Feature: Modern Design in the GCC — Part 1
In this two part Q&A series, we discuss creativity, business and design culture in the region with Interstate’s Creative Partner Nigel Gray and Regional Partner Ahmed Taleb.
Part 1 explores Interstate’s entry to Bahrain in 2003, the team’s reflections on the globalisation of design and the impact that has had on the region.
Part 1: Entering a region during a period of change
Q Setting up an agency is a difficult process — including nailing a blend between business and creativity. When tackling a whole new territory and culture, what did you learn from both creative and business points of view?
Nigel: Setting up an agency is difficult at the best of times. Keeping it going is also a challenge!
To put it into context, British design in the 90’s was very inward-facing. Of course there were great multinational agencies in the key creative hubs — US, Europe, Scandinavia but generally speaking it was all about being in the UK — studying and working there and then exporting those services and skills if you could.
In our case, we had a senior team that had a very culturally-driven mindset. Being pivotal in the branding of a global motorsport platform that travelled across the world every two weeks, this reflected in our work — highly varied, open thinking, very global.
We were a bit different in that we were always overseas and very culturally explorative. We had an agency in New York for a while for example — that’s a different story but, what that meant was, from a creative perspective we have always naturally incorporated influences from different graphic, art and cultural perspectives.
Ahmed: At the time Interstate was starting to work in Bahrain, Bahrain had the highest number of agencies in the Gulf because all the agencies moved from Lebanon, which was the media and creative hub for the region, after the civil war started in the 70s. Most of them were regional agencies or outposts of international agencies. The one thing that wasn’t here was brand-focused agencies. Everyone was either advertising or PR at the time and most of the work on branding was done and handled by advertising agencies, which wasn’t the most effective solution.
I think there is another part to what Nigel has mentioned, I think, yes, Interstate had a London base, but it always acted and behaved like a global agency with a base in London— which is a different thing. So, I think that’s why travelling was such an important part of the agency culture, as opposed to other agencies where you would set up and expand it through a franchise or a partnership.
“Interstate had a London base, but it always acted and behaved like a global agency with a base in London.”
Q Agencies are often built around landmark clients — from an external perspective, Interstate has an enviable client list — how have your approaches differed depending on the type of client?
Nigel: With our first clients in the region, Bahrain International Circuit and Formula 1, it gave us exposure to the Court of the Crown Prince and all the connected businesses, personalities and characters. The successful launch of the BIC brand, built on a design ethos that pushed the traditional boundaries, got attention and naturally enquiries followed, whether it was a financial institution like Arcapita or real estate developers. It was a very fluid process and was actually how we met Ahmed — which came at the right time as we were having numerous discussions with people, trying to find the right person to lead a studio locally.
Ahmed: I actually physically met Nick (Interstate Managing Partner) in Bahrain Financial Harbour where I was managing its corporate communications. I knew of Interstate through the brand development for the Bahrain International Circuit. At the time, the interesting thing about Interstate’s approach was the desire to align with the culture. That approach feels like growth and expansion rather than commercial decision making. This approach continues today — we still follow it with our current clients. It’s a different relationship, not necessarily linear. When you get closer to your client, you get to know the real market, you get to know the real brand, the company, the issues before the opportunities, so you can actually address all of that.
Q How has the Western approach to brand entered the Middle Eastern landscape?
Nigel: Moving into the late noughties, practically speaking, we were just coming out of the recession. So actually a lot of good senior designers were starting to move to the Middle East and bring Western design practices with them. They were very excited to move into places like Dubai and we were aware of that. It’s why we probably accelerated some of the activities in the Gulf at that time.
As I mentioned, one of the big things we encountered was that marketing and advertising agencies were very confident that they understood what branding was about. It took quite a lot of cajoling and education to convey what a more comprehensive approach to brand really looked like. The whole strategic side of it, which is our strength, was particularly difficult to convey. From a client perspective it was very much about the visual. It was about just getting to the final image. What does the logo look like? As opposed to going through the strategic build out — linking thorough understanding of business strategy to underpin a brand strategy that then informed all forms of communications including the visual.
When you look at brands today, like Uber, Twitter and lots of the automotive brands that are now more than ever being expressed in a digital space everything looks like it has been ‘simplified’. It’s about paring the master brand back. However this approach has then led to a far more varied and sophisticated supporting graphic toolkit to express that ‘simplified’ brand across all the channels in a consistent and recognisable way. In a pure graphic sense this is fundamentally, different to Arabic, which has always included heavy consideration for ornament, and particularly in type.
I think, more and more, year by year, the Middle East has been looking to integrate Western influences, looking to bring them in. And Ahmed might disagree, but I think in the future, the region might go full circle in returning to more traditional influences visually with greater variants.
Ahmed: I’m going to disagree with you there Nigel. We have not been very confident in articulating an approach to Arabic design as an industry. When things were starting to boom in the Gulf creatively you saw a huge influx of Western design.
This was for two reasons, one, the native Gulf design industry didn’t develop as quickly as the West due to talent, education, access and so on, which left a gap that needed to be filled by acquired Western talent. The second thing, and this is a challenge we still face, is that there is a common misconception that Arabic Design is ‘ornaments and arabesque’. Even with Islamic and Arabic architecture we have the same issue, designers are focussed on the ornaments and there is a lot more to Arabic design than the ornamentation alone.
“this is a challenge we still face, is that there is a common misconception that Arabic Design is ‘ornaments and arabesque’.”
We do have a lot of minimalist approach in Arabic design and you have a huge volume at the other end being maximalist and full of ornamentation and so on. But ornamentation for the sake of ornamentation is something that we’ve seen used a lot in design being exported from other parts of the world, into the Middle East.
If you look at design in recent years, there have been a lot of native creatives progressing core design elements and pattern usage. Specifically there is progressive work using traditional Saudi design and it’s beautiful. You would be so surprised at how tribal, but not too arabesque it is, it’s all triangles. It’s a completely different approach using a lot of geometry and colour.
I would say that today there is a real design industry, which was non-existent 15 years ago in the way it is right now.
Q How has globalisation had an effect on the design industry landscape of the GCC?
Nigel: We’ve seen crossover in both directions in that there has been a proliferation of Arabic being used as ‘quasi-cool’ design in Western culture, not really being used for any meaningful communication. You’ve also seen a huge recognition globally of Arabic culture driven by business — acquisition of prominent Western assets, real estate, hotels, businesses, sports teams, all over the world. So the recognition of Arabic design and Arabic type is much more prolific now globally and the old stereotypes are being broken.
We’ve got to get the balance between modern and traditional influence right moving forward. As an example, working on a project this week, we’re looking at something two years ahead of launch in the Middle East, which has got to feel two years ahead, digital ready but culturally relevant. The demands on brands and products are more instant and require globally focussed responses. They are having to respond to demands by being much quicker and we must avoid losing cultural nuance in the process.
“The demands on brands and products are more instant and require globally focussed responses.”
Ahmed: I think the globalisation of design has uncovered a huge requirement to adapt design in its broadest sense to the climate — adapting to the surrounding context. We often forget that the most fundamental element is design in relation to context. If we don’t look at context, we don’t deliver meaningful applications.
Context is so critical. There is regional context but then; with the international appeal and access of brands, and with everything being visible to everyone there’s a very different global context that also has to be considered.
Check back for Part 2 of the series. Nigel and Ahmed discuss design in practice — technology, fonts, mishaps and stereotypes to avoid with insights and recommendations for designers looking to work in or explore the Middle East creatively.
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.
