Razan - Tarek Atrissi Feature story

Design
Tarek
Atrissi
Tarek Atrissi, a designer from
Lebanon and the Netherlands,
said once “The streets of Beirut
became my main source of
inspiration, particularly from
a typographic point of view.“
As a result, Atrissiʼs style has
affected the environment of
contemporary graphic design
in the Middle East.
Atrissi is one of most recognized
designers across the Arab
world, who succeeded in
gaining international attention
throughout his career.
He founded his Netherlands
based design studio in 2000,
called "Tarek Atrissi Design,"
specialized in a "typographic
and cross-cultural approach
to design." He also introduced
Arabictypography.com, to
create an exciting Arabic
typographic presence on the
web. As well as, an online
networking forum of a new
arabic script media context,
for designers in the Arab
World that is informative,
inspiring and experimental.
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The Lebanese-Dutch designer,
has taught at the American
University in Dubai as well
as the Virginia Commonwealth
University in Qatar.
Currently, he is teaching at
the Utrecht School of the
Arts in Holland in the
Department of Art, Media
and Technology. He also
makes sure to give public
lectures about design and
visual culture and writes
regularly about his design
analysis. To share his goal
of advancing Asian culture
as a «critical cultural force
and a strategic design forum,»
he is a founding member of
The Design Alliance Asia,
one of Asia's largest artist
collaboration networks.
Across Borders Exhibition, Spain - 2017.
We break borders by creating
connections; among designers through
creativity. (Left)
Tarek Atrissiʼs varied design
background has helped him a lot;
in finding his style and circulating
it among different cultures to
achieve his goal of appealing to
a wider global audience, with the
use of Arabic typography. In
Lebanon, The Netherlands, Qatar,
Dubai, Spain and the United
States, he worked, lived and
studied. Atrissi holds a Bachelorʼs
degree in Graphic Design from
the American University of Beirut
where he graduated with
distinctions. His Masters of Arts
in Interactive Multimedia was
from the Utrecht School of the
Arts in Holland; and his MFA in
Design entrepreneurship was
from the School of Visual Arts
in New York.
As well as, a postgraduate
degree in typeface design from
the type@cooper in New York.
Exhibitions and Awards
His art has been displayed at the
Guggenheim Museum in New
York and is in the permanent
design collection of the Affiche
Museum in Holland and much
more. Throughout his design
career, Atrissi has gained a lot
of awards, which included, The
Adobe Design Achievement
Awards, The TDC (Type Directors
Club New York), The Dutch
Design Award.
In 2017, Atrissi was listed as
one of the most influential 100
Lebanese professional figures
around the globe.
Tarek Atrrissi/٢٠٢٠

Early Collections and Inspirations
In this sense, he started collecting
old graphic material in the
form of advertising or visual
communication, and his late
grandfather Chafiq Nehme, who
had a long career in journalism
has also shared with him a
collection of old Arab magazines,
where Atrissi identified them in
an interview with the Khatt
Foundation, as
Tarek Atrissi
Logo
In the Arab world, we do not
see a lot of exciting Arabic
typography work done. This
was one of the challenges that
motivated Atrissi to adopt this
valuable element in his graphic
work. He emphasized that,
Tolerance Poster Design
Mirko Illic, New York - 2016. (Above)
Music Artist Posters & Promotion
Rajae El Mouhandiz, The Netherlands -
2008 - 2005. (Above)
“The signs, lettering, calligraphy
and hand painted messages
combined to create a unique
mix of environmental graphics.
This has remained a source
of inspiration for me up to this
day, and I am constantly
documenting the fascinating
typographic street culture of
different Arab cities.”
In an interview with the Oasis
Magazine, Atrissi explains
that, “Any graphic designer
is fascinated with typography,
and being an Arab graphic
designer, it is natural that
Arabic typography becomes
an important part of your
focus.” Especially, when it is
a challenge to work on
designing Arabic Typography.
Ithra Cultural Centre, Aramco. Saudi
Arabia - 2019. (Left)
Tarek Atrissi Design conceptualised and
designed the exhibition graphics through
the use of key elements which are the
large-format printed suspended
graphics that covered the entire
exhibition space. Arabic calligraphy, that
was designed to form a linear timeline.
The
Arabic
written
letter
holds
of value"
“After all, the written script is
the only common aspect across
all the countries in the Arab
World. The spoken language
differs, the cultural values
differ, and even politics and
religion are different.” So, in
the mission of preserving the
history of the region, Atrissi
visualized this language in his
work digitally.
He also points out his fascination
in the challenge of working with
Arabic typography, calligraphy
and lettering where there is “the
constant struggle to mix the
traditional with the contemporary,
as well as to combine the historic
artistic practice with a new
digital era that is constantly
and rapidly developing.”
a lot
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Design
The Value of an Arabic written script
Atrissi elaborates on his type design approach that is very
graphic in terms of the fonts that he started using like simple
lettering exercises for a logo design, or even a poster design.
Domaine Wardy, Lebanon - 2019. (Above)
Wine Packaging Un-oaked Blend Series -
The Beqaa Valley Red. The typographic
solution is inspired by grapes tendrils.
Typographic Print on Canvas.
Tarek Atrissi Design, The Netherlands -
2006. (Left)
Series of printed canvas inspired from the
urban and street typography around the
Arab world.
When asked if he still believes in
the importance of the "visual
street narratives," in the Arab
world in portraying the resistance
and the uprisings against any
political corruption whether they
reflect the rich Arabian text-based
heritage? He said:
“Public lettering reflects the
visual reality of the Arab street
today and the social, cultural,
and political landscape of the
Arab World. Arab visual culture,
particularly the text-based one, is
often connected to old religious
calligraphy manuscripts.
I think the contemporary street
manifestation of the written word
is equally important and is as
rich as our older heritage.”
He emphasizes on the ongoing
wrong representations of the
Arab world by explaining,
“There are a lot of stereotypical
visual representations of the
Arab world around that are
often wrongly associated with
the culture. The street is
probably the best source to
collect visual elements that truly
reflect the reality of the Middle
Eastern environment.”
Worthy of mentioning, Tarek
Atrissi always advises younger
designers to “look at the
unique visual language that
surrounds their own specific
environment and get inspired
by it.” The way he gets inspired
at the beginning of every
project to help him create a
unique local design language.
In the Middle East, we have
a rich typographic tradition
like the calligraphic heritage,
which will allow designers to
engage in commercial Arabic
content developments.
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