About

Lebanese-Dutch Tarek Atrissi is one of the most recognized designers across the Arab world. He is the founder of Tarek Atrissi Design (www.atrissi.com), a design studio based in Barcelona and with offices in The Netherlands. The studio’s typographic and cross-cultural design approach has produced projects that have left a significant influence on the contemporary graphic design landscape in the Middle East, gaining Atrissi international recognition. Tarek Atrissi’s awards include the prestigious German Design Award, the D&AD Award, the Type Directors Club New York (TDC) Awards, the Adobe Design Achievement Awards, and the Brand Impact Awards, among others. He was listed in 2017 as one of the 100 most influential Lebanese professional figures around the globe. Early in his career, in 2005, he was selected for Print Magazine’s “Twenty under Thirty,” an international review of the most accomplished visual artists under the age of 30.

Tarek Atrissi has lived and worked in Lebanon, The Netherlands, Qatar, Dubai, Spain, Colombia, and the United States—a journey that has enriched and shaped his multicultural and multilingual approach to design. He speaks Arabic, French, English, Dutch, and Spanish fluently. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design with distinction from the American University of Beirut, a Master of Arts in Interactive Multimedia from the Utrecht School of the Arts in Holland, and an MFA in Design Entrepreneurship from the School of Visual Arts in New York. He also holds a postgraduate degree in Typeface Design from the Type@Cooper program at Cooper Union in New York. Atrissi received distinguished alumni awards from both of his alma maters: AUB in Lebanon and SVA in New York. His projects have been featured in countless international design magazines and books. His work has been widely exhibited around the world, including in a group exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, as well as in three solo exhibitions showcasing his graphic work in Kuwait, Qatar, and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Atrissi is an Associate Professor of Practice at the American University of Beirut. He previously taught at the American University in Dubai, Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, and the Department of Art, Media, and Technology at the Utrecht School of the Arts in Holland. He also served as a Visiting Professional-in-Residence at Michigan State University in the United States. He has delivered public lectures on design and visual culture at universities, museums, and design conferences in more than 20 countries. Atrissi has been a jury member and jury president for international design competitions, including the “Young Guns” Design Awards in New York, the ADC Annual Awards; the 100/100 Poster Design competition in Cairo, and the Tehran International Type Design Competition, among others. He is a founding member of The Design Alliance Asia, one of the most extensive collaborative networks of designers in Asia, sharing a vision of advancing Asian identity as a vital cultural force and a strategic platform for design. Atrissi received a major research grant from the esteemed Creative Industries Fund NL, the largest cultural fund in Holland, for a project supporting the development of typographic practice in Egypt. The fund is backed by the Netherlands’ ministries of culture and education.

Tarek Atrissi Arabic Graphic Designer Typographer Interview Al Jazeera TV documentary branding

Tarek Atrissi interviewed by Al Jazeera TV Network in his office in Holland, as part of a special documentary produced in 2013

As principal designer at Tarek Atrissi Design, which he founded in 2000, Tarek has developed a key focus in the studio on branding and multilingual typography, cross-cultural graphic design, Arabic type design, and exhibition design. His client list includes Apple, the V&A Museum in London, BBC, Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art in Qatar, and the Arab Thought Foundation. The studio’s projects include designing the nation branding for the country of Qatar, designing the identity for the first international Biennale of Islamic Arts that took place in Jeddah in 2023, designing the visual identity of various museums and cultural entities, and designing logos for various destinations, cities, postal services, and TV stations. The studio’s portfolio also includes work for multinationals such as Saudi Aramco and international organizations such as UNESCO, as well as many other non-profit organizations and small or start-up businesses, in addition to governmental entities. Atrissi founded the Arabic Type Foundry (www.ArabicTypography.com) as the typeface design division of the studio, designing and distributing Arabic and multilingual typefaces for various needs, particularly branding. The custom and retail typefaces designed at the foundry are among the most visible fonts across the Arab world and include bilingual typefaces for major telecoms (Ooredoo, Mobily, Etisalat, STC), as well as fonts for national airlines (Saudia Airlines), public transport systems (Metro Riyadh), TV networks (Al Jazeera, Dubai TV), and countless other brands.