After the elections, activists, politicians and political parties in these countries started demanding various measures of cooperation between the new Arab democracies. The opening of their borders, the cancellation of import tariffs between them, a unified currency and the freedom of labor movement where some of the strongest demands put forward.
In 2012, the demands intensified and cross border cooperation between activists emerged. Responding to that, the foreign ministers of the new Arab democracies held a meeting in Cairo to discuss implementing such requests. They came out with a declaration supporting closer cooperation between their countries.
Then, the leaders of the Arab democracies met on the 2nd of March 2013, and announced the birth of the Free Arab Union, a new cooperation body of democratic Arab states based on the principles of freedom, economic and cultural cooperation and open borders.
The Free Arab Union charter was announced. While it kept the independence and sovereignty of its members intact, it aimed at achieving a unified framework for political, economic, social and cultural cooperation among the newly formed democracies.
General Principles
The Free Arab Union is established on the premise of freedom, democracy and independence. It accepts the diversity of Arab societies without discrimination or favoritism for one society over another, or one region over another.
The Union welcomes the membership of any Arab country governed by democratic rule that has gained popular acceptance.
The Union issued the following statement on October 2013, which reflects the principles the citizens were calling for the previous year. The following represents a summary of its main points:
1- Strengthening democracy among members of the Union by launching a unified electoral system for Arab parliaments that expands popular representation of various societal groups.
2- Freedom of movement between member countries without visa requirements.
3- Creation of a single currency.
4- Unification of the general tariffs and taxes.
5- Respect of the right of expression whether on political, social or economic subjects.
6- Encouragement of popular participation in civic and political life and the establishment of vital public spaces in major cities for free public expression.
Challenge Details
The Free Arab Union now needs a visual identity.
In order to embody the principles and philosophy of the Union, it has been decided that a full branding strategy will be developed. The brand will provide the principle communication tools for the Union, including the flag, logo, color schemes, presentation materials for conferences and festivals, and for the promotion of culture and tourism in its member countries. The communications office at the Union has already prepared a design brief and is now scouting for the perfect team to participate in the competition.
Are you the designer they should turn to?
Redesign Arabia invites you to participate in a competition that aims to encourage thinking about the Arab World’s contemporary issues from a design and creative perspective.
You can help develop a vibrant, dynamic and relevant new brand for the Arab World by preparing the design requirements in the following brief:
Mandatory Requirements
1. Design the Union’s flag so that it represents the identity and principles that member countries have adopted. (Set your imagination free, and show us the flag in a photo montage flying on a pole in one of the capitals of a member country)
2. Design the logo of the Union as seen at the launching ceremony and its advertisement campaign.
3. Design its unified currency (paper and coin) or unified postal stamps.
4. Design the homepage of the website of the Union and a smartphone e-government application.
Optional Requirements
The Union has started to work on three major projects. As a designer, you have to choose one of them at least to work on (in addition to the mandatory requirements above).
1. Logo of the Regional Transport Authority (which serves all of the countries by rapid bus and train services) in addition to applications of the logo on information billboards at terminals and smart payment cards.
2. Logo of the annual cultural festival.
3. A tourism handbook.
The floor is open for participants to suggest any other design items they would like to submit.
Submission Instructions
- This competition is open to individual designers, advertisement agencies, media and design firms from all around the world.
- Participants can send multiple entries as long as each fulfills all requirements.
- All entries should be submitted in a single PDF file with a maximum size of 20MB. If the need arises to send an entry with a larger file size, you can split it into multiple files.
- A 500-word (maximum) concept paper must also be attached.
- All entries should be sent to challenge [at] redesignarabia [dot] com
Deadline
October 5 2011
Jury
The jury will be announced at a later stage. Entries will be shared on our website and open to comments. The quality of discussion generated around them will be taken into consideration by the jury. There will be no voting system on entries.
All entries will be judged anonymously. The name of participant(s) should be mentioned on a separate cover letter only.
Printing & Publishing Rights
Winning and select entries will be exhibited in one of the gallery spaces in Amman, Jordan.
Redesign Arabia reserves its right to publish all entries on its website and any other media outlet. Redesign Arabia also reserves its right to exhibit entries.
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