visual arabia 2013 design yearbook
DESCRIPTION
The VA2013 Design Yearbook captures the recent projects of Visual Arabia 2013's featured speakers as well as a showcase of works from the local and international creative community across the fields of design, illustration, photography, film and animation.TRANSCRIPT
Design Yearbook
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www.visualarabia.com
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© 2013 by Corporate Publishing International (CPI) - Dubai
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the copyright owners. All images in this book have been reproduced with the knowledge and prior consent of the artists concerned, and no responsibility is accepted by producer, publisher, or printer for any infringement of copyright or otherwise, arising from the contents of this publication. Every effort has been made to ensure that credits accurately comply with information supplied.
Visual Arabia 2013 Design Yearbook is brought to you by:
1013 Centre Road,New Castle County,Wilmington, Delaware, USA
PUBLISHERDominic De Sousa
GROUP COO Nadeem Hood
MANAGING DIRECTORRichard Judd
COMMERCIAL DIRECTORRajashree Kumar
YEARBOOK COORDINATORMarilyn Naingue
EDITORIALConsulting Editor: Will RankinCopy Editor: Franzine Artista
MARKETINGMarizel SalvadorAlane Calumpiano
DESIGNAnalou BalberoFroilan CosgafaOdilaine Salalac-MejoradaGlenn RoxasMarlou DelabenCrisgon Malapitan
DIGITAL SERvICES MANAGERTristan Troy Maagma
WEB & SOCIAL MEDIAErik BrionesJeff de JoyaJay Colina
FINANCEKeith Lobo
PRODUCTION MANAGERJames P Tharian
PUBLISHED BY
HEADQUARTERSDubai, UAEPO Box 13700Tel: +971 4 440 9100Fax: +971 4 447 2409
Printed by Printwell Printing Press L.L.C.
YOUR GUIDE TO ART FAIRS, GALLERIES, TALKS AND EVENTS TAKING PLACE INDUBAI THIS MARCH 21 - 23 MARCH 2013A
RTB
US
DU
BA
IAN ARTINTHECITY INITIATIVEIN PARTNERSHIP WITH DUBAI CULTURE AND ARTS AUTHORITY
ARTBUS // SEVENTH EDITIONMARCH 2013
Al QuozDIFC/DowntownJumeirah/Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood
Three routes running daily from 21 - 23 March 2013. Book your seat at [email protected] or call +97143417303
For schedule updates go to www.artinthecity.com
ArtintheCity in partnership with Dubai Culture & Arts Authority will transform the buses into a moving artwork by commissioning UAE-based artists.
Keep your eyes peeled & let us know if you see the ArtBus enroute @Dubai_Culture @ArtintheCity #ArtBus
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You have in your hands the first-ever Visual Arabia Design Yearbook. Design here is as hot as the weather, and Arabia has always been a hotbed of creativity, from algebra to astronomy, ceramics to metalwork; woodwork to calligraphy.
We live in an age with tools that can make everyone a ‘designer’. Basic software packages allow us to make short films, to add effects to photographs, to create our own newsletters, flyers and magazines. Yet let us not look upon this as a negative thing; for when an untrained person is aided in unleashing their creativity, sometimes something amazing happens. Throw in political unrest at one end of the Middle East, and economic exuberance at the other, and you get an outstanding outpouring of creative expression.
Visual Arabia 2013 comes at an extraordinary time to be a designer. The opportunity to make a real difference with the creative mind - both in large and small ways - has never been greater. Global collaboration must surely lead to deeper cultural understanding. We sit at the heart of a cultural melting pot, where diversity is so commonplace, it is rarely even remarked upon.
In a sense that’s the concept behind this conference. We’re focusing on building a dialogue between the expanding local creative community and those at the forefront of the international scene. It’s a chance for us to be active participants in the industry we are in, rather than observe from afar.
We hope in attending the event; and in opening this Yearbook, that you might find yourself opening up to a new way of looking at things; that tomorrow you might just dare to pick up the brush, the pencil, the camera that you haven’t dared touch before.
Visual Arabia aims to be one of the most significant regional conference dedicated to the visual and creative industry. Significant in terms of opening up dialogue; of raising debate, of allowing thought; of allowing time for ideas to breathe.
The Visual Arabia 2013 Design Yearbook is an extension of this conference. Here, outstanding work from our speakers is featured alongside works submitted by a variety of regional artists/creatives/photographers who deserve to get their works noticed. The Yearbook have had more than 100 submissions - from all over the GCC as well as from the USA, UK, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Lebanon, India and the Philippines.
Like the event itself, compiling the Yearbook has been a crazy adventure. In equal parts exhausting and rewarding and always promising. The quality of the submissions we received indicated that the Middle East is indeed the next happening region in terms of design.
We hope, most of all, that you enjoy taking a day out of ordinary life to attend this extraordinary event. Take the time to listen, to network and to hopefully gain some new perspective and appreciation for design and visual arts. As Paola Antonelli pointed out: “People think that design is styling. Design is not style. It’s not about giving shape to the shell and not giving a damn about the guts. Good design is a renaissance attitude that combines technology, cognitive science, human need, and beauty to produce something that the world didn’t know it was missing.”
Kamil RoxasCreative Directorvisual Arabia 2013 - Open inspiration
Open inspiration.
quint offers a comprehensive design service, combining a wealth of knowledge and experience with the ability to bring a new approach to every creative brief we undertake.
Our design studio focuses on branding, advertising, web design & development, and copywriting.
Design Studio
quintdubai.com quintmagazine.com
Magazine
quint magazine is a multi award winning art and culture publication that was launched in 2010.
With contributions from incredibly talented and creative people both from the UAE and around the world, quint magazine covers art, design, photography, film, fashion, music, literature, artistic events and more.
Design Yearbook
www.onesize.com
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Onesize is a Dutch, Amsterdam based creative studio headed up by creative duo Rogier Hendriks and Kasper Verweij. United in their common rebellion against the visual communication methods they encountered in the past, Onesize was born in 2001.
Motivated by pushing the boundaries in design and visual communication, Onesize creates groundbreaking works for film, games, tv, web and print , which all are design-driven. Mixing media like live-action, photography, 3D, graphic design, interaction design, sound design and music are used in order to create new ideas, new techniques, new (design)tools, and a distinct visual style.
They’ve worked for international brands like Nike, Adidas, O’Neill, MTv, Philips, volkswagen, BMW, Disney, Pepsi. They also rebranded G4Tv Network and recently wrapped up the redesign of the Chiller Network for NBC/Universal.
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Is there a Onesize philosophy behind doing creative work?Our philosophy is to try and get our hands dirty as often as possible, to take on new challenges no matter how big or how scary they look. For each problem we try and find a solution, whether it’s technical or design related. We also try and not be too repetitive. In the end, creating beautiful work is what makes us happy and ideally the result has to put a smile on our clients faces too.
What is the process that you go through when producing a project?It depends on how big a project is and how busy we are.
Normally, after we get briefed, we sit together with our creative team and discuss our ideas and options – we then decide what direction we go into and who will be taking the lead in the project and whether we need special forces or expertise/tools from outside our company.
For bigger productions we find it very useful to visualise our vision and direction by creating animatic/previs in 3D or 2D, moodboards and styleframes. From that point, when pre-production is done, we split the work so everyone knows what to do – this includes the sound designer of our choice.
We normally go through a few rounds of corrections and tweaking until both us and the client are satisfied, we deliver the final film and drink champagne! That’s the process in a nutshell.
What do you think makes for a great commercial/visual piece?That all depends on what it needs to communicate. The visuals, the audio and the story need to be in perfect harmony. But still, it remains a matter of taste.
Do you have any particular favourite projects you have worked on?There are projects which are fun to
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produce, just for the fun of it, and others are harder to work on, but that’s fine when you know you will end up with a beautiful piece of art. Our favourites are the Playgrounds main titles (main titles for film and events are always good fun!), our network re-brandings and our recently finished 60 second spot for Warde. It’s a wide variety of styles and communication levels, but that’s exactly what we like to do. We’re not afraid to walk paths on territory we don’t know. We guide ourselves and feel comfortable along the way.
