Rian Adam Sadiq

Hey y’all! 👋🏾 I’m a freshly graduated graphic designer from UiB and UAL on the lookout for opportunities in the creative field! I’m open to roles like junior designer, communications advisor, content creator, consultant and anything where I can put my keen eye for typography (digital + print) to use. I’ve worked (and sometimes still work) with University of Bergen, South Asian Salon, Quick Style Studio, Viken Fylkeskommune, Transcultural Arts Production (TrAP), and various freelance projects for creatives in the arts and culture scene. Interested in collabs or a casual coffee? Slide into my DMs 🫱🏽‍🫲🏾 (I’m also down to give talks or hold workshops 😇) 📸: Elisa Bates

from the exhibition set up :0 (2/2) Project description: DECOLONIZE THE GRID How can we visualize Western oppression through editorial design? My project was initially going to focus on copyright and stamps, with the question: "How can we visualize Western abuse of power? The 'elite' as the 'lawbreaker' when the law is created in their favor-or in 'our' favor?" But my project took a different direction when I began developing a visual interpretstion for it. This journey led me through my own biases, questioning the West's influence on me, design and the world, and eventually gave rise to a desire to create a more genuine approach to design. The grid, as a fundamental element of graphic design, became a natural system to dismantle. Using South Asian/Pakistani stamps, I aimed to create a new system based on a form analysis of artifacts from Pakistan, specifically stamps. The approach I wanted to use was decolonial design methodology, and the text I've included here addresses this approach to thinking and working. I felt this was a natural part of my practice, a tool in my toolkit that I want to use to make my mark on the design field. Simply put, decolonization differs from diversity, as diversity is about creating opportunities, while decolonization is about changing the system and reconsidering what is offered. This is reflected in my practice as a multicultural designer from the diaspora, raised in a Western country, navigating what is truly relevant for most people and what is relevant for me. print: a3 risograph + kmdprinter (ikke den som gir de mørke stripene)

The last five weeks we’ve had a Independent Project-course, where we were free to do whatever we wanted! I could write a whole essay about this, but in short summary, I’ve been unlearning hegemonic design pedagogy, as Twisha Mehta phrased it in Navigating Through a Culture of Critique—and for me, this meant to go back to (graphic design) basics. My intent was to create a stamp-publication, but I couldn’t find a design system that could fit my desires. So, in an attempt to differentiate/understand my practice, I wanted to create a new “template” or a new design system to maintain more ethical and sincere consistency in my practice within the realm of diasporic design. Dismantling, decolonizing, and reconstructing the grid ended up becoming my main task in this project: redefining and redesigning the system that holds us as individuals-society and as designers-design field chained to restrictions and uniformity. This project wouldn’t have existed if not for my exchange at @camberwellgraphicdesign with an amazing course in Agency and Representation (Whose History?). I am forever grateful to them for introducing us to Anoushka Khandwala, who is very present within the field of decolonizing design, and her text, What does it mean to decolonize design? - is the text used to visualize the grid and layout. I also want to show huge gratitude to @malice.studio and her master’s project Beyond the Western Canon, which serves as an inspiring example of how to approach decolonial work within editorial design and experimental publishing. A final thank you goes out to Betty Brunfaut and Bakhtawer Haider at @weareplan.b and @soldout_publishing , who work hard to culturally decolonize the field of graphic design. You have all inspired me in ways beyond words. (1/2)

typographic poster made to «Vestkantsvartinga» by @karpe_offisiell made for educational purposes, with @huusase and @doraisleifsdottir as tutors in the course VIS110 - Typography and Meaning Creation during my first term at @designkmd , fall 2022. with only type and color as tools, I wanted to create a visualization of “othering”, with the help of rhythm, repetition, and non-latin principles, as you can see Magdi’s name being coherent in latin type, just as how it would’ve been in an arabic type setting. the white colored-type represents the Scandinavians, while the black type represents “the others”. the color in the back is a nuance of orange, as it’s the best color for visibility and readability when usage of black and white together. as well as it thematically being a color associated to Egypt where Magdi’s “from”, but also as a comment on the controversial «skin color». Format: B2 (50cm x 70cm) Type: Mr Eaves XL Sans & Skolar Sans Arabic Mockup: @bendito.mockup #visualcommunication #graphics #graphicdesign #typography #type #type01 #poster #musicposter #bountyhuntersarchive