ArabAd goes Brofessional (and vice versa)

By Admin I: So the last issue of ArabAd is out, and yes we are featuring it because they chose to publish one of our posts in the last page of the issue and also because this time the main theme is ‘Design’ (they probably thought that working with design is less problematic, I guess our last week proved them wrong!).

The issue includes ups and downs, a 26 pages special report (maybe too special) about the AUB Revolution/Evolution 20 years celebration, highlighting many design profiles that contributed in changing the design field in Lebanon (We all know that change is not always positive right?).

The report is filled with names that should be researched, works that really make you want to know more, and other pretentious long lines on design as well.

Type design is also featured in Arabad through an article about an Arabic typeface that’s rooted in the English shires, designed by Boutos International. (Problematic and borderline unethical in terms of cultural design, sorry we’d like to one day respect our mother language a bit more).

On another note, ArabAd featured Beirut ntsc’s Tarek Chemaly’s exhibition that we will feature soon. The work is rich and highly engaging (wasta, yes we know him, and still think he rocks).

Thank you ArabAd, and hope you feature more amateurs like us, that need to get an idea, an opinion across to the public, for people to think more, without necessarily agreeing.

As the fabulous N wraps up her featured post: I’m a Brofessional, and you guys take me way too seriously.

BLA BLA BLA

By Admin I: so here’s a light advertising post after the series of opinionated design posts that caused a severe indigestion to many.

Al-Wadi Al-Akhdar launched an outdoor promoting their Halloum and stuff, okay we don’t really care, but the combination of failing humour and a 90s design treatment is worth a small commentary.

It’s a really courageous step when brands rely on alternative routes to deliver an idea, illustration for example, bringing up the fun in the brand and engaging the audience. What was done here is a mix of two competing entities: a reach for illustration, and (we’re just assuming), the client insisting on the ‘traditional’ pack shot. The mix clearly doesn’t work as the two elements look detached, stuck and forced (hit us with any extra synonym!).

The copywriting issue is one of many discussed earlier. It’s a potentially good idea, clinging to insights, but the language structure and even the type treatment looks too amateurish to even discuss!  The slant, the coloured band at the bottom, and the overall chaos reminds of the 90s ad extravaganza.

Earlier this year, Al-Wadi Al-Akhdar redesigned its packages going to a minimal ‘white’ feel, that probably helped enhancing the fresh feel of the product without detaching it from its old identity.

What we’re saying in the end is simply that whether you sell frozen veggies or jewellery, communicating ideas shouldn’t be taken for granted, just dig in your type library or do your own lettering with some visual research, even though a field search for local insights would do better.

Cheers to that Halloum!

Disclaimer: This post is by no means a reply to the previous one. Okay it is.

The ‘real’ illustrators of Lebanon 01

By Admin I: Yes he’s the guy that will make you think a thousand times before even daring to label your drawing skills, or even before holding a pencil. Jorj Abou Mhaya is mainly an illustration jaw-dropper, a comic artist in particular. You can’t but appreciate the level of skills, the enchanting journey that this classical rendering can take you through. Guys, by now you already know, I’m a firm believer in ‘more is more’ that it became my design bible; Jorj never fails to add complexity, detail and a sense of mystery to his work. All I can say is that ‘Madina moujawira lil ard’ is a must have, to always remind your very egocentric selves: “there’s always someone, somewhere, that can nail what he does!”

By Admin HY: With a great balance of technical experience and conceptual creative approaches, David Habchy is one of the pioneer illustrators and animators in the field. Using meticulous and rich elements, his outcomes show an experimental attitude towards what he brilliantly does, always working his way around different styles and materials.
David’s aesthetic includes a lot of textures, attention to detail and a humorous vibe, his blog has been a source of inspiration and reference for many of us. See, what I love about Klekeesh is that it shows David’s process, experiences, workshops, photographs, whatever it took him to reach his final result that usually starts with traditional media, way before the invasion of Wacom, and you know, the ‘I’m an illustrator’ epidemy.
As a side note, David’s heavily insightful work can be less impressive when done for advertising projects, while his personal pieces are never disappointing.