What would your ideal next project be?That would be a project which
makes all of us a little happier, which feeds our creative souls and also (here comes our Miss World one-liner..) contributes a little to a better world, a more conscious world. To create a film not only for entertainment but one that has an actual purpose, story and makes people think. Perhaps a reflection of mankind anno 2013.
www.erickimphotography.com
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My first interest in street photography happened by chance. I was standing at a bus stop and I saw a man with horn-shaped glasses reading a book. There was something so genuine and unique about the moment. My heart was palpitating and the second I brought my camera to my eye, he looked directly at me and I instinctively clicked. My heart froze, but I made my first street photograph, without even realizing it.
Being interested in both street photography and the approach, I started to experiment shooting street photography using my background knowledge studying sociology at UCLA. I started experimenting getting very close when shooting, and surprisingly never got punched in the face for taking photos (yet).
Now through my blog and my workshops, I travel the world and teach others the beauty of street photography and how people can overcome their fear of shooting strangers.
I also love participating in collaborations as I am currently a contributor to the Leica blog, I was one of the judges for the London Street Photography Contest 2011, and have done two collaborations with Samsung (I starred in a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 commercial and a campaign for the Samsung NX 20 camera). I have also been interviewed by the BBC about the ethics of street photography.
I have had some of my work exhibited in in Los Angeles and at the Leica stores in Singapore, Seoul, and Melbourne. I have also taught street photography workshops in Beirut, Seoul, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Berlin, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Sydney, Melbourne, Zurich, London, Toronto, Mumbai, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Kota Kinabalu (and more to come).
My motto is always to shoot with a smile, and from the heart.
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Can you talk a little about your background and how you got started.I started photography upon graduating high school, being given a digital point-and-shoot camera from my mother. I have always been interested in art my entire life, but was never able to use a medium to capture my moods and emotions about something.
The camera was an absolute transformation for me. I remember the first week I had the camera I was obsessive. I would take 1000’s of photographs a day, remembering how incredible it was that I could capture an instant in time and immortalize it. I also have a terrible memory, so I often saw photographing as a way to capture my memories and keep them from floating away.
Upon graduating high school, I went to UCLA and after suffering a quarter of Biology, I decided to switch to the polar opposite - Sociology. It was probably the best decision I have made in my life.
I consider myself a “people person” and am constantly drawn to people. I strive to be close to
people, and to understand more about them.
During my time at UCLA, my interest in sociology and photography co-incided. Around my 2nd year in school, I started to realize that the photographs I took were sociological in nature. I took a lot of photographs of strangers in the streets, being fascinated with them. I was fascinated by the stories of people on the street, their expressions, and their faces. Only after uploading some of my images taken on the street to an online forum, did I understand that the type of photography I was doing was “street photography”.
How did you discover you wanted to be a street photographer?One of the shortcomings I feel about sociology is that much of it is theoretical, and what I strive as a sociologist is to make sense of the world around me -in a concrete way.
During my coursework in school, I would do research on certain social groups - and would take extensive notes of all the people that I interacted
with, their appearences, and what they did in their “natural environment”. Although the notes were very detailed and did paint a vivid image, they lacked the immedicacy that I feel I was able to capture through my photograph. I remember asking one of my professors if it would be okay if I could photograph while doing my social reserach, but he said he didn’t think it was a good idea.
Regardless during school and after I graduated, I continued to pursue street photography as my passion - taking photos of strangers in the street. After graduating UCLA I first was interested in getting a Ph.D. in Sociology and teaching sociology (as my passion is teaching), but 7-8 more years of studying didn’t appeal to me.
Therefore I took up a job doing social media marketing and worked there for about a year. However about 8 months ago, my company downsized and I got made reduntant. Therefore faced with the option of getting another job or pursuing my passion- I went with my gut and decided to pursue street photography full-time.
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What do you think makes for a good street photograph?I think a good street photograph is one that hits you in the gut and burns itself into your mind. Needless to say, strong composition in terms of framing and position is important- but I would say that the emotion that a photograph gives you is what makes it “good”.
I also feel that a good street photograph is one that is meaningful. There are lots of great street photographs I enjoy which are funny and cause a nice chuckle (they call them “one-liners”) but I don’t think they carry the same weight as more socially-
concious photography. One of my favorite street
photographs is from Garry Winogrand of an interracial couple holding two monkeys in a park. When I first saw the photograph it made me extremely uncomfortable to look at. It almost looks as if the monkeys are their children. To me it addresses an issue of inter-racial couples in America, and how the public may have seen their relationship (the photograph was taken in 1967 when inter-racial couples were still quite a taboo- and still to a certain extend still are in many parts around the world).
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www.hydro74.com
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Hydro74 is Joshua M. Smith, an Orlando based graphic designer, typographer and illustrator. He is widely known for his edgy and intricate works in typography and vector art forms.
He claims the sole purpose of his career is to push the boundaries in doing what he feels is relevant to the market, as well as extract various elements and trends to be able to offer them up in his own personal work. Complexity and a fluid organic approach is what he highly values in each and every piece.
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Is there a Hydro74 philosophy behind doing creative work?To always strive to be better than I am now. The idea of finding perfection is faux façade that has become a staple in what I create. I’ll never find that idea of perfection however the imperfection within each piece creates a sense of final perfection that has become core in my belief as a designer.
How would you describe your style?Strictly vector in approach. I would rather be a professional at one thing than to be average at all things.
How do you keep a good balance on working for corporate clients and doing in-house Hydro74 work?There is none. It’s the personal projects that open up opportunities with clients as well as a way for me to progress in my styles and tones that I put forth to turn a new page in the work that I do.
Do you have any particular favourite projects you have worked on?No. I see flaws and things I could have done better with previous pieces.
How do you keep your ideas staying fresh?Always pushing to perfect my craft and to be better. When I see someone doing something that is far more talented I strive to prove to myself I can at least strive to be on the same level thus learning new techniques.
What would your ideal next project be?Don’t have one. Would rather see what life itself puts in front of me to see what challenges it brings.
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www.fikradesigns.com
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Fikra is a multidisciplinary design studio specialized in bilingual graphic design—Arabic and English.
Founded by Salem Al-Qassimi in 2006, Fikra works across a variety of media—time-based and print—including book design, data-visualizations, environmental graphics, bilingual typography—Arabic and English, identity creation, interaction design, and motion graphics.
The studio’s philosophy is deeply rooted in investigating new pathways for problem-solving through design exploration and education. Within a short period of time, Fikra gained its reputation as one of the leading graphic design studios in the UAE.
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What led to the formation of Fikra Design Studio?I established Fikra in September 2006. During that time, I was frustrated about not being able to find the right design studio to work for in the UAE. In fact, there was no “experimental” design studio in the UAE that allowed room for experimentation. Fikra was set up as a place that would foster creativity, and that would allow designers—and myself— to work on self-initiated projects as well as commercial ones.
What kind of work does Fikra Design Studio undertake? Is there one thing that you always want to say or achieve with your work?Fikra is specialized in bilingual graphic design—Arabic and English. We tend to work with a lot of start ups and within the arts and culture.
At Fikra we have 2 different
elements, the commercial, and the educational. For the commercial element, we work with companies and startups to facilitate their visions by providing creative design solutions. For the educational element, we have a few self-initiated projects/initiatives that allows us to contribute to the enhancement of design, art, and culture in the region. One of the self-initiated projects is ADAM—which is a collaborative effort with Pink Tank—that through visualization, it maps out collaborative networks in the MENA region.
Being a bilingual studio based in the UAE, do you focus mostly on local clients? Do you have foreign clients approach you for work?We have been approached by clients from abroad that seek
bilingual design solutions in Arabic and English. However, most of our international work have been research-based, and within in the field of bilingual design. We do have partners in New York that we have worked with on several occasions, but most of our commercial work are from local clients.
What has been the most challenging work that you have encountered?I think all jobs are quite challenging. I try to make every job as challenging as possible. When work becomes repetitive or boring, I know it’s time to up the challenge. I think the most challenging thing I have to do is to try to persuade my clients to take risks. Most clients tend to have a specific vision and are afraid to tweak or adjust it a little.
