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| 'london book fair sharjah market focus' final illustration . 2020 |
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| 'london book fair sharjah market focus' character illustrations . 2020 |
here's a project i'm super proud to have worked on, yet that silly coronavirus has managed to have stolen the spotlight from it (damn you covid-19)!!!
i was approached by the british council uae to work on creating a visual identity for the 'london book fair sharjah market focus 2020' programme in partnership with the sharjah book authority. in this year's london book fair, sharjah takes the stage as the 2019-20 world book capital, showcasing sharjah's growth and contribution to literature and publishing on an international platform. the programming for the 'market focus' includes talks and discussions by key figures from the literary and publishing world in the emirates.
the brief was quite simple – to create a graphic illustration for easy application onto various formats (web banners, social media, printed collateral, etc.), and to respond to the theme of 'contemporary uae'. theme's are very tricky for me, and i'd like to think i responded to it successfully. the illustration above is comprised of characters interacting with traditional (books, parchments) and digital (laptops, phones) reading/writing tools. i tried to make the characters representational of the emirates through their outfits, and. the background includes abstract representations of traditional architecture (wind towers and domes) and natural landscapes (desert dunes) found in sharjah and the emirates. we went through a series of colour options until we decided on the final green and beige palette you see above. overall, i think it looks pretty great, and the clients were very happy with it.
i was really excited to see my illustrations represented at the london book fair and to an international audience. but unfortunately, the london book fair this year has been canceled due to the worldwide conronavirus outbreak. i was really disappointed to realise my illustrations wouldn't be shared as effectively as i thought it would be. i'm not sure if there are any activities lined up for later in the year. but if there are, i hope my illustrations will still be used.
i end this post with a couple of applications i found online via the british council's 'london book fair sharjah market focus' webpage. below are a couple of images of the illustration applied as a roll-up banner and as a digital web banner. thank you british council uae for reaching out to me to be a part of this project. it's a true honour to represent the emirates on an international level. and to everyone reading this, stay safe and keep washing those hands of yours!
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| 'london book fair sharjah market focus' final illustration as roll-up banner . 2020 (image courtesy of the british council) |
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| 'london book fair sharjah market focus' final illustration as digital web banner . 2020 (courtesy of the british council) |