Faiza Rizvi
Saudi Gazette
The Saudi National Creative Initiative (SNCI) officially kicked off its first round of workshops on Wednesday as a part of ‘Creative Weeks’, that will feature 40 international experts who will conduct workshops in 12 diverse creative sectors across Saudi Arabia.
Ali Al Masri, a type and graphic designer who holds multiple degrees in graphic and industrial design, conducted an exciting workshop about social design and helping society through branding knowledge. Titled “Bringing hope through branding”, Masri’s workshop focused on helping people through unique branding and design, highlighting his social initiative called “Wajha” which he co-founded to provide exclusive designs makeovers to small shops, sometimes in isolated areas, and also provide free designing services to those who can’t afford it.
“Wajha is organic and we don’t follow strict plans. We believe in developing designs with a personal touch of the client,” Masri told Saudi Gazette. For instance, in Jordan, his company gave a complete design makeover to a barber shop, whose shop was hidden in alleys. Masri’s makeover made a huge impact and the barber even started receiving international clients visiting the area.
Highlighting the thought process behind the final design, Masri said graphic designers must be thinkers and shouldn’t just work from offices but rather it’s essential they develop a bond with their clients by visiting sites and understanding their needs through effective communication.
Through the workshop, Masri is trying to change the mindset of Arab designers, whose designs are heavily influenced by the Western culture and have lost the “Arabic touch” due to Western influence on the graphic design education in the Gulf region. “We need to connect to our roots, identify the Arab visual identity and not just focus on providing services to corporate sector, but also to small entities,” he said.
SNCI’s first week also featured a stimulating workshop conducted by Joseph Haslan, Associate Professor at IE Business School in Madrid and owner of several mobile businesses, including hotel booking systems. Through his workshop, “Humanity’s Grand Challenges”, Haslan highlighted how the power of exponential technology which has enabled small startups to do things that once only government was empowered to do.
“Water purification or electricity generation was previously done only by government, but now people are empowered to do so using nanotechnology.” He also noted that the younger generation is engaging in work that would leave a legacy and impact lives and are not just doing jobs for the sake of money. For instance, his students at IE Business School created a language company called Buusu, which enables people to use mobile application to learn world languages.
Haslan told Saudi Gazette that response from attendees has been great. “In my first session, I let people have a voice so I would know more about their thoughts in this country.” Haslan said technology connects a person to others sharing the same problem, so this encourages global collaboration because creativity is a collaborative experience.
Haslan has conducted seminars all over the world and finds hesitation among people to reach out, so through his workshop he is encouraging individuals to use technology to reach out to others working on similar projects. “Small focused groups can achieve larger goals”, he said. “Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something. It’s important to believe in yourself, and identify their priorities.”