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What would your ideal next project be?I am very interested in topics related to culture and identity. My Graphic Design MFA thesis at the Rhode Island School of Design was called “Arabish”. Arabish was an investigation of the mainstream UAE culture. Through graphic design, I document and comment on hybrid cultural elements such as dress, language, and urban landscape of the UAE. My ideal next project is to continue this thinking. I would love to work on a project that would contribute to my culture and the UAE.
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www.kdlig.com
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Kristy had already shown her talent at a very young age. She started joining painting workshops during her summer vacations in her high school years to enhance her abilities and skills.
She studied Fine Arts at the University of San Carlos in Cebu City, Philippines, where she majored in Advertising Arts. Her personal works are inspired by Surrealism, Urban, Graffiti and Low-Brow art, mostly focused in digital art though from time to time, she still does traditional art like pen and ink, oil and acrylic painting.
She won an international online shirt design competition at Threadless that made a mark for her to establish a name in the world of graphic and shirt designing in the online art community.
She’s been featured in various art blogs and websites, books and magazines and some group art exhibits.
She still continues to learn and develop her skills and still is gaining more exposure through satisfied clients and art appreciators in the Philippines as well as the other parts of the world.
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SPEAKER 4Can you tell us more about yourself and your background?I’m a Filipino expat here in Dubai, working as an illustrator for Team Y&R Dubai and I’m also known by my artist name KDLIG (pronounced Kay-dee-league). I started scribbling on the walls of our home when I was kid. My mom got tired of cleaning it up, so she began compiling old office spreadsheets and made them my sketchpads. In college, I studied Fine Arts; majoring in Advertising Arts, at the University of San Carlos, in Cebu City, Philippines. I started my career as an illustrator right after I quit my job as a graphic designer back home. While I was doing a full-time freelance job, I had enough time to experiment on my own style and ventured more on vector, with the use of
Adobe Illustrator. I then entered an online competition for t-shirt designs at Threadless.com, and won with my “Dead Sucker” tee design, which was inspired by the Bioshock computer game. After that I got more and more gigs and even landed myself a spot for Nike, wherein I was asked to do a Manny Pacquiao limited edition poster and was on display in New York. The exhibition invites and commissions continued on even here in Dubai, and also from other parts of the world.
When you think of a new project how do you start, is it with the material or with the concept?I usually start with a concept first then think of the material later. Sometimes, just doodling or sketching on a boring afternoon
helps me to come up with something and later on I decide on what to do with it; either go digital or traditional, or to make it even more challenging, doing them both.
How do you keep a good balance of doing agency work and doing your personal projects? That’s one of the toughest challenges for me, since I’m the only illustrator working at my agency. It’s very hard for me to juggle work and my personal projects, because after I’m done doing stuff with one team, there’s another team who will ask for me and give me some briefs. But still I find time in making personal projects, during weekends if there’s nothing to do for the office. After work is also a good time to do some
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personal stuff, so it’s always a good thing if I can get out early from the office. I also bring with me some sketchpads, just in case there’s nothing for me to do at my desk, even if it happens rarely. I would rather sketch something, than just sit there and surf the web. What’s your philosophy behind doing creative work?Practice, patience and passion, if someone has those 3 P’s, its always mission accomplished.
How much influence does technology have in your projects?It definitely helped me a lot since I got to learn to do digital art, and even helped me get to finish my works faster, and helped me to expose my works online wherein people from the other
side of the world can see them.
What has been the most challenging work that you have encountered?I could not really pick which of those very challenging projects has challenged me the most, but I could describe what is challenging for me. These are projects that involve a certain process, from detailed sketching to digitalizing a super crowded illustration.
What would your ideal next project be?I’ve always thought about creating a graphic novel, although it’s still very vague at this moment. I’ve thought about giving it a shot, though I already thought of stories in mind, I just probably need enough time to focus on that. For now all I have
to do is just to come up with more paintings and illustrations, and just grab the opportunity on having time to do all these.
www.brownmonkeys.com
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The Brownmonkeys is a design collective based in Dubai. Purveyor of the lowbrow movement in the region. A group of multi-disciplinary artists. They consist of graphic designers, illustrators, painters, musicians, photographers and videographers.
The Brownmonkeys offer an alternative approach to contemporary art and design, keeping the whole work process fun and without inhibition. They have strength in numbers, varied sensibilities and kaleidescope of ideas.
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What led to the formation of Brownmonkeys?The formation of the Brownmonkeys was conceived through the realization that there was a need for a low-brow artistic movement here in Dubai which was not present at that time. We thought that art should be able to raise awareness by tackling issues expressed in visual form.
What’s Brownmonkeys’ philosophy behind doing creative work?We always considered every project to be a “fun” challenge and never really placed ourselves in the state where everything is so serious that the output becomes a stiff product. So yes, our philosophy is very simple just like what every other artist employs to his or her work, “just have fun”.
How do you keep a good balance with the variety of materials that you work with?As a collective, we always try new things among ourselves. We always like collaborating with each other to create a unique piece or look for a particular project yet ensuring that we keep our own style of execution. Do you feel that your work should always create an immediate dialogue with your audience? Was there ever a cultural barrier?Every artist’s work should create a dialogue with his or her audience. Or else, an artwork is somehow considered ineffective if it didn’t. Of course there were cultural barriers at first. We all go through that especially from expats like us who brought our cultural values
in art to a very different place that we’re used to..
As an art collective, how did your work progress since you started 5 years ago?As years went by, we’ve had different projects, big and small. And through those years, we caught up with different styles along the way where it taught us to improve or evolve. Our styles as a collective varied anyway so I guess we do discover a lot of ways to show work diversity that has progressed over the years.
What would your ideal next project be?An ideal project is something wherein we can curate and showcase the works of each member of the collective at the same time. That could be the “next project” that we’re all looking forward to.
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Johanna Velasco-Deutsch+63 999 998 [email protected]
Johanna Velasco-Deutsch is an illustrator and designer. Her work has received the Gold Award from the Society of Illustrators - Los Angeles, and has been featured in publications such as Semi-permanent and Luerzers Archive 200 best illustrators. She is drawn to the strange and the beautiful, the whimsical and the melancholy, and the in-between places where things are not quite what they seem.
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Danesh Mohiuddin +971 50 258 0852
Danesh Mohiuddin is a Canadian humorous illustrator of Indian Origin. He was born and brought up in Dubai, and moved to Toronto, Canada at the age of 17 for post secondary studies. He obtained his Bachelor of Science in Psychology at the University of Toronto and went on to pursue art at the Sheridan College. Over there he studied Art fundamentals and Technical Illustration. In 2005 he returned to Dubai to work at Gulf News (Al Nisr Publishing) as a full time illustrator for 3 years. After this he started traveling and freelancing as an illustrator. Notable projects include the Dubai Metro illustrations with Saatchi and Saatchi, illustrations for Time Out Dubai, Scholastic New York and Comic Con India. His style of art is humorous, ironic and satirical and regularly involves social commentary. He uses brush and ink, and frequently colors digitally. At the moment, he spends a lot of time working and traveling in Spain, where his wife is from.
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Alia AlMalik+971 50 883 [email protected]
Alia AlMalik graduated from Zayed University in January 2009 with a bachelors degree in Graphic Design. She gained experience as an intern at Young Team and Rubicam in designing major projects, working in teams, and meeting the expectations of a variety of clients.
When not designing, Alia finds pleasure sketching concepts, drawing, illustrating, and painting. Currently, Alia AlMalik is freelancing as a designer and illustrator, and is always aiming to keep on learning from her surroundings and the experiences she undertakes throughout her professional life.
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Mehdi Saeedi is an internationally renowned artist and designer. His aesthetics have become a mainstay of design in many regions, especially in those using the Persian and Arabic script as their alphabet.
Born in, Tehran, Iran, Saeedi was educated and trained at Tehran’s Malekeh Ashtar School of Graphic Design and at the University of Cambridge. Saeedi’s works have been exhibited at numerous major museums worldwide and are part of several prominent museum, public and private collections. He has attended numerous local and international Competitions and exhibitions as jury member and also as speaker. He is also a member of the Iranian Graphic Design society (IGDS) and has taught in the universities in Iran since 2005.
Mehdi Saeedi is emblematic of Iran’s prominence and regional dominance in graphic design and poster art.
