Arabictypography.com
Interview with Tarek Atrissi
By Haupt & Binder

Before traveling to the Persian Gulf in April 2004, among other materials we took a look at the official website of the country of Katar. We noticed its good design, which is part of Katar’s completely new, corporate identity.
Not much later, we met Tarek Atrissi personally, the young designer responsible for the website. Like we were as well, he too was invited as an expert to the "Design Talks" of the School of Architecture and Design at the AU Sharjah. Passionately and with eloquence, Atrissi spoke about his concepts; he encouraged students to take pride in their cultural background and, starting from there, to explore new paths in the areas of typography and design.
Tarek Atrissi is the initiator and editor of arabictypography.com, an online platform for Arabic graphic designers. The website’s three main sections – experimental, research, community – serve to inform, promote worldwide networking, distribute articles, exchange ideas, and present new works.
In the following interview, Atrissi clarifies his ideas and strategies:

Universes in Universe: When and with what in mind did you conceive Arabictypography.com?

Tarek Atrissi: The website was officially launched in the summer of 2001. It was a project that began as my thesis study at the art school in Utrecht, in the Netherlands. But soon it developed beyond the academic framework, and it reached the point where it took on a form of its own.

First of all, I wanted to create a good Arabic website and integrate Arabic typography as the site’s most important visual language. In general, the Arabic pages offered in the Internet are rather weak. That’s why I wanted to prove that websites in this language can also be effective, visually attractive and technically well-made.

Apart from that, the project was directed at the lack of Arabic typefaces in the modern media, something that leads back to the absence of an Arabic association for typography. That’s why the website should function as an online platform for communication, and as a means of exchanging information among Arab specialists. But it should also present graphic design tendencies from the Arab world to the western public, since these tendencies are barely recognized on the international level.

UiU: Could you briefly explain what one finds in the sections "experimental" and "research"?

TA: The first section presents experimental works with Arabic typography. So you have, for example, a typographic animation and the video of a calligrapher at work. Here every type of typographic project imaginable could be shown, whether intended for print, the Internet or other new media.

Under "research," information material is collected and made available. These can be articles, interviews, print collections, research works, reading suggestions, or historical examples and sources.

UiU: How can others participate in this project?

TA: That can happen any number of ways. Online visitors can sign-in once as members free of charge, have their contact data published on the designated pages, and receive the newsletter. People can also actively participate through the forum, or by sending works, articles and other relevant materials that correspond with the website’s goals.

UiU: As someone already a successful artist, what would you suggest to graphic designers or artists of the younger generation still forging their path?

TA: They should understand that young designers in the Arab world have many opportunities. The fields of design and typography are relatively new, and for that reason they offer an almost unlimited number of possibilities. I would simply suggest that they make use of the untapped energy in order to try something new – and develop their own original contributions. And while doing so, they should be aware of the Arab world’s beauty, its cultural uniqueness and visual language. Only by understanding that can they produce work that truly reflects the environment they live in, with unique works unlike those created elsewhere. Design and the Internet are strong mediums for distributing powerful ideas and convincing concepts. I want to strengthen young people's awareness of the power of graphic design, and of its potential to communicate their own personal opinions regarding things social, cultural and political, and all other matters.

Haupt & Binder
Gerhard Haupt and Pat Binder. Initiators and publishers of Universes in Universe - Worlds of Art (online since 1997); co-publishers and editors-in-chief of Nafas Art Magazine. Based in Berlin, Germany.

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