{"id":4069,"date":"2022-02-28T18:35:09","date_gmt":"2022-02-28T18:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/designrepository.design\/?p=4069"},"modified":"2022-10-31T09:18:26","modified_gmt":"2022-10-31T09:18:26","slug":"the-desk-islam-zayed-2-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/designrepository.design\/the-desk-islam-zayed-2-12\/","title":{"rendered":"THE DESK: Islam Zayed – 2\/12"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Desk is an in-depth interview series with Arab Designers and Makers taking their desk as a focal point to view their practice. “The Desk’s” name is borrowed from Mark Gardner’s film<\/a> with the same name. Mark’s short documentary sought to explore the relationship between a worker and their desk and how that reflects their personality. Design Repository is curious to explore the same while adding an intention of scribing these interviews in the Now and therefore attempts to record a moment in time for future generations so that they can find something about now when they look back.<\/p>\n

The interviews will be running around the year, with a new designer\/maker and a new desk each month. Our second interviewee is the multifaceted Egyptian designer: Islam Zayed.<\/p>\n

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Q: Please introduce yourself (Name, age, nationality, and title) and what do you do?<\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Name<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\nIslam Osama Zayed<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Age<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n35<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Nationality<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\nEgyptian<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Title<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\nCreative Design Head<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

I am the current Creative Design Head at EVA Pharma, I work with many designers to revamp, broaden and refine the company\u2019s visual image. When I\u2019m not doing that, I am pursuing ways to hone my skill and my own personal brand in many graphic design practices.<\/p>\n

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Islam Zayed, Cairo, 2022<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Q: Your practice seems to float over a variety of different graphic design practices, from bilingual typography (Arabic & English), 3D, branding, data viz, to collage. Where do you see your practice sits within these practices?<\/span><\/h4>\n

\u261e<\/span>
\nAs a Creative Head, it helps to have a hand dipped in multiple design practices. I have always wanted to experiment with different digital art forms which I think ultimately lead me to where I am now. Referencing and being exposed to different approaches to art and design is in my opinion one of the best tool sets a graphic designer could have, so I am always on the lookout for an amazing project and ask myself \u201chow can I do something like this with my own skill set?\u201d<\/p>\n

That pushes me to experiment more and get out of my comfort zone and just try new things, sometimes I succeed and sometimes I fail but the process is always rewarding. Moreover, the accumulation of experiences allow me to guide the people I work with to achieve the best work they can within the limitations they are facing. In many ways I\u2019ve been there, done that more times than I care to remember so I pass on that knowledge and help them in that way.<\/p>\n

Q: If you had to write a definition of Graphic Design for academic purposes, what would that be? And would you have a different definition of Arabic Graphic design? If yes, what would it be and in what ways is it different?<\/span><\/h4>\n

\u261e<\/span>
\nOh boy, well for me it would go something like:<\/p>\n

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\u201cGraphic design is the utilization of assorted visual elements to first and foremost: solve a problem.\u201d My definition for Arabic Graphic design would be more or less the same but with the added objective of projecting an authentic Arabic Identity in the design approach.<\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Arab designers throughout history have experimented with both structured and non-conventional (even chaotic) approaches to the practice, so it\u2019s always good to have that shown when the need be.<\/p>\n

Q: Can you take us through your design process? Choose your favorite project and please walk us through its process from start to finish, challenges, and learnings?<\/span>
\n(Please scan as many things related to this process as possible as well as the final outcome of the project you will choose to talk about)<\/span><\/h4>\n

\u261e
\nOn the surface, my process is very basic and watching me work is kind of worrisome because a lot of the process actually happens inside my head, so if I\u2019m just chillin, watching youtube or gaming a lot of the time, I am also working. I begin normally by researching, which is basically just going to different websites for inspiration, be it content aggregated websites or studios specialized in whatever it is I’m supposed to be creating. Then comes the execution phase, I don\u2019t know how to sketch to save my life, so I just get into the meat of things so to speak. I fire up the software and see what comes up based on the inputs from the brief and the objectives I set out for the projects (the latter is optional in some cases, sometimes it works backwards).<\/p>\n

When I\u2019m settled on something I then normally leave it to simmer in my mind and come and have a later look at it, see if it can be pushed more, benchmark it against references and so on. I usually try to innovate with what i\u2019m working with, sure there are best practices and they are necessary but I find it nice to add your own touch on things after understanding said best practices.<\/p>\n