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Matt is British fine artist and illustrator living and working in the UAE. He specializes in humorous illustration, stylized portraiture, live public art, caricature, character design and wildlife portraiture. A predominantly self taught artist in both traditional and digital mediums, working in watercolour, acrylics, sculpture and spray paint along with digital painting programs including Photoshop. Matt’s work has been published and supported advertising campaigns in newspapers, books and magazines all over the world, and he has recently finished working on several children’s book covers and a large series of watercolour paintings for a major hotel group in the UAE. Matt has exhibited his work in group shows in the region and alongside his illustration for media work he is currently working on a collection of large scale paintings for further exhibitions. Matt also teaches workshops and classes in caricature and character design, as well as drawing at live at events around the gulf.
Matt Ryder +971 50 758 [email protected]
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Ashraf Ghori is an award winning artist, filmmaker and entrepreneur from India best known for creating UAE’s first CGI Science Fiction film ‘Xero Error’ which won recognition at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival. He was awarded “Best Filmmaker’ of 2010 by ITP / Digital Studio.He is the CEO and founder of Dubai-based digital design agency Xpanse CGI that has produced work for The Private Office of the Crown Prince, H H Sheikh Hamdan, among its client portfolio.
Ashraf Ghori +971 50 616 [email protected]
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His digital artworks have been published in many international publications. He is ranked as a top Twitter user from the UAE and is often featured as a celebrity artist and speaker at various events related to art, technology and entrepreneurship.
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I’m a 26 years old, brazilian illustrator/designer, working on the area since i can remember.I’m passionate about everything related to art and music, and i use my design skills to express my feelings. I believe art is one of the most powerful tools of communication and i fell very fortunate to work with something that gives me so much pleasure!
Matheus Lopes (aka Mathiole)+5531 890 [email protected]
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Syed Ahmed Sheeraz+92 300 409 [email protected]
Alden Guevarra+971 50 585 [email protected] www.aldenguevarra.weebly.com
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Ammar Al Mahmood +973 3645 9995 [email protected] www.ammaralmahmood.net
Ammar Al Mahmood is a Bahraini creative professional calligrapher, designer and digital artist. His degree is in Computer Graphics - Fine Art, from New York Institute of Technology. His passion and skills combine calligraphy and digital art. His interest began with drawing, painting, doing Arabic calligraphy with different styles. He worked for well-known clients in branding and identity design, publication & print design, advertising, calligraphy painting and digital arts.
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Arfa Rehman +971 50 181 4820
[email protected]/ArfaRehman
She is a student of visual Arts and Social Research at New York University Abu Dhabi. This project, featuring two artworks, deals with a number of aspects that interest her about design: patterns, typography, and dimensionality.
She started holding art exhibits since 1992. She participated in many group art shows inside and outside of Saudi Arabia. She won a number of awards such as:- First place in Al Jouf art gallery competition.- Awards from the Kingdom’s ministry art gallery.
Awatef Al Safwan+966 5558 50191
awatef.alsafwan
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Brandon Fernandes +971 55 347 [email protected]
Brandon Fernandes (a.k.a. n3tninja), is a digital artist based in Dubai. His artwork probably stems from looking at the world and twisting it into his own alternate reality. As a child, his fantasies always got a hold of him and the only outlet he could splatter them onto was art. Being a comic-book, video game, cartoon and anime fan, he is constantly inspired and flooded with so much that he often finds himself blasting out onto a canvas straight out for a week or so. He loves challenging himself and testing his patience on new things, and this prevents his creativity engine from stopping and helps him learn new things.
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Carlos Lerma was born near the sea and he has always lived close to it. His passion in life is telling stories, yet he has never had the talent to write or to sing, the only thing that he have found where he could quench this passion is drawing. He studied graphic design but over the years he has become more and more involved in illustration.He is part of GOLPEAvISA.mx, a Graphic Design Studio in México where they do a lot of illustration, branding, web and advertising. He loves what he does, and he feels extremely lucky and grateful to be able to make a living out of it.
Carlos Lerma+52 998 884 05 [email protected]
www.lerms.net
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Laura varsky is a designer and illustrator from Buenos Aires, Argentina.Her first forays into the design world came through her involvement with the local independent rock scene. She gradually asserted herself as a designer, specializing in the design of books and CD sleeves. In 2006 she received a Latin Grammy as Art Director for best record packaging.
Four years after her graduation as a designer, she rediscovered the world of illustration working for editorial projects, several labels and artistic projects. Her style incorporates hand lettering as one of its main characteristics.Laura is the author of several illustrated books and the designer of the typography “Lady René”.
As a professor, she held a chair in Typography for over 10 years at the School of Design of the University of Buenos Aires, coordinated workshops, and lectured extensively throughout Latin America.
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Catherine Sunga+971 56 274 [email protected]/csillustrations
Catherine is a Mom, a Wife, an Office Manager, an Artist and a published freelance Children’s Book Illustrator (Izzy’s Tail). After many years of being away from home and away from Art, She has found her way back to Art and Illustration in 2011 by being a Freelance Children’s Illustrator”.
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Ryan Anin is an illustrator and comic book artist from Cebu, Philippines. He likes to draw strange creatures that are inspired by everyday people and the events that surround them. He currently works as a confederate in an equally strange graphic art studio called Happy Garaje.
Ryan [email protected]
http://happygaraje.com
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Sahar Abdalla+971 50 873 2429
Sara Japanwalla+971 50 228 8652
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Qinza Najm is a Pakistani-American artist, whose work has been selected for many national and international juried exhibitions in New York, Atlanta and Dubai. Exhibition venues include Phyllis Harriman Mason Gallery NYC, Manhattan Borough President’s Office NYC, US Consulate Dubai, Art Couture Gallery Dubai and Time Square NYC. Currently, Qinza’s large scale work is in public and private collections.
Qinza completed her Ph.d in Psychology from USA, which enables her to access her subconscious and bring it onto the canvas. Qinza studied painting & drawing at Bath University England, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) USA, and painting, mixed media and sculpture at The Art Students League of New York with well known NYC artists such as Bruce Dorfman, Frank O’Cain, Leonid Lerman and Larry Poons. She now works out of her studio in NYC and exhibits frequently in United States and Dubai.
Qinza Najm+404 819 1971 (USA)+971 551 311 677 (Dubai) [email protected]
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Parisa Tashakori+98 912 1438200
[email protected] [email protected]
www.parisatashakori.com
Romer Quindara+971 50 357 9945
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Muna Al Marashi +971 50 826 [email protected]
Muna Mahdi Al Marashi graduated from Zayed University in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design. I have studied typography, illustration, and packaging design that have helped me gain knowledge of principles and processes that are related to visual art and design work. My work experience was with the Zayed University Marketing and Publications Department, which was one of the best work experiences that I’ve had. During free time, I took great pleasure in drawing, painting, photography, mixed media, and origami.
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Machine consists of Mark Klaverstijn (Amsterdam, 1973) & Paul du Bois-Reymond (Berlin, 1974). They both live and work in Amsterdam. Already collaborating on in- and out of school projects, they started their first collective ‘DEPT’ (together with Leonard van Munster) right after graduation in 1996. In their first years as a collective they worked a lot for the Dutch club culture. They created a massive amount of flyers for the legendary club RoXY in Amsterdam, at a time when this medium was still in it’s early years. Simultaneously they worked for clients such as the Dutch Post Office (TPG) and the Amsterdam museum for contemporary art (Stedelijk Museum). From the very start, they adapted new media in their work. The collective embraced the possibilities that came with computers and made versatile projects such as websites, video performances, record covers, t-Shirts, installations and music.
In 2008 their DEPT company website was included in the permanent History of Dutch Design Exhibition at the Beyerd Design Museum in Breda. After DEPT split up in 2001, Machine was founded. Machine’s focus over the last years has shifted more and more towards the music industry. They started an experimental record label called ‘Ourmachine Records’ and became the exclusive designers for The Kindred Spirits Record Label. Regular Club nights such as ‘Outsiders’ or ‘Phase II’ are organized to create a platform for DJ-ing and work by Machine’s students. Machine’s work has been included in the permanent collections of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and the MOMA San Francisco. Machine has been teaching at the Gerrit Rietveld Art Academy in Amsterdam for the last 10 years.
