OUTSIDE
Social design — Wajha Project
Wajha is an independent social initiative that uses design and branding knowledge to help the community by offering design services for FREE. Taking its name from the Arabic word for ‘facade’, Wajha’s design work mostly takes place on shopfronts. By bringing design into the public arena, the work aims to create a shared experience around these focus points.
Founded by Hussein Alazaat and Ali Almasri. The project offers support to the community. Creative interventions are applied where they are needed. This is especially important in a culture where ‘design’ as a concept is not a priority. In many communities it is an unaffordable privilege, and therefore almost completely absent. Innovative artwork is created on view for everyone.
Wajha uses the city’s facades as an empty canvas for experiments in typography, illustration, and graphic design. Another goal is to redefine and reshape the city’s identity through signage design. Wajha hopes to stimulate the local community to talk more about ‘design’ and to use social networking to respond to these creative interventions.