By Tarek Atrissi

Promotional posters of the exhibitions across the streets of Amsterdam

The Opening of our Exhibition “Arabic Graphics: the work of Tarek Atrissi in Exhibition” took place on the 2nd of May 2008 - in the presence of the Lebanese ambassador of the Netherlands Zaydan El Sagir- and will be on display through the summer at the The Delevante Foundation gallery in Amsterdam. The initial scheduled end of the exhibition on June 22nd has been extended until the 31st of August. For us at Tarek Atrissi Design, this marked the end of a lot of work and preparations for the exhibition, accompanied with the launch of our new website, but was certainly a great recognition to have in The Netherlands; and a chance to review and organize a lot of our work developed over the last 10 years. The opening of the Exhibition was as well a memorable reunion of friends, family, colleagues, clients, and people who has supported me as a designer and supported us as a design studio, in an ongoing exciting entrepreneurial business experience that started back in 2000.

From the Opening of “Arabic Graphics: The work of Tarek Atrissi in Exhibition”.

Seeing a “3 Dimensional portfolio space” is definitely exciting on its own; yet the pre-preparation process phase was in itself even more exciting. We have spent a lot of time exploring design possibilities for the exhibition poster and promotional material- and eventually were delighted to see the poster across the streets of Amsterdam: Adding an Arabic fingerprint across the city; and contrasting in its bright colors and simple design treatment with the rest of the posters on display at the time.

The Delevante Gallery which hosted the Exhibition- shown above the Poster design mural and some of the Arabic Typography and Type Design showcased work.

Though usually I consider myself a good speaker, I have been taken by surprise to add few words to the introduction speech and - probably because of the very personal aspect of this event- failed to articulate well and thank many of the people who helped in the exhibition. Paul Klok, Azza Alameddine and Diana Hawatmeh for putting so much efforts the last two month before the Expo; Fred van Eijk for a wonderful introduction speech; The entire Delevante team for believing all the way in their cultural mission; The sponsors of the exhibition (Gemeente Amsterdam, ArteGanza, Eutopia, Stichting Doen); All the friends and colleagues that came a long way to be part of the show; As well as Annahar Newspaper, for reviewing our work so positively across the years.

From the Opening of “Arabic Graphics: The work of Tarek Atrissi in Exhibition”.

It was a chance to celebrate our designs, yet most importantly, an occasion to look at the bigger picture of the work we are doing and have been producing, and reflecting on the future of our design practice.

By Tarek Atrissi

Preview for the hand made multilingual “goodbye” posts of the project “Partir c’est mourir un peu”.

“Partir c’est mourir un peu” is the title of a wonderful “typographic” project that I accidentally saw on my way to the office in Hilversum. In a small neighborhood on the edge of the city, people have posted large goodbye posts outside their windows, in reaction to the fact that they will be leaving their apartments since the buildings will be destroyed and replaced with a new urban development plan. The multicultural aspect of the street resulted in multilingual signs, colorful, amateurish, yet with a beautiful authentic character.
Probably the best “typographic “Adios” I have seen in a while!

By Tarek Atrissi

I am on average speaking every two or three weeks in a design seminar, conference, or school, somewhere around the world. This has always been an exciting part of my work as a designer, because it allowed me to see and experience the design scene in so many different countries and learn from other speakers, design professionals and students. It is a great way for continuing education; for breaking any sort of routine at work; and for sharing my design practice in research and professional work to a wider audience, and be active on a more international design network. Yet, this has imposed a very tiring lifestyle, with never ending business travel; a challenge to keep up with our ongoing projects in my design firm; and a work definition that is very different by all means from any traditional definition of the work of a Graphic designer, and even Art or creative Director. I always knew that this will have to stop at some point, since the rhythm is too difficult to keep up with, and that I will be sooner rather than later retiring from the “speaking tour” and spending happily more of my time within a 50 km radius from my studio. However, my participating at the Design and Technology Salon at the San Francisco Art Institute last April made me believe that this can really become a much easier practice.

Preview from the Virtual Conference showing video of all speakers in different cities, connecting to the design and technology Salon at the San Francisco Art Institute via Adobe Connect Pro. Shown above as well Type Design work of Yanek Iontef.

The conference was mostly virtual, and all three speakers, located respectively in The Netherlands, Egypt and Israel, presented their papers through a live broadcast, and interacted with each other, with the moderator and with the audience in San Francisco not very differently than how they would if they were to be present in a same geographic location. I have participated in the past in “virtual speaking” attempts, but it had always been a technical nightmare, and often did not run very smoothly (mostly sound and interaction with audience), and that is why I had my doubts about the San Francisco Art Institute event. But this was a surprising exception. The Video link participation was an exciting success, and mainly due to a powerful Adobe tool which I wasn’t familiar with: Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional. Adobe Connect Enterprise is an integrated web communication solution for real-time meetings, eLearning, and online presentations that audiences can see and hear anytime, anywhere, though any standard web browser- and enables you to deliver rich and engaging content through live meetings and interaction with others. During the virtual presentation, for example, I was able to upload my presentation for sharing instantly; add any image or slide or file on the spot for sharing; be part of the Video and Audio broadcast with everyone, and more interesting be able to separately speak or chat with the moderator or other speakers, in parallel to the main conference track. Most importantly: it was easy. I connected to the online platform less than two hours before the start of my talk, and was at ease instantly in using its interface and understanding how it operates. I believe that this will be a big trend towards the future of design conferences- but of course a very interesting online method for use in design studios and firms, which are becoming virtual in many aspects: Work is often for clients at the other side of the planet; Creative teams, even small ones, are not longer necessarily in the same geographic location. I know that we- at Tarek Atrissi Design- find it a tool with great potential for our daily communication needs (with our clients and with each other) and we are experimenting further with it. It is worth checking out, in the following page introducing Adobe Connect Pro or in this quick “getting Started guide“.

During the Design and Technlogy Salon, we witness the sun rising first in Tel Aviv at the office of Yanek Iontef; then at the window behind Bahia Shehab’s desk in Cairo; and finally in my own living room in Hilversum, from where I conducted my talk. Between these three cities and San Francisco, we discussed how the need to be global has challenged notions of traditional design practice in the Middle East; How Global design is raising timely questions about what it means to work in the region and consume the visual and if global design is reinforcing stereotypical notions of mideast culture.