Mark Klaverstijn and Paul du Bois-Reymond+31 20 4862538
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Odilaine Salalac-Mejorada is an exemplary graphic designer who graduated from the College of the Holy Spirit, Philippines with a degree in Fine Arts major in Advertising. With more than 11 years of experience in the advertising, print and media industry. Currently working as a Senior Graphic Designer in one of the most prestigious publication in the UAE—CPI’s BBC Good Food Middle East Magazine. She loves to express herself through painting and cooking.
Odiaine Salalac-Mejorada+971 55 345 [email protected]
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Jay makes a very clear point, and plans an approach that is simple and straightforward: find the tallest standing structure in the area and take the photo from there. This approach would not be without its limitations but from these first few images, it sounds like a very exciting project.
Franzty Magsakay+971 56 148 1996
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Cris Mejorada+971 50 2931864 / +971 55 3456253
Cris Mejorada is a Dubai based professional photographer and an art enthusiast from being an animator, to a graphic designer, and now a photographer. His subject matters are product of everyday life from food, fashion, events, travel, interior and also macro shoots. It becomes obvious that the subject matter is secondary to innate understanding of composition and proper lighting position. Most of his works are published in the magazines. He really loves seeing the world through his lens and sharing this with people.
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Charlie ‘Wolf” Drilon is a graphic designer based in Dubai and also a hobbyist landscape, portrait and fashion photographer. My style and approach is simple, straightforward, bold, and classic. To Wolf, photography isn’t simply a method of finding beauty and expression. Its a powerful tool that can serve to more a society – emotionally, constructively, and socially. Aside from graphic design and photography, Wolf focuses on videography in his personal work, mostly enjoying to be a part of Timonera grafik production team.
Charlie Banalo+971 55 806 5478 [email protected]
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Jay Colina +971 55 105 3761
[email protected] flickr.com/ragnarokjay
Jay makes a very clear point, and plans an approach that is simple and straightforward: find the tallest standing structure in the area and take the photo from there. This approach would not be without its limitations but from these first few images, it sounds like a very exciting project.
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Based in Madrid, Spain. Initially an architecture student, David chose to study Fine Arts instead. After graduating with a degee in design, he continued to work in design, advertising and illustration. He has been a freelance illustrator, art director and creative director at digital agencies such as Teknoland, NetthinkCarat, Zapping, Publicis and Orbital BBDO.
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Jorge Restrepo57 +1 [email protected]
Graphic designer graduated with honors from Universidad Nacional de Colombia (2001), Adobe Certified Expert, teacher of typography and editorial design in Universidad de Los Andes. And he worked to JWT Colombia, General Motors Colombia, Revista Cambio as Art Director.
He created + WONKSITE STUDIO + at the end of 2002 and with this way has reached many projects like books as co-author of Masters of Photoshop 2, and participated in Latin American Graphic Design (Taschen), Atlas of Graphic Designers (Mao Mao publishers), Design: type (Qbook), Anniversary book (Dolce & Gabbana), 15th Anniversary Book (IdN),1000 type treatments (Rockport) among others. In addiition worked to Computer Arts magazine (U.K.), RAD (Red Académica de Diseño, Colombia), Hoja por Hoja magazine (Mexico), P576 (Colombia), Blank magazine (Chile), etc.
Jorge was curator to Colombia’s Passion Exhibition at Hong Kong (NewWebPick), organized and published the postcard booklet to PechaKucha titled I love Haití, and recently create an editorial {img.} editores. Speaker in PechaKucha vol 3 (Bogotá / Colombia), Dejando Huella 12+1 (Querétaro / Mexico), Pixel Show (Porto Alegre / Brazil), Ciclos MUCA (Guayaquil / Ecuador) also in different universities in Colombia.
Jorge had work in different fields of design from illustration and editorial, all of them with a style unique mixing a clear typography with shapes and textures to create graphic alliances. Inspired initially with David Carson, Neville Brody and Emigre magazine, Jorge has achieved several reference like Stefan Sagmeister, Eduardo Recife, which create typographic experiments where he feels a particular passion.
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She specializes in hand drawn lettering and illustration for book jackets, packaging and many other commercial applications. Since graduating in 2005 with a degree in Illustration from the University of Brighton (UK), she has developed her distinct typographic style, working for a diverse range of clients all over the world, from London, New York, Europe and the Middle East. Her clients include Tiffanys, Harvey Nichols, Marks and Spencers and McDonalds.
She creates hand-drawn, dynamic lettering and often manipulate existing typefaces, intertwining words with illustrations and flourishes to create a flowing, organic image. She is constantly experimenting and striving to push her work into new areas and is always excited to find new applications for her work. When not working, she likes to be outside and takes the opportunity to travel as much as possible and draws inspiration from experiences and the people and things she encounters along the way. She also likes to make time to work on personal pieces in various media and exhibits and sells intricate laser- cut paper illustrations as well as prints.
Kate Forrester +97155 579 9412
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Eduardo Bertone +34 [email protected]
Artist, Illustrator, graphic designer and art director from 1998. Working for international projects, taking part in group exhibitions and publications in different parts of the world.Eduardo was born in Rosario, Argentina in 1977. When he finished his studies in graphic design he moved to Madrid (2000), where he studied illustration, worked as an art director, and started
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to be linked with collaborative art projects. It has given him the opportunity to show his work in group exhibitions, some solo shows, books and magazines in different parts of the world such as Colors Notebook, itinerant exhibition at Centre Pompidou in Paris, Triennale di Milano and Shanghai Art Museum. And “ROJO®SMART: Open your mind” at Ivaliden1 Gallery in Berlin.
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Koraliekoralie.metroplastique@gmail.comwww.koralie.netwww.metroplastique.com
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Koralie was born in 1977 in Montpellier, France; she currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. In 1995, she pursued both a MA in Art at Université Paul valéry and in Architecture at Ecole d’Architecture de Montpellier, in addition to exhibiting her first works of art.
After graduation, Koralie started working with architectural agencies and then worked as an assistant designer on television advertising sets. In 2002, realizing that she could not fulfill all her goals at once, Koralie decided to focus completely on her art. It was in 2001 that she had her most beautiful encounter with a street artist: SupaKitch, at that time a creative director and graffiti writer, but nowadays an emerging artist, her husband, and the father of her two children.
Her art has been featured in solo shows, collaborations, group shows, auctions and festivals, magazine articles, web publications, book publications, and on videos and Tv all over the world.
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Tj Padilla Abustan is a Filipino trans-disciplinary designer and artist born in Manila based in Dubai. He has worked in the fields of Illustrations, Graphic Design, Photography, Video, Animation & Motion Graphics, 3D Modeling and Interactive media. He is currently working at virgin Megastore Middle East & North Africa as a Regional Senior Graphic Designer. Graduated Bachelor of Fine Arts in Industrial Design at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City. Created artworks for Sole DXB 2011, Nooka Nooka vinyl Toys, won competition for MEFCC Foo Dog MEGA vinyl toys a remake of Xmen’s Woverine & Hirokoi Mega doll produced for Quint print launch in early 2011 inspired by the tsunami that hit Japan. A designer whose love for drawing and comics manifested itself in a career in graphic design, with a style that’s a mixture of comic-y, grungy, humorous illustrations.
Tj Padilla Abustan+971 50 392 [email protected]
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Govinda Trazo [email protected]
Govinda is a designer and doodler. Every design work that comes to her starts with a doodle -- a habit that mostly brings up an idea that she can work or play around with. It’s how she finds the starting line to a good design. Her idea of a good design is communication well delivered - whatever the style. She has worked in Dubai and exposed herself to various art exhibitions such as Dpict Illustration Exhibition in 2009 (Dubai), Project: MEGA, the largest Designer Toy Exhibition in 2010 (Dubai), and illustrated for M Magazine 2010 (Abu Dhabi).
