe the environments in which the fea-

tured designers and artists work.The

Arabic inspired Latin type.

Books64

The typographic landscapes of the arab world

Arabesque investigates the current creative potential of the Arab World

Books

Tarek Atrissi’s will present a research onaesthetic trends and design conventionsin the Arab world, through the analysis ofselected current practices in Arabic typedesign, corporate identities, and contem-porary graphic design.The perception ofthe Arab visual culture, within the Arabworld itself , in the western world, will bediscussed in relation to the challengesfaced by designers nowadays. Somecase studies will be used to show the ty-pographic landscape across the Arabworld though presenting various designprojects such as the book entitled "VisualNarratives from Arabia" and compiled byHuda AbiFarèsi, as well as the latest pro-jects developed by Tarek Atrissi Design,which hold significant cross cultural chal-lenges.

Images from book 'Visual Narratives from

Arabia'. Collage by Tarek Atrissi.

Visual narratives from Arabia by Tarek Atrissi

Books66

each other in the context of the cultural

wealth in the Arab world. The graphically

rich book - designed by Tarek Atrissi Des-

ign- contains a selection of some of the

most inspiring projects developed by the

students in the three online courses: Intro-

duction to Art and New Media in the

Arab States (by Ricardo Mbarkho); Ara-

bic typography and design culture (by

Huda Abifares) and Typographic Land-

scape in the Arab World (by Tarek

Atrissi).A digital version of the book is

available for download at Tarek Atrissi

Design’s website on the following link.

Design educators can contact us directly

to request a copy of the book.

Preview from the inside spreads of the

book “Visual Narratives from Arabia” by

Tarek Atrissi and Huda AbiFares, Publi-

shed by Unesco in 2008.

ublished by Unesco and co-authored by

Tarek Atrissi and Huda Abifares, “Visual

Narratives from Arabia” is a publication

that documents the first Online master

module in Design and technology orga-

nized by Unesco, in which a selected

group of design students from across the

Arab world participated. Long after the

course finished, the work on the book that

summarizes the experience of the pilot

program and showcases the work deve-

loped by the students was completed,

and the publication was printed and it is

available of arabic design and communi-

cation.The master module on Arts, Design

and Technology for the Arab states was

an experimental educational program

with the objective to explore possibilities

of having a new kind of multi-disciplinary

educational The aim was to bring toge-

ther students with different kind of exper-

tise to study together and to learn from

each other in the context of the cultural

wealth in the Arab world. The graphically

rich book - designed by Tarek Atrissi Des-

ign- contains a selection of some of the

most inspiring projects developed by the

students in the three online courses: Intro-

duction to Art and New Media in the

Arab States (by Ricardo Mbarkho); Ara-

bic typography and design culture (by

Huda Abifares) and Typographic Land-

scape in the Arab World (by Tarek

Atrissi).A digital version of the book is

available for download at Tarek Atrissi

Design’s website on the following link.

Design educators can contact us directly

to request a copy of the book.each other

in the context of the cultural wealth in the

Arab world. The graphically rich book -

designed by Tarek Atrissi Design-

contains a selection of some of the most

inspiring projects developed by the stu-

dents in the three online courses: Introduc

Books 67

each other in the context of the cultural

wealth in the Arab world. The graphically

rich book - designed by Tarek Atrissi Des-

ign- contains a selection of some of the

most inspiring projects developed by the

students in the three online courses: Intro-

duction to Art and New Media in the

Arab States (by Ricardo Mbarkho); Ara-

bic typography and design culture (by

Huda Abifares) and Typographic Land-

scape in the Arab World (by Tarek

Atrissi).A digital version of the book is

available for download at Tarek Atrissi

Design’s website on the following link.

Design educators can contact us directly

to request a copy of the book.