An Urdu and English identity for a degree show
MFA Visual Art is a postgraduate degree, equivalent to an MPhil, where scholars develop their own line of research in art. Their 2024 degree show opened the Bahawalpur Literary and Cultural Festival, so it needed a look that felt local and contemporary at the same time. We built a bilingual logotype where the Urdu words “ایم ایف اے ویژول آرٹ ڈگری شو” are drawn as fine gold lines that run into the year 2024, set beside a clean English wordmark.
A 28-spread catalogue for 21 artists
Every artist got their own spread: a portrait framed inside the logotype, their artist statement and a selection of their thesis work. Messages from the Vice Chancellor, the Dean and the Principal open the book, and a group portrait of the graduating class closes it. The printing of the catalogue was sponsored by Crescent Bahüman.
One introduction post for every artist
Before the show, each of the 21 artists was introduced online with a post in the same layout as the catalogue, with their name, portrait and contact details, so the campaign and the printed book looked like one series.
From the invitation card to 20-foot billboards
The gold invitation card announced the chief guest, artist R.M. Naeem, and the guests of honour. Across the campus, large-format flexes carried the same identity: a 20 × 10 ft billboard at the university roundabout, an 11 × 13 ft welcome portrait of the chief guest near UCAD, a 10 × 10 ft flex at the old campus entrance and a 5 × 15 ft banner at the Hakra Art Gallery.
The identity live on campus
On 9 March 2024 the designs went up across the university: the welcome billboard for chief guest R.M. Naeem, the zigzag flex introducing every artist, and the degree show banner on the wall of the Hakra Art Gallery, where guests, faculty and artists gathered for the opening.
Design team
Designed by Hamid Mehmood Abbasi and Muhammad Abdullah Shahab, with design advice from Dr. Farhana Altaf Qureshi (Principal, UCA&D), Hassan Ali Qureshi and Reema Qadeer. Photography by Rao Arqam.