A History of Arab Graphic Design by Shehab and Nawar

Review by Meagan Dashcund

The Short 

A brand new book on Arab Art and Graphic Design, highlighting the history and beauty of the art form.

The Long 

Islamic art and architecture has gotten recognition and acknowledgment worldwide, but when it comes to Arab Art and Graphic Design as a whole, so little has been written to document the history of graphic design. Co-Author, Bahia Shehab, is a professor of the practice of design and founder of the graphic design program at The American University in Cairo (AUC). Along with other co-author Haytham Nawar, Shebab realized there are no books on the history of Arab graphic design that collectively speak about the field. Nawar is an associate professor and the Chair of the Department of the Arts at AUC. He is a practicing artist and designer and a scholar in the fields of art and design, with a focus on design history and practices with a focus on the Arab World and Africa. Shehab and Nawar started working on the book in 2016, and it took them around two years to finish their research before eventually writing it.

To read or not to read? 

Read! The discovery of 100 years of Arab graphic design wasn’t in itself surprising but what was actually surprising was that there is a pattern among Arab designers that undermines the field of graphic design and looks at it from a solely commercial point of view rather than from a cultural and artistic perspective too. It is a stunning book and incredible insight to the Graphic Design of the Arab world.