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Guillaumit+33 619020813
Guillaumit is an illustrator, graphic designer and motion designer from France. His work combine geometric forms , rigid colour sheme and and funny cartoons characters. He tries to build a universe both lucid and meaningful. His work was shown in different exhibitions in Paris, London, Tokyo, Berlin…
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Liz Ramos-Prado is a Peruvian Graphic Designer based in Dubai, dedicated to the Editorial Design, Illustration and Information Graphics work. She has also been participating in several artistic group exhibitions, displaying paintings, drawings, installations and digital art. “I like keeping versatility on my work, not only with the different mediums and surfaces I work with, like pencils, acrylics, wood, paper or digital; but also producing conceptual illustrations which can depict social, political or cultural issues; and in a more personal work, full of female
Liz Ramos-Prado [email protected]
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characters, my themes are focused on beauty, femininity and on the exploration of a personal reflections of life”. Currently Liz is working as Information Graphics Artist Editor for DMI, publishing company in Dubai, and as freelance Designer and Illustrator for publishing companies in UAE, United States and South America. She has been given Malofiej Infographic Awards, Awards of Excellence by Society for News Design, and WAN IFRA Awards for her work in Editorial Design, Illustrations and Infographics
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Mindmill Ideation Co.+971 2 676 [email protected]
We work for Fulus, Design for Love (Illustration + Typography)Every designer’s motto when starting out. Dhon Ragadio is a graphic slash industrial designer. His illustrations, designs and typography takes the modern notion of minimalism and flips it on it’s side. After being inspired by a documentary about Helvetica, it got him questioning, “Do people really care about a font that they would actually watch an hour long lecture about its origin? It doesn’t even look special” It was then he found himself noticing fonts on magazines, posters, adverts.. and unconsciously criticizing it. From then on, his love for fonts grew and he firmly believes that typography in art is much, much more than just words. Typography is art.
Emilie Barredo - Creative DirectorDhon Ragadio - Art Director/ Designer
Ernest Beronia - DesignerEllaine Fatima - Copywriter/ Project Head
Pamela Yap - Production
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Born in Iran, raised in Hong kong and educated in Europe. Employed by Benetton and Diesel in Italy to create advertising & imagery for their brands. After moving to Singapore, rediscovered the power of images to communicate ideas across language barriers. After creating Kult magazine (www.kult.com.sg) it was possible to work with many artists both locally and internationally. Now organizing exhibitions, curating events and working with brands to promote and grow the arts scene in Singapore.
MojokoSingapore
+65 909 [email protected]
www.mojoko.net
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Good Wives and Warriorshello@goodwivesandwarriors.co.ukwww.goodwivesandwarriors.co.uk
Becky Bolton and Louise Chappell have been working collaboratively as Good Wives and Warriors since 2007, soon after graduating from the Painting Department at The Glasgow School of Art. They divide their time between designing large-scale installations for fine art settings and undertaking design commissions for companies in the UK and abroad, including Tiger Beer, Absolut vodka, Swarovski and Swatch. They have exhibited around the world, including shows in Berlin, Paris, Melbourne, Buenos Aires, San Francisco and Sao Paulo and have been featured in a number of publications and books including ICON Magazine, Wired Magazine and the Taschen books Illustration Now!3 and Portraits.
The core of all Good Wives and Warriors work is an autonomous drawing and painting practice in which they create works where the individual ‘line’ is nonexistent. They are known for their large-scale wall paintings and intricate, sprawling drawings and illustrations.
They are currently based in Berlin.
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FLAvIO MELCHIORRE, is an italian artist, award-winning designer, illustrator, painter and founder of IDRO51 Creative Design Studio with a degrees in GraphicDesign and over ten years of experiences in typography, advertising and fashion industry. He developed his distinctive personal style “Hypnotic Art” finding inspiration in his own life experiences, in people he met and places he visited, he brings his art to life, combining free-hand drawings with chromatic and iconographic effects, reaching unique results. “From a single drawing, many different digital elaborations can derive. Endless, potential evolutions”.
Flavio [email protected]
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Mark Joseph Deutsch is a writer and designer. His work has been exhibited at Tokyo Designers Week and has been profiled by Luerzers Archive 200 Best Illustrators from the years 2009 through 2012. He enjoys creating kooky cartoons, designing video games and drawing. He’s passionate about storytelling but what he loves most is his family and the sea.
Mark Joseph Deutsch 0932 [email protected]/poorboymark
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Gyula Deak +971 52-799-2731 / +9714-380-5036
Gyula Deak is a 29-year-old designer and illustrator, founder and creative partner of Quint. Quint is a Dubai-based, award-winning boutique design studio and also known by its unique creative and lifestyle magazine. Working and living in Dubai now, Gyula has been avidly working as a designer in various locations around the world since 2002.
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Interact Creative Benedita Feijó & Michael Andersen+351 225 102 [email protected] www.interactcreative.com
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Matei Apostolescu is a Bucharest based artist, and one of the most appreciated freestyle artists in the international art scenery. Born in 1983, he began drawing since he was a kid. Some of the companies and people he worked for include the Coca-Cola Company, BMW, HP, Olympus, Andy Smith (Portishead). Mateiís work, a fusion of different media: drawing, vector, photography, manipulation, even clay modeling, has been attracting constant attention and praise over the years, due largely to his ablity to turn what at first glance may appear to be pure randomness and chaos into a revealing and strangely soothing visual experience. His creations have been described as ëincredibly dense, exploding with intricate detail and filled with swirling, wildly complex shapes that compete for attention.í Yet his approach is simple:ìI believe in freestyle. In recents years Mateiís work has been shown at a variety of exhibitions in Atlanta, Berlin, Bucharest, Istanbul, London. In 2010, he was featured in Taschenís latest ìIllustration Nowî.
Matei Apostolescuwww.013a.comwww.beaucoupzero.com
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His alter ego TenTimesKarma came from the belief that karma always comes in tenfold, whether good or bad. Having experienced both first hand numerous times, he stands by this principle and tries to do more good than bad in his day to day existence.
Antonio Ismael Sandiego +63 922 239 7089
IsmaelSandiego/About-Antonio-Ismael-Sandiego
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Scot Bendall+44 (0)207 792 [email protected]
Established in 2002, La Boca is an award-winning, independent design studio specialising in illustration and image-making. We strive to create emotional connections through our work and value any small part we can play in contributing to popular culture as a whole.
We’ve worked with a wide spectrum of international clients, on projects ranging from limited edition vinyl record sleeves through to full-scale campaigns that touch just about every type of media.
We work from London and Amsterdam.
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Helloyellowstudio is a designstudio based in Amsterdam and develops Visual Concepts, Illustrations, Covers, Posters, Books, Prints for Fashion and Visual Identidies. It was founded by Zsuzsanna Ilijin in 2008. Since then Helloyellowstudio works for a wide range of international clients for the cultural and commercial sector.
Zsuzsanna Ilijin / Helloyellowstudio+31 648 195 426
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Michel Makhoul is a designer and art director based in Beirut, Lebanon. He has been working in various design fields for nearly 5 years and has now amassed a very wide range skills. From web to graphic design, from photo manipulation to iOs UI designs , whether it’s traditional or digital, for print or for screen, he simply loves everything creative.In 2008 Michel graduated with a Bachelor degree in Computer Science from American University of Science & Technology. Since then he cofounded Novium Collective with Nicholas Credli, a creative digital media agency. They’ve been regularly designing for some of the world’s medium, top clients and brands.
Michel Makhoul +961 3 [email protected]
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Illustrator, engraver and painter based in Madrid, graduated of Fine Arts in the University of Sevilla in 98. Since then he worked in different design studios and ad agencies in Andalusia. In 2004 he moves to Madrid. In June 2007 he begins to show his portfolio and after being selected amongst the 20 new talents of illustration, by the London based magazine Computer
Gabriel Moreno+34 91 542 [email protected]
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Arts, he begins his succesful carreer as an illustrator. At present he has worked with virtually every major national agencies, and is starting with his first commissions and international expansion. He has worked with numerous national and international publications, last August by the cover of the North American publishing Los Angeles Times Magazine.
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Graphic design studio based in Bogotá and Barcelona, created by Jorge Restrepo and viviana Gómez. They combine their skills focused in editorial design, typography and illustration. The study began in 2010 when the work of Jorge wants to turn into a more focused design in publishing, such as books, magazines and design brand and visual identity. Along the way he meets viviana, who has a strong ability in building design pieces focused on illustration and typography and after making his master in editorial design in Barcelona, professionals and strengthen ties undertake this new study. Among the customers are there in the studio is fig. Congress illustration, img {.} Projects, small publisher, Eumographic, among others.
