Stereo.type: Typographic Jewelry

By Ebon Heath, in collaboration with Dubai based jewelry designer Mona Ibrahim.
The first collection of this collaboration was launched June 2009 in Dubai, at the designer retail store, gallery 50 degrees.

All the designs are made of the different unique forms each culture uses as language. This collection was both in Arabic and English, the 2 official languages of Dubai. This use of multilingual type endows the jewelry with a meaning and message (or a beautiful abstract form if u cannot read the language).

[via]

Louvre Abu Dhabi, UAE

A ceremony attended by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan marked the start of construction at May, 26 at the site of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the first universal museum to be built in the capital city. In recognition of the importance of the event, the two world leaders accepted a time capsule for the museum from children of both the UAE and France.

The Louvre Abu Dhabi is sited at Saadiyat Island’s new Cultural District, developed as the world’s largest single concentration of premier cultural institutions.

Designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, the Louvre Abu Dhabi will be a 24,000 sq m complex of pavilions, plazas, alleyways and canals ‘evoking the image of a city floating on the sea’. Hovering over the complex will be a form inspired by traditional Arabic architecture: a vast, shallow, perforated dome—some 180 metres in diameter.

A presentation of Nouvel’s design, an illustrated talk and a guided tour of selected artworks to be displayed will be presented through 2 July in Gallery One of Emirates Palace. The building is set for completion in 2012/13.

via Design You Trust

Arabic Versions of Global Brand Identities

A while back, I came across this. Being an Arab myself and working in a company that specializes in arabic fonts and typography, I thought it couldnt get any more interesting than this...just seeing typographic adaptations of world brands (or attemps at doing so) to accommodate our culture is well...quite surreal...

Anyway, I ended up being really disappointed. Most of them are quite hideous. I do have to give credit though to the few that actually do work like Foot Locker and MAC.

via graphicology