Sha3teely

Unfortunately there is a big assumption among drivers in this country that speeding or crossing lines between cars is a cool thing or only skilled driver can do that. Also there is another assumption that if you follow rules and try to drive safe you will end up having lots of troubles in roads. So you better eat them before they eat you.

I just hate it when I see one of the coaster buses crossing the road in a crazy way. I had enough of taxi drivers stopping in the middle of the road to pick up a passenger. I really really hate it when a quick delivery van speeding in a tiny road. While you read on the back of the van “How do you see my driving?” well… it’s like shit.

People should understand that this kind of driving is not cool, smart or better in anyway. A cool driver is the one who cools his speed down. A smart driver is the one who follows the rules. A professional “skilled” driver is the one who keep all his senses alert while driving.

Now… to the confession part, I am not a perfect driver. I speed sometime. I do stupid stuff while driving and when I get pissed off I might do dangerous things… I feel so bad and ashamed about it. Especially when I jeopardize the life of the people who are sitting next to me and I feel so bad that I scared the shit out of them.

But from once and a while I always keep reminding my self that I need to be a good driver and try to drive safe. I believe that it’s part of our religious beliefs and ethics. Its also part of the civilized people lifestyle and I really would like to be considered as a civilized person.

Safe driving is cool… Save driving is smart
Be cool… be smart… be happy

It has been two days since I’m back from Berlin, the mother city of the 20th century architecture. For the first time Sha3teely visited Europe. I had a good time and I enjoyed the advanced civilization and the open culture. It was so great to see a bus comes exactly as it is expected… It was also great to ride on a subway train. It was a pleasure to walk on the green grass or paved roads. I just loved the simple signs on the streets.

Sha3teely went to Berlin with 360east and the Syntaxers “Ahmad Sabbagh”. We attended the Typo2007 conference. The theme of the conference was about music and design. I was so exited and thrilled to see all the sessions. It was so amazing to see the man who designed the DAX font face to face. Or to see the man who designed the Revolver album cover of the Beatles.

Let me give you a list of things that I’ve learned during the conference.
- Passion is your road for success. You really need to love what you are doing.
- Designers should get their hands dirty. It’s really so important for designers to design things manually from time to time. Design is a craftsmanship too.
- Rules are important… but what the hick, who puts the rules. Have your own rules.
- Open your mind for experimentation… and then find how you can make it useful for others.
- We don’t have a design culture, but we need to build one.
- Design is not a job, it’s a life style.

There are more things that I’ve learned, not only in design… but also in life. The whole trip was inlighting for me. What makes me envy these people is that all of them follow the law, no one of them above the law. And when you pay your taxes you know the end it’s going to be for the best of all. To tell the truth, I don’t care about freedom or openness as much as I care about justice and equality. These things what makes a country worth for living.

We also should know that these people didn’t reach that level of modernity in an easy way. The story of Berlin is an example of how much people suffered after the World War II. The story of wall, rebuilding the city and the unification are legend stories from the 20th century. You don’t know how much I felt when I saw building designed by great architects such as Renzo Piano, Norman Foster, Le Corbusier and Alvar Aalto. We only see these things on book or magazines and we dreamed about them when we where student at university. It’s so great to see a dream come true.

At this point I really would like to thank SYNTAX and Ahmad Humeid for giving this chance. And I hope I could translate what I’ve learned into good work and share with the rest of the team.

During 6 days I took over 600 photos for Berlin… Ill try to upload as many as I can to my ikbis account soon.

This is not an old book tag at the Jordan University’s library, printed by an old Arabic typewriter. This is a new open type font designed by the young talented calligrapher Hussein Al Aza’at, my colleague at work. The font is really experimental and artistic. This font brings back a history of Arabic typography and printing techniques.

This font will be available for use soon. It will be a good asset on every designer’s font folder. Hopefully it will not be abused.

This is an amazing section of Qur’an copied by Zaynab bint Ahmad al-Maqdisiyya, a female calligrapher from Jerusalem. This section was written in Hegira 731 / AD 1330, Mamluk period.

It was written on paper with black ink and decorated with colors and illumination; the binding is leather with stamp-block decoration

This piece is displayed on the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo- Egypt

This section from a Qur’an proves that the role of women in Islamic society was not confined to household tasks. They were writers, poets and even calligraphers of the Qur’an, most prestigious work. This manuscript is a rare example of a work such as this having a named female calligrapher.

I really believe that one day we were a real advanced civilization with a modern and open minded culture. I personally believe that Islam has nothing to do with our current setback. The problem simply is within our lost generation.

I would like to thank my friend Hussein Al Aza’at the one who introduced me to this great calligrapher.

The talented Jordanian artiest Amer Al kokh, who is currently working on Dubai, is the man behind this cool and creative cartoon animation, which I remember I saw couple of series in last Ramadan.

The animation industry in the Arab world is now more promising. Before couple of years, we were dreaming of such work like this. But thanks to our talented young generation and technology that made this dream a reality.

To tell you the truth, producing animation is a personal dream for me too. I hope one day ill manage to enrich our Arabic culture with new creative animations. And enjoy working with young and talented Arab artists.

Blouzazt is the new up coming cool “kick ass” shop for t-shirts. This shop is not like any other t-shirt shop. This shop is created by a group of very talented young graphic designer from Jordan and Germany. The shop will be placed in Jabal Amman. Today, one of the founders, Mohammed Assaf brought to the office these cool stickers for their new shop. I forgot to tell you that the founders of this shop are Syntaxers people. I don’t know why, but suddenly, all people at the office gathered around those stickers and took as much as they can. Either because it’s free or because I believe they are really cools.

The idea is so promising… The guys are working hard and they have lots of cool ideas to present. So stay tuned… and good luck guys.

and for you guys.. this is the first blog that reveals one of Blouzaat designs.. enjoy

Tagged by Manal

List 10 simple pleasures and the rules are as follows:
1. You have to list exactly 10 points.
2. You have to tag 3 bloggers when you are done.

Mine are:
1- spend time with GOD
2- Spending time with Joon and Shorouk “My wife”
3- Dream
4- Design
5- Draw cartoons
6- Tell a story
7- Help someone
8- Watch a movie
9- Drink Turkish coffee
9- Breath fresh air, watch the sunrise

I tag Asfour Ibrahim Ahmad