Feature: Modern Design in the GCC — Part 2
In part 1 of this feature we discussed Interstate’s introduction to the region, global nature as an agency, the globalisation of the design industry and Western approaches to design.
Part 2 digs deeper into the regional context, contextualises some of the pitfalls of stereotypical design and offers advice to those aspiring to absorb and work with the rich culture of design in the Middle East.
Part 2: Design in practice & the future
Q Could you discuss the design industry, social and economic evolution in the time Interstate has been active in the region?
Ahmed: I can confidently say that we have a real design industry in Bahrain now, because you’ve now got the supply side of talent and you’ve got the commercial side, and you have a cultural development side.
So, design is becoming part of the culture and it’s evolving all the time. You’ve got entities, institutions, whether that’s government or non-government entities celebrating and endorsing better design, and focusing on the artistic identity. You’ve got art institutions that don’t only look at art, they look at design as well. You’ve got design weeks everywhere. They are not necessarily doing what you would expect them to do in many areas and they’re good!
You’ve got AMMAN Design Week which is great. You’ve got Dubai Design Week, The Dubai Design Institute (DIDI). You’ve got Saudi Design Week which has done an amazing job. And the MISK Art Institute which focuses on promoting Saudi art and design internationally.
These economies and countries in the region are now committing to design as part of this knowledge based economy and exchange economy.
Nigel: I think it’s the change in clients’ attitudes that we’re seeing as well. I think there has been a much greater approval for the use of Arabic more recently because it’s unique and cool.
In the last 10 years Arabic culture has gone through incredible changes in perception, with big ups and downs, and I think it was a threat for us as Western designers. We were simply not knowledgeable enough and trying to just think of reading letterforms from right to left instead of left to right was quite an issue.
But, now you’ve got Saudi businesses buying football teams over here, so people in the street are seeing positive influences all around them. Businesses, art, tourism have opened up a better understanding of the Arabic culture. Not to mention the influence on the global ‘ink’ market. Arabic type tattoos are a big hit. So, the recognition of Arabic design and Arabic type is much more prolific now globally.
“Not to mention the influence on the global ‘ink’ market. Arabic type tattoos are a big hit”
Ahmed: Yes it’s true, Arabic type has always been associated with political, geopolitical and social movements. And it’s the case with every language, that politics has influenced design, regardless of whether this is Arabic or not. But taking the Arabic language specifically which has historically been tied to a certain culture, and a certain stereotype, this has now evolved. I think we’ve developed a better communication bridge with the international market in that sense.
Nigel: I mean, some of the best Arabic designers, the best Arabic typographers that I know, my goodness, I wouldn’t know where to start with some of the conversations with them. Because they start to get into why a certain typeface is correct and why you’ve used it in that manner. It quickly moves on to a discussion about geopolitics. It quickly moves on to regional variations.
Ahmed: Yes. it is ingrained in the culture. Politics is ingrained in the culture.
“taking the Arabic language specifically which has historically been tied to a certain culture, and a certain stereotype, this has now evolved. I think we’ve developed a better communication bridge with the international market in that sense.”
Q Breaking the stereotypes of ‘Arabic design’ — what are the common pitfalls that need to be avoided?
Nigel: You’ve got to gain insight. You’ve got to gain as much information as you possibly can and I think you’ve got to take a lot of care. What a lot of designers and calligraphers call “Aladdin arabesque” needs to be avoided, there are lots of potential pitfalls.
Since you want to do the best job you possibly can, you need the tools. And the key tool is knowledge. In most instances, the guys in London working on European projects, UK projects, they have a basis of knowledge already. But with a GCC project, you need a concerted effort to go and acquire it. You’ve really got to want to grasp it.
It doesn’t matter who you’re designing for or what country you’re designing for, there are a myriad of cliches and references that you have to be aware of. So it is ultimately about gaining as much information as you possibly can.
Ahmed: Get connected to the real culture around! I think that’s what Nigel is very good at. When he comes to Bahrain he doesn’t only go to museums, he is actually interacting with the real street culture, with the shops you see on the street, eating local, just the typical things you would do to learn about the culture beyond books and museums.
Nigel: I must admit, if we were asked to do something for Syria or Iraq or Iran, then although we’ve got a pretty good head start, we would have lots of work to do to understand the nuances of the culture. But, what I am confident of is that we can work with any culture adeptly because we have the skills and the tools to gain the insight politically, culturally,and socially.
“Since you want to do the best job you possibly can, you need the tools. And the key tool is knowledge.”
Q Can you talk to us about the tech industry advancements in Bahrain specifically — as the Arabic home to AWS and fintech bay, how have these driven growth in the digital industries and how is this linked to design?
Ahmed: In Bahrain we’re now looking at other global nations, we’re trying to move to the post-oil economy, and are putting all our efforts and resources into moving towards economic diversification.
So, I think this started with looking at financial sectors, probably if we were having this conversation 10 years ago, we would have been talking about banking. Today with the changes in the global economy, digitization and technology, the shift for nearly every country is to look at the tech industry as a source of economic growth and diversification.
In Bahrain we’re trying to focus specifically on FinTech, given our legacy and history with the financial sector and our regulatory environment. Finance as a sector flourished after the War with Lebanon in 1975, so you can see how politics plays a different role here in changing the economic structure of our society. If you look at Dubai, Dubai flourished after 911, because everybody started to bring back their investments to the region. So there are always different factors affecting the development of these economies. With the crises happening today with oil and health, there will be a different structure in the future. And technology will likely be the key sector of growth, because the nature of the industry itself is service based.
