Tarek Atrissi Design featured in TDC’s “Typography 34” annual
“Typography 34”, the annual publication of the Type Directors Club in New York, has featured Tarek Atrissi Design in a full spread in its published book of 2014. This was a result of the honor given to Tarek Atrissi to be part of the judging panel of the 2013 TDC competition in New York, the international competition devoted for typography and awarding the best international practice in typographic design excellence. The feature in the book showcased a selection of the work of Tarek Atrissi Design that included typographic posters, wordmarks, logos as well as custom designed typefaces: all based on Arabic lettering and Calligraphy, giving the judges work section of the TDC book an Arabic flavor for the first time! The judges for this year’s competition consisted of Rietje Becker, Andrew Byrom, Aaron Draplin, Irina Lee, Craig Ward, Tarek Atrisai and Alyce Waxman.
Preview of the Typography 34 book by TDC New York, featuring award winning typographic design work from around the world.
“Typography 34”, which was designed by Chip Kidd, showcases an amazing selection of award winning typographic designs representing a wide range of categories including books, magazines, corporate identities, logos, stationery, annual reports, video and web graphics, and posters. Part of my duties as a judge to the TDC 2013 competition was selecting my personal favorite typographic piece among all the entries to the communication design competition. My pick to be awarded the “judge’s choice” honor was for the “Touch Exhibition” poster and promo design series by Giorgio Pesce” of Atelier Poisson in Lausanne, Switzerland.
What makes a specific typographic piece stands out among thousands of other entries presented at the TDC competition? It is hard to specifically explain, but the “touch” poster series certainly got my personal attention. On one hand- the posters managed to do exactly what they intended to do: invite you to approach them and “touch” them; in an attempt to communicate the tactile aspect of the exhibition they are promoting. This was probably the result of multiple factors such as the beautiful metallic colors used and the well-thought composition built around a central focus point. On the other hand, the posters relied mostly on lovely hand lettering that gave them an overall playful manual feel. A “rough” style that contrasts with the clean design approach typically adopted by museums for exhibition graphics. It is a style that clearly distinguishes itself as well from the well-known Swiss typographic design tradition; yet that retain a strong dynamic graphic quality. This typographic visual language was successfully applied further to a wider range of printed items.
“Touch” poster and promotional items series by Atelier Poisson in Switzerland. Selected by Tarek Atrissi as the “Judge’s choice” during the TDC 2013 competition.
“Touch” is a purely typographic solution that combines several characteristics that makes it an example of typographic excellence: it is simple; visually engaging; well crafted and mainly composed from beautifully hand drawn letters.
The “Typography 34” typography annual can be ordered on the following link:
http://www.amazon.com/Typography-34-Type-Directors-Club/dp/0062112813