By Admin NK: Let’s talk about the awesome Rodrigue Harb; you may have heard of him and his collaboration with Samandal , or his published work in Toom Extra. His work expresses wit and fun, comic characters with a touch of randomness that we love. Harb, with his use of colors and different brushes, makes sure he gives the viewer this pleasant-bubble gum-happy feeling, that can vary between a work and another always mixing styles, always unpredictable! The beauty in every illustrator’s work is leaving a touch of personality in his illustrations, and that’s what we see in every Rodrigue piece of art.

Maya Zankoul: the doodle-fever

By Admin NK: If you’re part of the Lebanese design community, you have probably been exposed to Maya Zankoul’s work, and even if you’re not, you probably know by now who Maya Zankoul is, because people like to over share famous work, despite its bad quality or content. (Oops, was that a too soon spoiler of what this post is going to be about?)

But we can’t base it all on audience, right? So here’s what we think:

You cannot call yourself an illustrator if what you actually do is doodling. Those are not illustrations, those are DOODLES; whether it’s out of laziness or “oh that’s my style!” or I guess how it’s mentioned in her website they’re “fast illustrations”, there is no excuse for why those works got published (you could’ve kept them to show the neighbors, or developed them into actual visuals).

Sometimes we wonder how such work can get so much exposure (because hey I have an idea! Let’s talk about Lebanese issues in a funny way like millions of other people did and throw them in books to sell!) while other talented REAL illustrators are rarely being featured (which brings another shout out for F/I/M²/P magazine for exposing awesome illustrators). Not to mention the overpriced posters and t-shirts also offered for people to buy.

Chateau Ka “Source Blanche” Goes pad-ad

By Admin I: Whether you liked the Buzz ads or not, or whether you think they were stolen or not, I’m very sure you were eager to see another work by “Nathalie Masri’, the freelance creative behind last year’s advertising extravaganza.

Chateau Ka recently released a TVC for its “Source Blanche” white wine, that fits the summer season quite well, except the fact that I’m not allowed to drink it, being a man, or at least this is what the ad showed (let’s assume there’s an unreleased sequel, featuring a man’s needs *dirty mind starts functioning*).

This TVC’s only good feature is Caroline Labaki’s lens, having an over-the-top cliche copywriting, a boring act and an over all approach that seemed tailored for Kotex. The main fail here is the total absence of a relevant USP. What are we dealing with? Wine, or chocolate or tampons? The script fits every single product-line and lacks the basic substance of a well targeted approach, not to mention the humor, that’s not very, umm, humorous.

*Beeep* no.

Chateau Ka “Source Blanche” understands those little self-indulgent moments, and is proud to be part of (some of) them.

Credits:
Creative: Nathalie Masri
Production House: kapitän kühn
Director: Caroline Labaki
DOP: Tony El Khazen

Almaza goes back to Almaza: Fta7oulé Reji3

By Admin I: So it’s seems like Almaza finally got back to its senses! Those guys are sober again after a  drunk phase sponsored by Lebanese Brew, their only local competitor. The two beers cater to immensely different audiences, a point that Almaza failed to acknowledge at first, and tried to adapt to LB’s young, daring and westernized marketing tools.

‘Fta7oulé Reji3′ is the new summer campaign by Almaza, evolving around Lebanese insights and short stories, authentic, true and funny (in the most part). The campaign is definitely smart, even if featuring insights the way they are feels a bit flat, but that’s in the end a personal opinion. A well shot video, well scripted and art directed starting from an interesting play on word between (fta7 Almaza, and fta7 el beb). The best feature of this campaign is definitely the series of lines saying “Naji reji3″ and so on, simply because it depicts a very Lebanese idea brought back from the post-war memories, you know, the walls sprayed with the same slogan.

