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RTLTR II: Some time later 2016/2016

Over the course of the year that followed, we put out a number of print products, oriented around the colouring and visual style of the guide- again, having set that precedent to follow, we found it to be more expedient not to reinvent the roundness of the wheel every time, but to try to make a better wheel every time.



2016 did not bring more publications, to my disappointment (and some relief- those things are hard work), but it did provide several opportunities to play around with what we had already developed, and see how it dealt with the ever-changing contexts. And so followed a year of banners, flyers the aforementioned reprint of the "Best Practices" guide. Without going into too much detail, I think I can describe this period as business as usual- we had a certain basic vocabulary established, and familiar with that, we expressed ourselves through it and adapted it into new shapes and contexts.
 



Throughout year, we realised that the logo we had started out with, which we had inherited from a previous iteration of the association, was not longer in keeping with the visual identity that had evolved in the meantime. I began comparing the logo to others we were encountering in cooperations and joint undertakings, with a special focus on bilingual and translated logos, documenting visual semantics and attempting to find a solution to an old challenge- how to achieve a consistent visual balance between Latin and Arabic type, no matter what the size the type is displayed at (we'll get into that when discussing the actual logo development). But, for the time being, save for a different, more legible font for the Arabic type, the logo remained mostly untouched.

What did shift, however, was the colour palette we were operating with, shifting from full-tone colour  to a more pastel palette for most occasions. This was decided upon as, though the group was hosting a number of conferences and meetings, it did not want to visually dominate those meetings, while remaining present, and so it felt appropriate to dial back the flashiness of the designs we had been using in favour of something less ostentatious that we continued refining.

Towards the end of 2017, we began developing the visual identity of a new project: Deutschland bel-logha el 3arabeyya.

And that is where we go in the next part.

Part I can be found here 
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