Kuwait University, Kuwait

Experiential Graphic Designer, Russell Design

What a thrill to be given the opportunity to design a bilingual identity and wayfinding system in a foreign country! We started off by exploring the country and learning about its culture, taking in all the visuals we could that might influence the future identity for the university. We walked all three university campuses, getting a feel for the student vibe, and painstakingly mapping out the key destinations, the traffic flow, etc.

I enjoyed the challenges inherent in this project. The first was designing for a culture that was unfamiliar to me. We needed to develop a system that was celebratory, fresh, respectful, and compelling to the audience. Another was working with Arabic typography. Consulting with an Arabic type designer, I learned that typefaces that felt modern to me, looked traditional to native speakers and vice versa. Kuwait is in a desert with extreme temperatures, sandstorms, and loads of sunshine. So the physical environment, which is both monochromatic and tough on signage, also played a role in palette and material decisions.