Tasmeem, the annual poster design competition and exhibition, was conceived by ICD Brookfield Place Arts program with the aim of supporting young talent in the region and expanding the discourse on graphic design. Emphasizing on the poster as a means of communication and expression, this year’s open call, developed by Designer and Artist, Mariam AlZayani, manifests itself in the form of De-sign Scrapyard: An ode to lost ideas, unfinished thoughts, and could-have-beens (design as de-sign: rethinking the process).
Building upon the success of last year’s poster exhibition, titled “Anti-Type”, De-sign Scrapyard challenges designers to rethink the design process by breathing new life into former designs that have been neglected, discarded, or forgotten altogether. It invites participants to revisit their personal archives with a critical eye and transform the forgotten into the core of a new work detached from its original context, while still retaining the essence of its origin. By embracing the rejected ideas, designers are invited to reflect on their process rather than the final output and question the stigma associated with reusing old works.
The winners of De-sign Scrapyard were selected following an open call by a committee of experts and professionals in the field including Special Projects Director at Alserkal Advisory Fiza Akram, Graphic Designer, Calligrapher and Winner of Tasmeem’s first edition Ibrahim Khamayseh; Designer and Researcher Imad Gebrayel; Multidisciplinary Visual Art and Design Studio Turbo; and Independent Design Studio 40MUSTAQEL.
The 12 winning designers, each a recipient of an AED 1,000 cash prize, are: Daniel Alemasoum, Eman Fikri, Fatma Ashraf, Fatimah Emad, Lujane AlQaoud, Maryam Namvar, Maxime Cramatte, Mobius Design Studio, Mohamed Alaa, Mohammed Ameer, Sayed Kammoun and Younes Al Aboudi.
The selection of posters on display introduce letterforms and visuals as their new identities. The posters challenge former versions of themselves, breathing new life into their current selves. By methods of creating new meanings, composition, scale, shapes, forms and letterforms, materials – they retell a story with a different ending. They use past clues and cues to form new investigations. The exhibition aims to highlight the design process and destigmatize the idea of scrapped work.
Commenting on the success of Tasmeem over the past two years, Malak Abu-Qaoud, Arts and Events Manager at ICD Brookfield Place, states, “Tasmeem holds a special place in our hearts as one of our most cherished projects each summer. We consider ourselves extremely fortunate to collaborate with a vibrant community of young and exceptionally talented designers. We take great pride in the meticulous selection of jury members from across the Arab world, in addition to the valuable expertise of Alserkal Advisory as a distinguished cultural authority.”
Furthermore, Abu-Qaoud highlights the profound significance of the exhibition in supporting young designers and graphic artists in the region: “Tasmeem plays a pivotal role in empowering emerging talents by providing them with a prominent platform to showcase their work, fostering collaborations with other members of the community, including our tenants. Being part of this larger ecosystem that nurtures the creativity of regional artists is truly inspiring.
Fiza Akram, member of Tasmeem’s selection committee said: “Tasmeem’s second edition of their graphic design and poster show, De-sign Scrapyard, an ode to lost ideas, un-finished thoughts, and could-have-beens, approached design concepts through an alternative angle, and the results demonstrate an incredible diversity of designs. It has been particularly interesting to see the degree to which the final submissions have departed from their original starting point, and how that, in many ways, has led to a reinterpretation of the concept. I congratulate all the artists, Tasmeem, and ICD Brookfield Place on building on the legacy of graphic, type, and poster design across the region.”
Selection committee member Imad Gebrayel added: “This year’s submissions feature a wide variety of styles and approaches. I particularly noticed a very personal affinity to the Arabic script. Designers are less and less afraid of owning it, experimenting with it, and claiming agency over its visual and semiotic connotations. Thank you for including me in the selection process.”
Ibrahim Khamayseh, member of Tasmeem’s selection committee said: “The work that I received from participants truly showcases the immense amount of hidden talents present within our community. In my opinion, this annual exhibition serves as an invaluable platform for artists to showcase their talents and have their work seen and appreciated by a wider audience.”
40MUSTAQEL, member of Tasmeem’s selection committee said: “It was great to see the diverse range of entries. It is always refreshing to see where the poster started vs where it ended; it speaks volumes about the power of revisiting unfinished work and breathing new life into it.”
Maryam Namvar (@mxryaamii)
Maryam Namvar is a multidisciplinary graphic designer at Minbar Design Studio. As a designer, she finds herself exploring and researching social and cultural identity, and finding gaps to fill when it comes to preserving cultural heritage and self identity.
Please find Maryam’s poster here.
Maxime Cramatte (@satwa3000)
Maxime Cramatte’s love for remixed culture and his foundation in motion graphics are immediately apparent. Cramatte became fluent in semiotics, recognising the strength of symbols from which he builds his own iconography.
Please find Maxime’s poster here
Mobius Design Studio (@what.themobius)
Mobius Design Studio is a UAE-based design studio founded by Hadeyeh Badri, Hala Al-Ani and Riem Hassan in 2011. The main objective behind the studio is empowering design practice and research in the UAE and the region.
Please find Mobius Design Studio’s poster here.
Eman Fikri (@emanfikri)
A multidisciplinary graphic designer that’s based in Egypt. She is specialized in Arabic type design and lettering.
Please find Eman’s winning poster here.
Fatma Ashraf (@fatemaalmaany)
A graphic designer based in Cairo, Egypt. She loves experimenting with type design and media.
Please find Fatma’s winning poster here.