This year, drink for your friends and bring them back to Lebanon.
Because wherever they are in the world, nothing feels better than coming back home.

On another note, a debate was going on the brand’s facebook page, claiming that the idea was proposed to Almaza by another agency, stolen and revamped, a cat-fight indeed that was deleted later on (you’re lucky we couldn’t find evidence!).

Good job for Almaza, initiating a positive summer season, using the right timing, the right umbrella and the right approach to talk to a very loyal audience. ‘Hayda Jawkun”, stick to it, it’s the only way you can remain original and truthful.

Social Media Awards Beirut – Reviewed

By Admin I: it finally happened, the buzzing event that managed successfully to become the talk of all online platforms, in a way that made everyone forget about hidden agendas, the Lebanese mindset of a conspiracy theory. It was successfully okay, we cannot deny that, especially if compared to other events being held in Lebanon, certainly not ‘Tedx’ bad, you know.

Everyone was there, the glam, the meh and the disastrous, and we showed up in a tribute costume to the wickedly famous Panda Cheese ads meeting our fierce competitors, you know with their fake smiles and blonde dates, yes the kind of blondes that thought an ‘angry panda’ was ‘cute’ *shoot her*. So Panda overheard some Leo+alfa hate, and was almost beaten by Little miss sunshine aka. Tedx Beirut’s Sarah Sibai (that never gets angry).

Aaaand we didn’t win. But let me tell you, this time we will be the sore loser, we’ve been behaving for a month! The only reason why we accepted a nomination by the event’s organiser, placed in the wrong category, was a friend’s advice to show sportsmanship, but screw it. We do not belong to the ‘best business blog’ category dudes! We review creative works and write design related posts that you probably failed to read while creating a facebook page after the other. Well you know what? It’s highly calculated, being with ‘Wamda’ in one group. Wamda won, mabrouk (we really mean it), but give me a break, those guys offer a platform designed to empower entrepreneurs in the MENA region, THE MENA FREAKIN REGION, and we’re a local bunch of bloggers. Wamda is funded, and helps funding startups. Tell me about fair competition. That is mere NONSENSE.

Anyways, we didn’t win, you know, even David Habchy, Elie Fares and Amal al Dahouk didn’t, so we can live with it. the regular pals did, Najib, Gino, the social media accounts held by the organisers, the venue and ha–ii–fa-a-a.

Oh oh, another caliber hint: Almaza, Cheyef 7alak and Lebanese Memes won more than one category, Poly performed (while people devoured the buffet) and Neshan’s poetic drama was more hilarious than Nemr bou Nassar,see, something to be proud of. not.

The event is a fail by all fair measures, except the ones evolving around media buzz, great success. Tanks haifa, tanks.

(The afterparty was awesome Ragmag, awesome!)

Here’s the full list, check it out (Wait for the panda pictures later).

1. Best Business Blog: Wamda
2. Best Commercial District on Social Media: ABC
3. Best Start-up on Social Media: Tickle My Brain
4. Best Facebook Application: Novo
5. Best Facebook Campaign/Page: Lebanese Memes
6. Most Creative Instagram Account: Live Love Beirut
7. Most Engaging Diplomat/Politician on Twitter: Ziyad Baroud
8. Best Lifestyle Blog: Mich Café
9. Best Food & Beverage Brand: Almaza
10. Best Pub/bar on Social Media: February 30
11. Best NGO/Organization on Twitter: Donner Sang Compter
12. Best Design for a Social Media Campaign: Almaza
13. Best Fashion Brand on Social Media: Vero Moda
14. Best Food Blog: No Garlic No Onions
15. Best Fashion Blog: Plush Beirut
16. Most Engaging Person on Twitter: Anis Tabet
17. Best Technology Blog: Microsoftoholic
18. Most Engaging Youtube Channel: Cheyef 7alak
19. Most Engaging Media Personality on Twitter: Neshan
20. Best News Blog: Beirut Spring
21. Most Engaging Youtube Video: Beirut Duty Free Flashmob
22. Best NGO/Community on Social Media: Lebanese Memes
23. Best Non-Arabic Vocal Artist: Anthony Touma
24. Best Restaurant, Café or Bakery on Social Media: Roadster Diner
25. Best Band on Social Media: Mashrou3 Leila
26. Best Personal Blog: Gino’s Blog
27. Best Hotel on Social Media: Phoenicia Hotel
28. Most Engaging Celebrity on Twitter: Haifa Wehbe
29. Best Media Personality on Social Media: Zaven
30. Best Business on Social Media: Roadster Diner
31. Best Integrated Campaign: Cheyef 7alak
32. Blog of the Year: Blog Baladi
33. Social Campaigning Magnet Award: Lana El Sahley