PH3 Estudio57 [email protected]@ph3estudio.comwww.ph3estudio.com
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Born in Breslau (Poland) in 1978, Sebastian Onufszak is a German-Polish illustrator, designer and director. Between 2002 and 2006 he worked as an Art Director at Liquid — a design agency based in Augsburg (Germany) — and was responsible for print and interactive projects. In 2006 he joined Parasol Island, a design and animation studio in Düsseldorf, as Creative Director. Since 2009 Onufszak has been working for an international range of high-end clients in the fields of print, interactive and motion media as a self-employed designer. His commercial and personal works were featured in numerous design publications and exhibitions worldwide. He also lectures on motion graphics and animation at the University of Applied Sciences in Augsburg. Additionally, he is reknowned for his experimental live visuals at festivals and events in Paris, Barcelona, Brussels or New York.
Sebastian [email protected]
www.onufszak.com
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RaphaÎl vicenzi also known as Mydeadpony is a Belgian illustrator living in Brussels with his wife and daughter. His inspiration comes from his love of fashion illustration, street art, collages and his personal life. His personal works have been published in illustration now 3, The beautiful, The new age of feminine drawing and
RaphaÎl Vicenzi+32 0496 54 36 [email protected]
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many other printed publications, online magazines and blogs. He is currently represented by Colagene where he has been working for a variety of clients such as votre BeautÈ, Grazia, Place Laurier, Libresse, LA condo, Undiz, Teelocker...
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Onesidezero is the portfolio of British Illustrator Brett Wilkinson. Working from his studio in Leicester, Brett creates bold, graphic and playful illustrations filled with colour. His work is widely used in advertising and editorial whilst adorning products of all shapes and sizes. In addition to producing commercial work Brett’s illustrations are regularly featured in art publications and exhibitions.
Brett WilkinsonOnesidezero07792 [email protected]: www.onesidezero.co.uk
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Palestinian visual artist Nour Abuhayeh is a graduate from the American University of Sharjah with a Bachelor of Science in visual Communication design. Her designs aim to deliver a formative idea with sound simplicity, representing her individuality; As for her photography, she creates visuals that simulate intangible feelings and situations based on both human and social psychology.
Nour Said Abuhayeh+971 56 350 3665
[email protected]/nourabuhayeh
Nikita Chawla+971 50 501 5296
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Mohamed Nabil Labib+2 0100 68 333 14www.m-nabil.com
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Rohith works as a 3d Generalist at Real Image Productions.Heading the Modeling & texturing department. As an artist he always loved to work on 3D software and experimented with different methods to reach a good quality renders.
Rohith +971 56 690 0637
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“ Lost in a Storm of Apps” : One of the latest projects I have been working on, for a financial Swiss magazine, “Bilan”.
“ 20 “ : This piece was designed for the Exhibition as well as the book that my agency Illustrissimo is doing for the celebration of the 20 years of their existence.
“ In the Desert “ : This image was made along side “agence H” for a competition to promote Sebastien Loeb and Citroën.
Robert Palmer+33 618 048 [email protected]
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Kako is a Sao Paulo based award winning Illustrator, working for clients from the advertising, publishing and editorial markets. His work has been published in several books and annuals such as Illustration Now!, Illustration Now! Portraits, Communication Arts, Society of Illustrators, the SPD, Ai-AP Latin American Ilustración, New Illustrators File, 3x3, Archive 200 Best Illustrators Worldwide, amongst others. Kako is represented by Levy Creative Management.
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Eduardo Recife is an artist/ illustrator/typographer from Brazil. His collages/paintings/drawings have a distinct style that won recognition around the world. His personal website “Misprinted Type” has been online since 1998 and his works have been featured in several books, magazines and websites. He has created 23 typefaces over the years; done work for clients such as The New York Times, HBO, Burton, Nike; and exhibited his artworks in the US, Japan, Belgium, Denmark, UK, Brazil, Spain, Australia, Lithuania and Mexico.
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A multi-talented designer with more than 12 years of extensive experience in the advertising, marketing and print industry. She graduated with distinction in the Far Eastern University, Philippines with a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts Major in Advertising. In this artwork, she got her inspiration from nature and love for animals and living things. JGM
Julie Gemini Marquez+971 56 144 3039 [email protected]
[email protected]+971 55 964 6577www.vron.com
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SweetBeam+971 4 436 2330
Shereef Cherikkallan+971 2 607 5916 / +971 55 800 6786
SweetBeam is a new service designed to promote the services of luxury hotel brands to their clients while they are in the guest rooms. To do this, SweetBeam relies on a new from of silent, subtle and highly visual communication, displayed as “art” in digital frames placed throughout the rooms.
The Petroleum Institute’s annual Global Day event is an opportunity for the PI community to come together on a single day to make an impact in neighborhoods around the world and to advance the university’s mission of positive social change.
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Will Bryant makes work about language, nostalgia, the senses, and nonsenses. This includes and is not limited to 90s basketball, cats, pop culture, art history, and self-deprecation. With interests in commercial work, and art practice he aims to breakdown barriers while creating piles of work that create a dialogue between the two. His work can be experienced in various forms such as drawing, painting, printmaking, publications, sculpture, and events. Whatever form it takes, his work remains light-hearted and full of personality.
Will [email protected]
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SeaShadow
Set in the Middle East, SeaShadow tells the story of young friends in an Emirati neighbourhood.
Our task was to create the overall branding for the rollout and launch of the flagship movie. An iconic movie poster and dynamic website followed through from the initial identity.
www.seashadowmovie.com
Assembly Studios
T +971 (0) 2 401 2878 M +971 (0) 5 62542302 [email protected]
Arab Film Studio
We were commissioned by Image Nation to create the identity and visual language, along with a suite of marketing collateral, for Arab Film Studio.
Arab Film Studio is a collaboration between Image Nation and twofour54, creating an annual multi-disciplinary programme that will give burgeoning filmmakers the training they need to have successful careers in the film industry.
www.assemblystudios.ae/portfolio/print/arab-film-studio-2013-marketing/
Assembly Studios
T +971 (0) 2 401 2878 M +971 (0) 5 62542302 [email protected]
Jon Digby +971 50 248 8732
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Curtis Baigent is a design driven Director, Motion & design artist, Art director, Typographer, Illustrator, Animator from Wellington, New Zealand. Wielding a quiet demeanour, he likes to let his work do the talking, offering up a deep and meaningful discourse through colours and shapes. He has recently been honored by the Art Directors Club as one of their Young Guns and hailed as a ‘New Hero of Design’ by Computer Arts.
Curtis [email protected]
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METAphrenie+971 4 436 [email protected]
METAphrenie (which means “Beyond the Mind”) creates award-winning visual solutions for the global advertising, marketing, and broadcast industries. Founded in 2004, in Berlin, Germany and now headquartered in Dubai, UAE since 2009, the full-service design and production studio specializes in developing memorable design solutions that bring innovative concepts to life. METAphrenie’s strategy in creating differentiated identities focuses on simple yet fundamental principles of design and storytelling as they guide and collaborate with their clients through both the creative and production process.
Since its inception, the company has created award-winning work for such major clients as Adidas, Audi, HBO, OSN, vOX Cinemas, TEDx, History Channel, Al Jazeera Sport Channel, Al Kass and NBC Sports Network. Seamlessly integrating the disciplines of design, animation and live-action direction, METAphrenie partners with the world’s leading agencies, advertisers, and broadcasters to set brands in motion.
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Mir Ansaruddin Wasif is from Karachi, Pakistan; currently residing in Dubai and working for CNBC Arabia. Ansar has design/animation experience for 6+ years. In the beginning, Ansar delved into abstract kind of designs and then eventually switched towards typographical design and now doing Broadcast Design/Animation.
