Between Heritage and Modernity: Contemporary Arabic Graphic Design

The Center for Book Arts is hosting a series of 3 seminars dedicated to Arabic type design and typography, curated by Dr. Nadine Chahine, taking place on March 5, 7, and 19.

The theme of the series revolves around concepts of modernity in Arabic type design, the heritage of Arabic letterforms in the context of current technologies, contemporary Arabic branding design, and the history of Arab graphic design. The series brings together renowned and award winning designers working with Arabic type, both from the US and the Middle East.

This History of Art seminar will be on Contemporary Arabic Graphic Design. The afternoon will feature Tarek Atrissi, who will be discussing Branding with Arabic Typography; Tala Safié will be presenting, “Haza al Massa” (or “Tonight”), a documentation of the golden years of Lebanese cinema through posters, zines, press books, and film ephemera; and Bahia Shehab, who will be giving a discussion entitled, From Calligraphers to Type designers: Arabic Script in Transition.