And of course, with these knowledge-based sectors, you have other ancillary services that come with them, for example design requirements as part of technology, whether that’s the UI UX, whether it’s actually design and defining the products. So I think when we talk about technology, or fintech we are, by default, talking about design.
Q Technology plays a huge part in design now, there has been the ongoing argument that it has dulled the ‘raw’ talent and approach to creativity. In the Middle East, there is a much greater sense of craftsmanship — how do you see this playing out as an integral component of the creative process?
Ahmed: I think designing in Arabic is different. When design is actually led by Arabic, you need a very different set of skills. You need someone who knows and understands and appreciates the culture, and you need the brand to ‘talk Arabic’. You need to design with a different mindset because there is something in Arabic that is not very rational. There is an emotional side to Arabic, in the Arabic culture and the Arabic language. Every word uses something poetic, even each individual character. So every word needs to be chosen carefully because it sets a particular tone, a completely different tone.
When we talk about the brand for [recent Bahraini client] which was designed initially in English, it’s becoming an interesting challenge to see how it works in Arabic.
That’s why I think what we’re trying to do now is focus more on creating an Arabic tone and an English tone when creating a brand. So the duality is there from the outset rather than having a globalised option. Every identity we create has to function in both cultures.
Nigel: Regional designers have grown something that I’m particularly aware of over the last five years and that’s this competitive nature. And partially that has been down to the improvement in production, the growth in font choices, particularly the improvement in PostScript systems for building Arabic typefaces. So the designers have more tools to work with.
“…particularly the improvement in PostScript systems for building Arabic typefaces. So designers have more tools to work with…”
Q What are the key indicators that an Arabic typeface is suitable/complements a latin typeface when working with designers for whom Arabic is not spoken?
Nigel: Yeah, there are obvious things to avoid there, the Aladdin fonts, fonts that use a more Western approach but are made to look arabesque. It’s that type of thing. I think we have a lot of knowledge in that respect. As I said earlier there are lots of Arabic fonts to choose from now, but that doesn’t make it any easier because some of those fonts have been designed just purely through style!
I think we’ve learned that whatever form we choose, however it looks, it has to be really considered and probably considered more so than the Latin type counterpart.
Particularly now, with all of the digitization and simplicity in Western design, particularly over the last few years, I've had concerns about trying to balance the two; the western versus the Arabic aesthetic. But from what I've learned, most recently, we seem to be doing an okay job of balancing a British aesthetic with an Arabic font choice. Because of the knowledge we have and the experience we have, we seem to be doing it particularly well!
Q What would you say to a designer aspiring to work in the Middle East — any top tips or resources they should be aware of?
Ahmed: I think designing in Arabic is different. When design is actually led by Arabic, you need a very different set of skills. You need someone who knows and understands and appreciates the culture, and you need the brand to ‘talk Arabic’. You need to design with a different mindset because there is something in Arabic that is not very rational. There is an emotional side to Arabic, in the Arabic culture and the Arabic language. Every word uses something poetic, even each individual character. So every word needs to be chosen carefully because it sets a particular tone, a completely different tone.
When we talk about the brand for [recent Bahraini client] which was designed initially in English, it’s becoming an interesting challenge to see how it works in Arabic.
That’s why I think what we’re trying to do now is focus more on creating an Arabic tone and an English tone when creating a brand. So the duality is there from the outset rather than having a globalised option. Every identity we create has to function in both cultures.
Nigel: This is interesting because this point is one of the biggest problems, probably the biggest, that we face as British designers. And one of the most sensitive issues around how we design because obviously with Latin typography as a British designer you know exactly what an old English versus the Helvetica font does to the character and personality of a logo, for instance.
But all the Arabic words have always been more important, there is so much more sensitivity from a religious perspective, bearing in mind the Quran is the Word of God. So it has much more emphasis, just the fact of putting letters down on a page carries so much meaning.
Just coming back to your question, tips for a designer; that person has to be incredibly enthusiastic, and that’s because they just want to learn. Because there is so much to learn. And it changes all the time. I think for us, for anybody working on a project it is essential that they travel to the region at some point to be able to experience it. It goes back to our Interstate adage ‘assume nothing, question everything’, and it’s more important than anything here.
For further reading, information and to contact our London and Manama studios, please visit the Interstate Creative Partners website — www.interstateteam.com or speak to the team at:
London
london@interstateteam.com
+44 (0)20 7313 7627
Manama
manama@interstateteam.com
+973 3366 9400
Nigel Gray — Creative Partner
Nigel is an award winning member of D&AD.
As a founding partner of Interstate, Nigel is primarily responsible for the quality of creativity throughout the studio. Nigel is the artist of the firm and combines natural talent and drawing skills with three decades of brand experience.
Nigel has led the creative team at Interstate since its formation.
Ahmed Taleb — Regional Partner
Ahmed joined Interstate in 2015 as Regional Partner to lead the Bahrain studio.
In addition to branding, strategic marketing and corporate communications, Ahmed has more than 12 years’ experience in the field of real estate, property development and marketing. He has worked with local and international development consultancies and developers on master-planned developments, land parcels and development packages, sales and leasing of individual unit and major project launches.