Now onto one of my favorite projects: In late 2020, I was approached by Laila Badawi to completely rebrand her Architecture studio: Grids 13. I always wanted to work on something architecture related so naturally the opportunity was too good to pass up.<\/p>\n

We first had a workshop to determine what direction the brand needed to go, the workshop consisted of me putting a moodboard together along with design findings to establish a solid ground work.<\/p>\n

So the first thing that struck me the most with the brand name is the use of number 13, which generally is a bad omen. Laila\u2019s rationale was that the studio wanted to embrace what people are generally uncomfortable about, and it also had a personal connection to her as she won her first award in 2013.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, it became very clear to me that 13 should be the focus of the brand mark. So I began exploring concepts. I have always been fascinated by the visual construction of Roman numerals, the use of very minimalist glyphs like I, X, C, L and M and the construction of the numerical value based on their order was a great numbering system at the time. Not to mention the civilization\u2019s contribution to architecture and engineering. So I set out to explore the idea of having the Roman numeral \u201cXIII\u201d as a building block for the concept.<\/p>\n

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The explorations were\u2026interesting, but they were not there just yet, the compositions felt a bit too panoramic in ratio like the first, some sketches like the second and the XIII didn\u2019t look like it even belonged with the brand mark. Remember what I said earlier about the number 13 being very much integrated with the essence of the studio? That wasn\u2019t achieved here. The \u201cXIII\u201d didn\u2019t feel like a main part of the beandmark, so it was discarded and I kept exploring till I thought \u201cwait a minute\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

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By replacing the \u201cI\u201d in \u201cGrids\u201d with a vertically stacked 13, it achieved the objective I was set out to do with the brief. It was at that moment that I went \u201cyep\u2026that\u2019s the one i\u2019m selling\u201d.<\/p>\n

So now with the brand mark locked down, I wasn\u2019t really ready to abandon the \u201cXIII\u201d from earlier, so I thought of building the design system around that.<\/p>\n

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The explorations were coming along nicely but I started having the concern that they might be too \u201cout there\u201d or impractical in different design applications. So the system was toned down a little bit so the XIII would be used as an indicator to the main highlight areas of the layout.<\/p>\n

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The system worked well, and it was scaleable to different forms and it functioned very nicely in both print and digital spaces. Obviously the system wasn\u2019t going to have legs without the type and color palette. Which are shown below:<\/p>\n

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For the colors, they were split into 3 categories: a main color palette, which was more or less the old identity\u2019s color palette and I worked on a nature and material based secondary color palette. The accent palette was made to show Laila\u2019s love for bold, outspoken colors. A system was then created where the secondary palette serves as the building block, and it can be combined with either the main palette or accent palette depending on the designer\u2019s choice at the time.<\/p>\n

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So all in all, the project turned out great. Definitely one of the most fun I have had on a branding project. It does help to have clients that are cooperative and trusting of what you do. The communication process between Laila and myself has always been fruitful and logical and that is some of the best qualities you could ask for in a client.<\/p>\n

Q: Since you experiment a lot with different mediums and tools, what do you think is the importance of experimentation for designers?<\/span><\/h4>\n

\u261e<\/span>
\nIt\u2019s literally the most beneficial thing they could possibly do to hone their thinking and execution process. Specialization is important and it has its merits but even then, doing different things helps in so many ways beginning with breaking the monotony of repetition, it gives you new insights and benchmarks that make you better at self reflection and assessing yourself within the overall art space and when done right, you can combine all the learnings you get from experimentation both good and bad and create something truly unique to you.<\/p>\n

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Q: Who are your favorite Egyptian designers\/artists? One old and one now?<\/span><\/h4>\n

\u261e<\/span>
\nOld:<\/strong>
\nSo here\u2019s the thing, I never honestly kept up with what would be considered \u201cold\u201d Egyptian designers. I was never really interested in the historic aspect of Egyptian design culture, even though I went through a lot of examples of Islamic-Arabic design culture while working on developing my own calligraphy style.<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s because with all the visual noise I have been exposed to for basically my entire life in the everyday design culture, I fell into the trap of not thinking of looking back at the history of said culture. It is something I regret and I plan on reading up on those more and being exposed to their works.<\/p>\n

New:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ahmed Hammoud[1]<\/sup><\/a>Ahmed Hammoud, Here<\/a><\/span><\/span>