Sunday, November 28, 2010

{noella designs} Tea Before Noon identity

Wow, I can't believe it's been a year since I started this blog (as usual I missed my blog-birthday), of course I've pretty much slacked off in some months and mysteriously disappeared in others, however I love being part of this blogging world and being able to both share designs from my side of the world and equally get inspired by others, not to mention the wonderful and creative people I've met :)


Well, I just realised that I never showed you any of my design works, so what better way than to celebrate my 1 year with a little bit of me and my designs.

A month before travelling this summer, I was approached by a client to work on an identity for her. She came to me with a name, and it's product 'Tea Before Noon' 'Chai al Doha' - a bilingual (Arabic and English) magazine and directory for businesses by women to women in the United Arab Emirates. I got blessed with such a sweet client who was open to try out different methods and ideas and it was heaven working with her. Just from the name I loved it from the start, and my head was already overflowing with ideas, but what I loved more was the role this magazine would play; in acknowledging the importance of women in the UAE, be it business women, young entrepreneurs, sit-at-home mothers or students and aiming to promote their achievements through articles, interviews, notices and features in this quarterly magazine.

As I was saying it was a hectic month before summer, and there was so much to do in so little time. So with the name in hand, I pulled out my notebook and began sketching and drawing, noting down all the visual language I could get from the notion of tea; from the form of the arabic teacup (estikanah) that is present in every Emirati household to the color palette of tea.


Tea Before Noon {Chai al Doha} Logo



Created a system of icons from the teacup form for the different sections in the magazine
{ Kids | Health | Lifestyle | Fashion | Food | Culture | Art | Beauty }



 Pattern Designs for the divisions within the magazine - Beauty, Fashion, Art, Food sections
Going with the tea theme, related each section with a kind of tea, such as Beauty :: White Tea.


The identity translated into the website splash page and main pages



Ramadan Card