**PROSE AWARD WINNER, ART HISTORY & CRITICISM
** The first-ever book-length history of Arab graphic design
Arab graphic design emerged in the early twentieth century out of a need
to influence, and give expression to, the far-reaching economic, social,
and political changes that were taking place in the Arab world at the
time. But graphic design as a formally recognized genre of visual art
only came into its own in the region in the twenty-first century and, to
date, there has been no published study on the subject to speak of.
A History of Arab Graphic Design traces the people and events that
were integral to the shaping of a field of graphic design in the Arab
world. Examining the work of over eighty key designers from Morocco to
Iraq, and covering the period from pre-1900 to the end of the twentieth
century, Bahia Shehab and Haytham Nawar chart the development of design
in the region, beginning with Islamic art and Arabic calligraphy, and
their impact on Arab visual culture, through to the digital revolution
and the arrival of the Internet. They look at how cinema, economic
prosperity, and political and cultural events gave birth to and shaped
the founders of Arab graphic design.
Highlighting the work of key designers and stunningly illustrated with
over 600 color images, A History of Arab Graphic Design is an
invaluable resource tool for graphic designers, one which, it is hoped,
will place Arab visual culture and design on the map of a thriving
international design discourse.