Check Elie’s awesome review.

Questioning “Graphic” Design 05. 04 03 02 01

On Design the profession / Rebutting the previous post.

By N: Ok, here’s the thing. I’m just as frustrated as everyone with the design scene in this country. Hell, I’m frustrated with every scene in this country. But I don’t really get why we are waging wars against everyone and everything, screw the design field and screw this country’s shitty art direction (and yes I’m cursing ‘cause as a Brofessional, I don’t take myself seriously, and neither should you). No, like seriously, who cares if people are getting famous for nothing, if they’re stuck in the same design patterns or believe in so called “absurd” dogmas. Saying that design is dead kind of beats the purpose of this blog, no? If design does not exist then what are we doing? Why should people care about our reviews if we are reviewing something that does not exist?

Ok, here’s how I see things. Design is not dead. Design wasn’t needed in the first place. It came as a natural occurrence in our capitalist systems, and evolved following the thinking strategies of ruling systems and the circumstances it creates. Thus, design became a way of expressing an idea, a way of thinking; but that’s not the case in our days. In the midst of our ever-growing troublesome society, design became a solution, or more of a problem solver. We have somehow convinced ourselves, in the midst of the hunger and the wars and every other atrocity present on this forsaken planet, we have convinced ourselves that design can save the world. I do not have the complete information to negate this completely, but for the most part, design is solving nothing but making us even lazier, even more comfortable and even more oblivious about what is happening around us ( again, hold your horses, it may be doing some good, some).

Design should never become a way of life; design should remain a profession, maybe a hobby (if you’re as frustrated as we are with the design studios and firms, with clients or with designers-wannabe), But make it a way of life, and it will consume every bit of your existence. You start fighting wars that only exist in your head, you start seeing the world as nothing but a series of ugly visual after another; you take it to the extreme and design will make you question the purpose of your existence, you’ll start asking questions because that’s what design forces you to do. Design will eat up your soul, so leave it as a profession and next time you go eat out, please try not to turn over the placemat because it’s ugly, ‘cause really, who is to say what is good design? And who is to say what is beautiful? And haven’t both their standards contradicted each other over time?

Now, let’s talk shwai about that last post. Honestly, and with all the love I have for Admin I and his lovely chest hair, I have to disagree for the most part. Design is not a tool, it is a concept, an idea while illustration and literature are merely mediums to get this idea across, just like collages and just like photography and photoshop-ed manipulated images. As long as your idea gets across, without the usage of cheap vectors, a designer can choose whatever media he/she desires. One of the fundamental things I have learned and deeply agree on, is that for the most part, you analyze what you want to say and you choose the tool you want to use to get your idea across accordingly.

Design has been butchered, yes, but isn’t design just a big umbrella that covers all the tools that are used to get your idea across. In the end, design is an idea, nothing more nothing less and it should not be taken more seriously than that. If we become a master at a certain tool, then we are labeled as such, our society is founded on labels so it’s a natural consequence. In the end, we are designers with as much tools as we allow ourselves to experiment with. I’m a Brofessional, and you guys take me way too seriously.

