Not (Yet) Defeated

The starting visual was excavated from old playful experiments with the simple element of line. Collecting dust in our process boxes, these studies attempted to explore Arabic typography that performs: the form and behavior of the letters on the page inevitably inhabit meaning. Many of these short, fast-paced and abrupt sketches remain unfinished, never sprouting. For the second edition of Tasmeem: De-sign Scrapyard, a design exhibition in ICD Brookfield Place in Dubai, we have revisited some of these scattered visual thoughts and reconstructed using Arabic typography that speaks of our perspective of failure; as designers as well as human beings. The lines, now animated with new life, fall apart, come together, entangled, shredded. This process, reflected in the words we used, serves as a reminder that even from the simplest acts of making, observing, sketching, inspiration can arise. The value is obtained through constant and diligent engagement, staying uncomfortable, doing then redoing then redoing better.