Mir Ansaruddin Wasif +971 55 679 2026
[email protected] http://www.be.net/ansar
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Hariz Soe’oed (22). A youth progressive image trigger, born in Jakarta - Indonesia. By
intense personal affair with film, music and story telling led him to chose motionography as
a solid discipline. Currently attending 3D Modelling & vFX Production program in Humber
College (Toronto - ON. Canada). And by the time being he is busy of making his final project.
Hariz Soe’oed+1 416 418 [email protected]. zaviero.com
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Hello Project [email protected]
Hello Project Space is a design and video collective based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. They help brands make new friends.
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What’s the MK12 philosophy behind doing creative work?We believe that the best work is often the result of artists being free to experiment and develop their own style and techniques without some of the restrictions found at traditional studios – in other words, we do not maintain a conventional hierarchy in which artists answer to creative directors. Here, every artist is their own creative director, and our final work is the creative sum of its participants, with each artist adding their own distinctive signature.
MK12 began as a result of its partners being frustrated with the conventional model and wanting
to create an environment defined more by its members than a singular vision or aesthetic.
Also, we do not put much distance between our personal and professional lives. Much of what influences our personal work and lifestyles finds its way into what we produce, often subconsciously – from books we’re reading to film, music and ‘low’ art, to things we find on road trips or even just walking through flea markets on the weekend. Often, our work is the median of several conflicting interests here at the studio, which we blend together into a single piece. We believe that smashing ideas together can produce
results that are surprising even to ourselves, and it gives us a constant supply of new tangents to explore.
MK12 has been specialising in motion graphics for several years. Is it any different now from back when you first started in 2000?It’s an entirely different landscape than it was back in 2000. The term ‘motion graphics’ was something of a novelty and was only beginning to find its place in film and advertising. Before then, it was a more of a tool for experimental filmmakers and music video directors. Their efforts, combined with digital film festivals like ResFest
FEATURED INTERVIEW:
The early pioneers of motion graphics
Kansas-based MK12 is a celebrated motion design agency with acclaim in both commercial and artistic arenas. Founded in 2000 by art school refugees Jed Carter, Timmy Fisher, Matt Fraction and Ben Radatz and later joined by designer / composer Shaun Hamontree and computer guru Chad Perry. MK12’s work constantly challenges the boundaries between narrative structure and experimental storytelling via juxtapositions of live action, graphic design, nostalgic influence and new technologies.
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and OneDotZero and a growing internet community, helped to legitimise motion graphics and pave the road for more commercial applications.
Of course, the technology ceiling was much different as well, both in terms of hardware and software. In the 1990’s, much of the equipment used to create digital animation was too expensive or proprietary for widespread use, but with the boom in personal computing and the availability of new software like After Effects and Alias | Wavefront, small studios and individual artists were able to compete with larger companies on their own terms.
Another big difference is the relevance of motion graphics in the academic arena. There are now college electives and even majors in motion design, but there was no such thing a decade ago. This has helped to staff the marketplace with an abundance of talent, but it has also gentrified the medium somewhat.
What creative challenges does your studio face to maintain your excellent track record?Being in a creative industry, our biggest challenge is of course staying relevant, both in terms of the tools that we use and the
work that we produce. One of the main reasons that we continue to make short films and other internal projects is to constantly experiment with new techniques and ideas, so that we we don’t run dry when it comes to our commercial work.
One of the conceits of this business – and something that is usually taken for granted by clients and the general public – is that motion design is a prescriptive craft, where the artist only has to consider the parameters of a job and apply the right visuals to support it. But the challenges with motion design are often much greater than that, especially when it’s used as a storytelling device – it’s inventing a whole world, with its own internal logic, continuity and behaviour – even if that ‘world’ is entirely graphic, text-driven etc.
Normally, when we begin work on a new project, we’ll design a lot of things that we know will never show up in the final piece, but we do that in order to better understand the world that we’re creating, even if only a sliver of that is ever seen.
How do you keep a good balance on working for corporate clients and doing in-
house MK12 productions?Finding a balance between client and in-house work is virtually impossible; schedules are what they are, and so we always have to prioritise the commercial work. But we don’t make creative distinctions between the two – both are important facets to our studio, and we really do enjoy collaborating with like-minded people. We have no ego about our own creative abilities and recognise that we can’t always work in a bubble, and so we welcome opportunities to expand our knowledge by working outside of our own comfort zone.
That being said, it is very important to us that we foster and maintain our own internal creative language, and so we are proactive about creating our own projects. And because a majority of our clients contact us because of that work, we’re able to keep a fair
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amount of control over that aspect of our studio.
Do you have any particular favourite projects you have worked on?As a collective, it’s difficult for us to agree on any one favourite project; you would likely get a different answer depending on who you ask. But in terms of memorable projects, there are certainly a few standouts which have helped to shape us as a studio over the years. Our title sequence for Stranger than Fiction, for example, was our first foray into feature film work, and it opened the doors to more film
projects – something which we’ve always aspired to. Doing the titles and in-film graphics for Quantum of Solace was also a landmark for us, if for no other reason than its magnitude and the commitment we made to it -- we had to close our doors for several months and focus on it exclusively.
But there are also lots of smaller projects which have defined us; our titles for ResFest 2000 are what first gained us attention on a large scale, which lead to us working on collaborative projects like Belief’s Untitled film series -- specifically, Embryo and Infinity, both of which did very well on the film
festival circuit and helped to establish our reputation as an experimental studio and lead to further work directing music videos for the Faint, Hot Hot Heat and Common – all of which we maintained full creative control over, setting the precedent for future commercial work.
Where else can we see more of MK12? Are there any new film projects coming up? Of course, we’re at mk12.com, which we just redesigned, and we’re also active on Facebook and Twitter (#wearemk12).
We are currently working on a feature-length documentary about the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland called Particle Fever, which should be out in early 2013, and are currently entertaining several other film projects as well, but those are too early to discuss at this time.
One of the main reasons that we continue to make short films and other internal projects is to constantly experiment with new techniques and ideas, so that we we don’t run dry when it comes to our commercial work.
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Adhemas Batista
Ahmad Akhyar
Alden Guevarra
Alia AlMalik
Ammar Al Mahmood
Antonio Ismael Sandiego
Arfa Rehman
Ashraf Ghori
Awatef Al Safwan
Brandon Fernandes
Brett Wilkinson
Brown Monkeys
Carlos Lerma
Catherine Sunga
Charlie Banalo
Cris Mejorada
Curtis Baigent
Danesh Mohiuddin
David Despau
Deama Hatahet
Diego Castedo
Dina Hafez
Douglas Alves
Eduardo Bertone
Eduardo Recife
Eric Kim
Fikra Design Studio
Flavio Melchiorre
Franzty Magsakay
Gabriel Moreno
Good Wives and Warriors
Govinda Trazo
Guillaumit
Gyula Deak
Hariz Soe’oed
Hatim Majid Alsharif
Hello Project Space
Hydro 74
Ice Cream For Free
Interact Creative
Issam Bouini
Jay Colina
Johanna velasco-Deutsch
Jon Digby
Jorge Restrepo
Julie Gemini Marquez
KAKO
Kate Forrester
Koralie
Kristy Anne Ligones
Laura varsky
Liz Ramos-Prado
Lysander Jugo
Mark Joseph Deutsch
Mark Klaverstijn & Paul du Bois-Reymond
Martin Galabov
Matei Apostolescu
Matheus Lopes (aka Mathiole)
Matt Ryder
Mehdi Saeedi
METAphrenie
Michel Makhoul
Mindmill Ideation Co.
Mir Ansaruddin Wasif
MK12
Mohamed Nabil Labib
Muna Al Marashi
Nikita Chawla
Noura Masri
Odiaine Salalac-Mejorada
One Size
Parisa Tashakori
PH3 Estudio
Qinza Najm
RaphaÎl vicenzi
Robert Palmer
Rohith
Romer Quindara
Ryan Anin
Saad Ahmed
Sachi Ediriweera
Sahar Abdalla
Sara Japanwalla
Scot Bendall
Sebastian Onufszak
Shereef Cherikkallan
Silke Werzinger
Sugar Power
SweetBeam
Syed Ahmed Sheeraz
Tj Padilla Abustan
vladimir Dubko
vnron
Will Bryant
Zsuzsanna Ilijin / Helloyellowstudio
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Glossary
