rayan-abdullah

Prof. Rayan Abdullah

PROFESSOR,ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS LEIPZIG,GERMANY

Profile

Rayan Abdullah was born in Mosul, Iraq, and has lived in Germany since studying cultural education and visual communication at the Berlin University of the Arts.

He is a consultant for corporate identity, corporate design and branding and a promoter of Arab designers, among other things through the founding of Gridliners e.V. with award ceremonies. From 2001 to 2023, Rayan Abdullah was Professor of Typography at the Academy of Fine Arts in Leipzig and, since 2004, Founding Dean of the German University in Cairo. In 2016, he established the Academy for Transcultural Exchange at the Academy of Fine Arts in Leipzig as the first institution to enable refugee students in the field of art and design to continue their studies in Germany.

In his agency Bildungsbau, founded in 2018, he supports projects for education and the transfer of education to the MENA region. Since 2020, he has been the founding dean of the Design Faculty at the German International University in Cairo and Berlin. He is a board member of several committees and associations: International Design Centre Berlin, Divan Arabisches Kulturhaus Berlin, European Institute for Quality Journalism Berlin, Club International Leipzig, Halle14 Leipzig, and is a keynote speaker at specialist conferences worldwide.

Positions

FROM 2001 TO 2023, RAYAN ABDULLAH WAS PROFESSOR OF TYPOGRAPHY AT THE ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS IN LEIPZIG.

SINCE 2004, FOUNDING DEAN OF THE GERMAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO.

Education

1975 – 1978
Technical Secondary School in Mosul/ Iraq

1978 – 1980
Study visit in Romania

1982 – 1984
Cultural Education in the University of Arts, Berlin, Germany

1984 – 1989
Visual Communication with Professor Kapitzki in the University of Arts, Berlin

1989
Diploma, Thesis Topic: Arabic Typography and building Arabic fonts

1991
Graduated as an honour student, Thesis Topic: Developing and designing new
Arabic fonts for computer

Work Experience

1990 – 1992
Designer at Hoch 3 Company, Berlin

1993 – 2001
Latin font design teacher at Lette-Verein, Berlin

1993 – 2001
Designer at MetaDesign – Germany’s largest Design and Branding Company, Berlin

1995-2000
Chief designer and head of major design projects for the Berlin Transport Authority – the third largest transport authority in the world – for seven years
Head of the East Project for seven years
Senior designer for Corporate Design Volkswagen for two years (design of Volkswagen Logo)
Senior designer for Corporate Design Bugatti (design of Bugatti Logo) for two years
Senior designer the unified logo of the Federal Government of Germany (redesign of the Federal Eagle) for two years
Head of design project for Potsdam Transport Authority
Head of multiple other projects

since 2000
Freelance consultant for Corporate Identity, Corporate Design, Branding

2001
Expert at Anatomy of the Book and treatement of its diseases

2001 – 2023
Professor of typography at the Academy of Fine Arts, Leipzig – The first design college in Germany and the oldest university of fine arts

Books (all written in German)

1993
The Art of Arabic Fonts
Publishing house: Design Transfers, Berlin University of the Arts

1998
Arabic calligraphic art History, typology and modernity
Museum of Marakech

2002
Corporate design -costs and benefits
Publishing house: Hermann Schmidt Mainz

2002
Pictograms and icons, Japanese edition in Tokyo
Professor Rayan Abdullah and Roger Czwerny

2005
Pictograms and icons. Compulsory or voluntary
Professor Rayan Abdullah and Roger Hübner
Publishing house: Hermann Schmidt Mainz

Publications and Articles

More than 200 article in Design and education

2006-2007
Articles in Novum magazine about brand building

2012
Articles in Paperazzo magazine about typography and others

Lectures and workshops

Corporate Design
Corporate Identity
Corporate Brand
Fonts
Printing Shapes and Colours
Typography
Arabic Typography
Arabic Calligraphy
Illustrations
Guidelines and orientation

Lectures and workshops

Alexandria
Amman
Baghdad
Beijing
Beirut
Berlin
Cairo
Casablanca
Damascus
Djerba
Doha
Dubai
El Ksour
Kuwait
Leipzig
London
Marrakesh
Mosul
Potsdam
Rabat
Riyadh
Tunisia
Ulaanbaatar
Zürich
and others