Fatimah Emad (@fatim_emad)
A graphic designer on a mission to explore the coolest, most creative stuff out there. Obsessed with type design and AR, and always looking for new ways to make a splash.
Please find Fatimah’s winning poster here.
Lujane AlQaoud (@lujaaannneee)
An architect and multidisciplinary designer passionate about merging design disciplines and exploring tactile relations through different mediums. Her current focus is on object work, and the ways that explore human-object interactions through emotive, visual, or sensory means.
Please find Lujane’s winning poster here.
Mohamed Alaa (@mohash.__)
A self-taught graphic designer/illustrator.
Please find Mohamed’s winning poster here.
Mohammed Ameer (@mohmed94ameer)
A senior graphic designer and graphic design researcher, focusing on Arabic typography and how can design be altered in different media forms.
Please find Mohammed’s winning poster here.
Sayed Kamoun (@sayedkammoun)
A senior designer at Mojo Ink since 2014, and a design enthusiast with a passion for type, animation, and experiential design.
Please find Sayed’s winning poster here.
Younes Alaboudi (@younes_alaboudi)
A multidisciplinary designer, art director, and graphic designer.
Please find Younes’s winning poster here.
Danial Alemasoum (@danial_alemasoum)
A graphic designer and interdisciplinary artist based in Tehran, who has previously won TEDA and other domestic graphic prizes.
About ICD Brookfield Place Arts Program
ICD Brookfield Place Arts program creates community and opportunity through the transformative power of the arts. A vibrant and open space, we seek to engage and welcome everyone, inside and outside our walls, with the belief that having arts and culture in daily life positively impacts wellbeing. ICD Brookfield Place Arts is a gateway for discovery and support for local and regional talent, offering visibility to emerging artists and more established creative practitioners through an array of year-round programming – from exhibitions and installations, to live music sessions, classes, workshops, and conversations. A collaborative commissioning and programming platform, participating artists and groups are selected for the relevance of their work and practice to our local community.
Elevating and amplifying the spaces, happenings, and artistic voices that bring meaning to a proper-ty like no other, ICD Brookfield Place Arts draws upon arts and culture as a foundational pillar for Brookfield Properties globally. Raising market standards in every aspect of the workplace environment, the program is at the heart of a new model that champions the potential of arts and culture to enrich, inform, and transform the daily lives of our tenants, the community of Dubai, and our global partners.
About Fiza Akram
Fiza joined Alserkal in 2014 to conceptualise, develop, and lead a global network of partnerships for Alserkal and its initiatives. She has built partnerships with local, regional, and international organisations across the arts and culture spectrum, and managed Alserkal’s flagship events. Fiza was a part of the management team that delivered the Alserkal Avenue expansion and Concrete, while developing a global network of partners ranging from museums and art fairs, to non-governmental organisations and corporates. She has worked directly on realising flagships exhibitions at Concrete, and commissions at Alserkal Avenue and is leading the Advisory’s Global Co-Commission project. Fiza works closely on Alserkal Advisory projects and has played a pivotal role in projects for Expo 2020, ICD Brookfield, and Noor Riyadh amongst others.
About Ibraheem Khamayseh
Ibraheem Khamayseh is a graphic designer and calligrapher based in Dubai with a BA in Graphic De-sign from Al Najah University, Palestine. He has been working as a designer since 2008 while con-tinuing to expand his creative practice as a designer and calligrapher.
About Imad Gebrayel
Imad Gebrayel is a Lebanese designer, lecturer, and researcher based in Berlin. He has produced visual and theoretical works around identity representation and self-Orientalism in Arab* design, countermapping, and archiving. He has lectured at several academic institutions including the Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin University of the Arts, Hochschule für Künste Bremen, The University of Art and Design Linz, and Design Akademie Berlin. Imad has co-founded cultural and urban projects centering Arab-migrant experiences and is currently undertaking ethnographic re-search on the negotiations of Arab-Arab identifications in Sonnenallee, Berlin, as part of his doctor-al project at the Humboldt University of Berlin.
About Turbo
Turbo, founded in 2015 by designers Mothanna Hussein and Saeed Abu-Jaber, is a multidisciplinary visual art and design studio based in Amman, Jordan. The studio design output specializes in visual identity work and visual communication in general. The studio space serves as both a workspace and an exhibition/event space.
About 40MUSTAQEL
40MUSTAQEL is an independent design studio based in Cairo. We’re driven by a purpose to add to the ongoing conversations about graphic design taking place in the Arab SWANA region. We have an ongoing pursuit to explore what makes design “Arab” through an attempt to dissect the complexity of the diverse Arab visual languages.
About Mariam AlZayani
Mariam AlZayani is a Bahraini-American designer and artist (b.1996, Manama, Bahrain) living and working in Abu Dhabi. Asking ‘what if?’ plays a major part in Mariam’s work. Finding inspiration from her surroundings and the every day, she reintroduces you to the mundane and the absurdities that lie within it. Oftentimes, the results can be idiosyncratic, cycling through a process of metamorphosis and looking beyond the obvious to create room for coincidences. That’s where it becomes fun. Mariam was part of the 8th cohort in The Salama Bint Hamdan Emerging Artist Fellowship (SEAF). Her group exhibitions include Sikka Art Fair (2018, 2019); Fikra’s Graphic Design Biennial (2018); The Youth Takeover, Jameel Arts Centre (2019, 2020); Sharjah Art Foundation Corniche (2021); and is currently a part of Tashkeel’s Critical Practice Program (2022–2023).
For more information, please visit https://www.icdbrookfieldplace.com/event/tasmeem-2023-open-call/