BLA BLA BLA

Maybe I should tell you why I decided to drop the ‘admin’, or maybe not.

Beirut Designers’ Week and a beneficial confusion

By Admin I: in the land of grandiose schizophrenia, everything is split between a hypothetical reality and a dose of underground, you know the usual split between classes, economically and culturally. This time the split is within one design field, and it all started when someone decided to copycat a whole event, but redirect it to fit the mindset of a Zaitunay Bay clientele (sorry but I have to mention how irrelevant is that alternative word for Zaytouneh).

So Beirut Design Week (the official version that we reviewed last year 01 02 03) proved successful; the week was going crazy, full with events, talks, workshops and more. The other sign of success is this year’s copycat, Beirut Designers Week. Let’s bluntly state it: you, whoever you are, cannot rip off a name, confuse people and do an event for this city’s ‘tantes Ashrafieh/Verdun’ audience, because as stated in your press release on Ragmag’s website: “What truly distinguishes Beirut Designers’ Week is its unique setup on the lower promenade of Zaitunay Bay with stands placed between the restaurants and the cafes, ensuring maximum visibility to our exhibitors”. DESIGN CANNOT EXIST BETWEEN CAFES, IN AN OUTDOOR MALL. IT CANNOT *gets a knife and kills himself*

So, dear wannabes, design goes a bit beyond stands at the bay, hand-crafters exhibiting their pinterest-stolen bags and ribbon-cutting ceremonies. Last year, ‘The MENA design research center’ struggled financially and logistically to organise a week that managed to show real design (still, we had to bash them). Those efforts should not by any chance open wide doors for an event that lacks the very basic elements of a successful design week, starting from the amateur poorly made visuals, the location, the press release and the mere fact that it’s a hasty plagiarised identity all in all.

The ‘real’ BDW13 will take place from June 24 till June 30.

BR is boycotting the ‘made in Taiwan’ version, because all we need is less hypocrisy.

Questioning “Graphic” Design 04. 03 02 01

On Design atheism 

By Admin I: as this blog grows, things change. Some of our so called beliefs dramatically shift to take different aspects, and in the end, we’re not world saviors, even though some graphic designers think they are. We previously wrote about the fact that “Graphic” Design, in the traditional sense of the word, died a long time ago, yet even then, it was nothing but a basic form of ‘commercial art’, a tool.

So we used to believe that ‘Design’ is the wholesome concept, the roots that we should all refer to, but let me cut it short: even ‘Design’ is dead, whatever, you know what? Call us ‘Design atheists’.

Wait, this is not another dark post that will make you yawn, or it might be one, but what is left for us to stand for in today’s communication field is nothing but 2 main tools that we can indulge in: literature and talent, and by talent, I mean illustration.

Who cares if you can photoshop a head onto a donkey’s body, properly use or abuse typography, or unethically intimidate whoever tries to shake your design throne, no really, who cares? All visual aspects feel out of context, out of value, but the genuine connection between head and hand, writing and drawing. It is mainly what scares designers in this country, that they try to shut it, to outshine the hell of it; why do you know a kitsch couch designer and you fail to know David Habchy or Fouad Mezher or Jorj abou Mhaya? Why do you drool over an internship at a reputable agency, while you lack the brain to buy a 5000 LBP Samandal issue?

You know why? Because language and hand intimidate those flamenco birds, they cannot fight it back but with a cheap weapon called channeling, dissecting and layering. They made ‘illustration’ a detail in design, a course in education, just like the split that happened to activism, it got channeled into specific directions (gay activism, feminism, etc..) to lessen the impact of the whole mass, and this was when activism died.

Design has been butchered, flattened and split into layers of specificity, making you write less, say less and do less.

I don’t believe in design, if you’re a student, drop your major, go and write, collaborate, illustrate and don’t use their weapons.