Category: Design

I think I just found the funkiest designed clothing store in Kuwait and sadly its only for woman. I was leaving Platform and on my way out back to the main road when I saw this extremely trendy looking storefront right across the street from the BMW showroom. I didn’t know what it was and I wasn’t sure if it was open or not so I started driving really slow and then I noticed some girls walked into the place. I couldn’t tell what the place was because the windows were sand blasted so I parked my car and hoped for the best. As long as it wasn’t a lingerie store or someones house I figured I would be ok.

I opened the door and walked in and to my surprise it was a clothing store and it looked really trendy. The clothing racks were lined up on the side of the store and there were two pinball machines right in the center and in the rear there was a huge pink seating area. I walked around a bit and then left and will definitely go back with Nataly. The place is called 4 and it wouldn’t look out of place in Soho.

Note: Notice how I have 3 posts today on 3 different new stores?

The logo on the left is for a Kuwaiti student political group that was elected to run the National Union of Kuwaiti Students [Link]. The logo on the right is for the American Society for Surgery of the Hand. [Link]

Of course it could be just a big coincidence..

Thanks S A

oobject has a top 20 list of skyscrapers in the Gulf, nearly all of them are in Dubai but Kuwait’s upcoming Mubarek Tower made the list. My favorite is the Ras Al Khaimah Convention Center (Dubai UAE) pictured above which is designed by OMA and led by Rem Koolhaas. Its made to look like the Death Star from Star Wars. [Link]

Xerox launched a new identity and I really don’t like it, the sphere with the web 2.0 glossy effect is never going to be a classic. The only thing I like about the logo is that it reminds me of Racer X (picture below) from the cartoon Speed Racer. [Link]

Slider Station finally have a website up and running but when I try to check it on my Mac my browser practically freezes. I tried using both FireFox and Safari and the website seems too graphically heavy to browse properly. From what I managed to see, they have some photos up and the menu but without the prices. [Link]

Logo Lounge has put together different styles of logos that were popular this past year. One big change over last year is a huge decrease in Web2.0 style logos. Thankfully that trend didn’t last for very long. [Link]

The box on the left is the original Kellogg’s Cornflakes with their signature rooster thats been on the front of their boxes since 1957. The box on the right is the Sultan Center generic brand of cornflakes.. with a green rooster. Next up, Sultan Center canned vegetables with a green giant as the mascot.

I am assuming the cops use a similar software to this with victims of attacks. The picture on the left is me trying to draw myself and the picture on the right is of Holla (my friend) trying to draw himself. Its pretty easy to use and the results are pretty neat. I am going to get back to working on my face trying to make it resemble me. [Link]

Tips: You can move the location of face features by clicking on them in the picture on the right and moving it about. You can increase and decrease the width and height of the features by using the axis thingy on the left. You can also save your face for other people to see. If you click on load and then search for a face called 248am you should find the one I am working on.

Burgan Bank today launched a new logo and personally I think it can’t get any more generic than this. I think they should have just given their old logo a face lift by simplifying the sun rays and maybe going with two tones of blue instead of the Gradient. For their typeface I would have killed the serif and gone with san serif which they actually did in the new logo. Actually the only positive thing in the new logo is their logo type but their icon on the other hand is very boring and forgettable. Not only that but where is Kuwait in the logo? Gulf Bank have the dhow, NBK have the camel, CBK have the arabesque star and now Burgan Bank have a… ribbon? Where is the locality? Where is the strength and trust? They’ve recently redone their branches into a very clean modern looking environment so why did they go with a logo that was already outdated in style before it even launched. This logo should never have left the design studio yet let alone presented to the client and gotten accepted.

What other bloggers have to say
Tatabotata: “This is the most disgusting redesign I have seen in a while.”
Patrick: “Why? But why?!”

Elsewhere
AMEINFO: “The design of the new corporate identity draws inspiration from a ring, which has been used cross-culturally for thousands of years as a symbol of partnership and commitment.”

Further Information
The logo was done by an agency in Bahrain and not LOM | FDP who were responsible for their branch redesigns

Update: The agency in Bahrain behind the redesign is Vision Communications.

I used to like the old Kuwait Airport since I grew up with it but like everything else in Kuwait its being modernized and not in a good way. The new airport is generic looking and doesn’t have the character of the original airport which was designed by one of the most significant architects of the 20th century, Kenzo Tange.

I was at the airport on Friday and noticed they’ve taken out the old retro looking arrival sign and replaced it with this colorful ugly LED panel. I used to really like the retro one and I wonder where it is at the moment, did they just trash it in the junk yard? Anyway if you want to check out old pictures of the Airport when it first opened like the first one in this post click [Here]

If you want to see pictures of other great architecture projects from the 70’s and 80’s check [Here]

I just found out about Blouzaat from Moeys blog and they have some really cool t-shirts there. They all look really funky and are all beautifully designed. You can tell they’ve put a lot of effort and thought into the designs and the result is just some really trendy looking shirts. The designers (I think they are a group) are based in Jordan and their store link says coming soon but hopefully it won’t be that long before we can start placing orders. Check out their collection, they have a ton of different designs. [Link]

Ruby Tuesday have redesigned their identity and it was handled by Pentagram, the same agency who were responsible for the Commercial Bank of Kuwait identity back in the 70s. I prefer the new logo and how its being applied but I know a lot of people think type based identities are the lazy way out. What I also find interesting is that Appleebee’s just rebranded, so now I am wondering if Chilis or TGIF could be next. [Link]

via Brand New

Flipbook with 36 black pages. When you flip through the book, a 3D rainbow will appear inside your hand. Smart. [Link]

A blog with loads of airline related design displayed, just flip through the different sections on the site. [Link]

I finally managed to finish working on the new redesigned template and I just activated it. I took all your feedback into consideration and I tried my best not to change the design that much as you can see. Although the template looks similar to the older one under the hood its completely new. The coding is much cleaner and everything should look better and work faster. There might be some minor kinks here and there which I will find and fix in the next few days. Overall I am pretty excited about the face lift, I think it looks much better than the older one and is less cluttered and cleaner. While I was at it I also upgraded to the latest WordPress and I am now running 2.3.

The theme I am using is called Grid Focus by 5thiryone but it’s been heavily modified by me.