February 2013
2 posts
7 tags
"Culture Connects" – Brownbook by Paul McLoughlin →
Paul McLoughlin interviewing me on Arabish
Feb 28th
4 tags
Graphic Design Education in the UAE
Two weeks ago, I had tea with Hala Abdelmalak in the Archive at Safa Park (you’re missing out if you haven’t been). She visited Dubai for a few days after many years. Hala is—as her web address conveniently states—thedesigncritic.com. She graduated with an MFA in Design Criticism from the School of Visual Arts (SVA) and is currently based in New York. Hala has previously lived, worked,...
Feb 1st
2 notes
May 2012
2 posts
7 tags
Blog and Arabish essay
A year ago, I graduated with an MFA in Graphic Design from the Rhode Island School of Design. My thesis—a year and a half long exhaustive process of research and design—was an investigation into the mainstream Emirati culture. My findings resulted in acknowledging an emerging hybrid culture, Arabish—a hybrid of Arabic and English speaking cultures in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). My topic was...
May 5th
2 notes
6 tags
Khaleejesque—Nuqat Dubai Design Conference 2012 →
May 1st
July 2011
1 post
3 tags
WatchWatch
Arabish Thesis Book.
Jul 27th
7 notes
May 2011
5 posts
Arabizi (3arabi/Engleezi, Arabic/English) →
A documentary about the Arabish language. Director: Dalia Al Kury Editor/Assistant Director: Eyad Hamam Music and SFX: Yousef Kawar
May 20th
1 note
1 tag
May 19th
14 notes
May 19th
77 notes
1 tag
May 12th
12 notes
4 tags
May 12th
14 notes
April 2011
7 posts
1 tag
“Our future and national identity are strongly connected to the demographic...”
– Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai.
Apr 29th
1 note
Arablish →
Logos corresponding to the Arabic alphabets. Via @Bushra_Badri @salehnass
Apr 29th
3 tags
RISD 2011 Graduate Thesis Exhibition →
Apr 28th
1 note
3 tags
WatchWatch
This animation is a sequel to the “Automated Arabish Hybrids” piece. For this video, I placed the hybrid forms against the structures of the city of Dubai. The forms—unsurprisingly—echoed the geometric architecture of the city. The music for this piece was created by editing “Samai Bayati (Maqam bayati)—Classical Arabic Orchestra of Aleppo & Ahmad Hariri” and mixing it...
Apr 27th
1 note
2 tags
Arabish
With the influx of foreign cultures and economic globalization, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is undergoing a major identity transformation. While many feel the threat of this transformation on the Emirati identity, some use it as an inevitable process to be embraced. I believe that the UAE is not losing its identity, it is creating a vivid new one. This new identity is Arabish. Arabish,...
Apr 21st
1 note
2 tags
Transformation: The UAE's Landscape, Then and Now →
Since the beginning of this millennium, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) landscape witnessed an unprecedented transformation. Within just a few years, empty plots of land were built into the best, biggest, and tallest. Dubai—one of the seven emirates of the UAE—has been dubbed as the place where dreams were built on sand. In 2006, Gulfnews published an article stating that according to the...
Apr 13th
2 notes
1 tag
Artist Statement
100-word statement for RISD’s Grad Book 2011: The cultural identity of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is in a period of transformation. The country’s cultural costumes, habits, and traditions are evolving and adapting to change. This change is directly influenced by the western culture, especially the mainstream American culture. The younger generation of Emiratis behave in a hybrid...
Apr 6th
March 2011
1 post
Wael Morcos →
Amazing Graphic Designer and Arabic typographer from Lebanon.
Mar 14th
February 2011
1 post
Alsajanjal (Mirror) →
Art Exhibition about language in Bahrain. It’s interesting to see what other Arab artists have to say about the Arabic language nowadays.
Feb 7th
January 2011
3 posts
“For me the transformation happens somehow when I am working with the process....”
– Janine Antoni (via jessgreenfield)
Jan 25th
1 note
Hairpiece or Herpes? →
Jan 13th
4 tags
Simultaneity Through Typography →
Dimitry T. sent me a link to this student Maece Seirafi from CALARTS who used Dubai as a case study on typographic design for a bilingual audience.
Jan 13th
8 notes
December 2010
2 posts
3 tags
Dec 26th
4 notes
3 tags
WatchWatch
Arabish Typographic Forms
Dec 7th
2 notes
October 2010
17 posts
2 tags
How my mind works with bilingualism
Marc Choi commented on my post asking very interesting questions: “Do you think in Arabic or English? If someone is multilingual, is there a dominant language that they communicate with or does one language prevail for reading, versus another for speaking, etc.?” I think my answers are going to be as confusing as how confused my brain is with trying to answer these questions. I think...
Oct 24th
1 tag
Information Integration →
How we should interact with information
Oct 22nd
1 tag
Thoughts (questions) on signs in the UAE
I don’t know what to read first, the sign in Arabic or the one under it, in English. Why do I have to think which one to read, do I even choose to think which one I should read? Do I read the one that reads from right to left first, or the one that reads from left to right. I think I am confused, but only because it is confusing. Why is it confusing? Because I can read both? Or because of the way...
Oct 20th
1 note
1 tag
Thesis thinking
The mainstream Arabic culture is evolving into something new. It is undergoing obvious transformations and is taking up new forms. The way people dress, the way they behave, and the way they communicate are all directly influenced by the western culture. On the other hand, the Arabic culture is often stereotyped and misunderstood in America. It is becoming less familiar and more alien. My thesis...
Oct 20th
“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”
– Anaïs Nin (via elizafitzhugh)
Oct 11th
3 notes
Showcase of Web design in the Arab World →
Oct 10th
“Thirty years ago we had no buildings, and when we saw buildings in other...”
– Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Founder of the UAE.
Oct 8th
2 tags
Geetika Alok →
Gettika Alok explores the relationships between typography and culture through experimental type design.
Oct 8th
Negotiating Difference / Historical Contexts →
moreunderlines: 200-Year-Old Echoes in Muslim Center Uproar NYTimes
Oct 7th
1 note
3 tags
The design of Park51 (the mosque near Ground Zero) →
Oct 6th
2 tags
How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being Young and... →
afghanipoppy: Interviewed him for the uni paper, kind of disinterested during the interview but when I heard him speak later that night…he was really personable and funny. Bayoumi is a prof at Brooklyn College, got his PhD at Columbia, and was even a student of Edward Said. Here’s a brief synopsis (link above to an excerpt): Just over a century ago, W.E.B. Du Bois posed a probing question in...
Oct 6th
5 notes
3 tags
Niqabitch →
Title says it all. Niqab (burka) and mini-shorts.  (Thank you Hope!)
Oct 6th
Oct 5th
1 tag
“Culture, or civilization, taken in its broad, ethnographic sense, is that...”
– Edward B. Tylor, Primitive Culture
Oct 5th
1 tag
“… culture is not usefully regarded as a substance but is better regarded...”
– Arjun Appadurai, Modernity at Large
Oct 5th
2 tags
“If culture as a noun seems to carry associations with some sort of substance in...”
– Arjun Appadurai, Modernity at Large
Oct 5th
Oct 3rd
1 note