Tell us a bit about yourself.
I'm an Iraqi lecturer teaching Graphic Design at Faculty of Fine Arts in University of Baghdad. In addition, I'm photographer and image maker. As a university lecturer, I am at the peak of academic excellence as I have a responsibility of modeling and bringing up tomorrow’s esteemed professionals.
Did you always know you wanted to get your PhD?
Since I was studying M.A in Baghdad, the idea of completing my graduate studies overseas was running at my mind, first to improve my English language and second to develop research skills. I was able to publish a paper in an international journal, but this was when I was studying in Malaysia.
Describe the purpose of your book in a few sentences.
To improve a good understanding and to update some of mysterious concepts and terminology of Fine Arts, Design and Photography.
Who do you think would most appreciate this book?
The book directed toward Art and Design students, researchers and lecturers in the Arabic world; the book covers a lot of English literature I encountered during my studies at University Malaysia Sarawak, Malaysia.
What inspired you to write a book about Art and Design philosophy?
What inspired me is the need for such topics, particularly what was written in the Arabic language is a bit rare compared to what was written in English. In addition, what was written in Arabicwas mostly not based on Art and Design literature. In the beginning, the book was my website blog, and then I decided to embed all the essays into a hardcopy book.
How did you select which topics to cover in your book?
I chose topics that have not been covered by authors previously and topics that have problematic idiomatic. Some of the topics are: creation, mind mapping, magical realism, design vs redesign, design vs art, teaching design criticism, environmental art, green design, research in design, ethics of design, creative integrity, jealousy in art and design.
Your book is the first book by a University of Baghdad lecturer to be printed in the United States and be published and distributed by Amazon. What made you decide to share your book to audiences in the United States?
Let's talk first about Arabic presses and publisher houses. There is no law that protects Arabic printed text as it is available in English text; there are no rights of the authors' the publishing house gives around 50 hardcopies of the book to the author for free and take all the profits from the book sale. The problem is that most authors are not looking for profit but are looking for only personal fame and publicity rather. Second thing is that the printing with US presses is really different from what is in the Arab presses; the US presses use the latest printing technology available, so an author may find quality in paper, colors, and binding. I decided to share my book on Amazon not only to audiences in US but to the whole world, the Arabic intellectual must get used to Amazon either as a reader to purchase books and/or as a writer to share his/her thoughts to audiences.
Did you face any issues getting your work printed with an English printing press since your book is in Arabic?
I did since the English printing press, publishing and marketing are set only for Latin books and do not support non-English books, such as Arabic language books, which read from right to left. There were many issues, such as Arabic fonts, margins, binding and book cover, how to make a book that can be read from right to left. It was a challenge. But as I'm a graphic designer who is equipped with a lot of experience, I managed to handle those issues successfully, thank Goodness.
The book cover features three unique images. What can you tell us about these images? Why did you select these images?
Most of book covers designers use free heavily used images and common windows fonts which are the two big mistakes. In my cover, I meant to use images that are not common in Google images. Each image represents a different concept, one refers to Graphic Design and Fine Arts, second refers to Industrial Design while the third refers to Painting.
 |
| Author Raqee S. Najmuldeen |
How do you think reading your book will impact people?
I think the reader will be influenced from the third page of the book, which initiated the words of the sarcastic writer Colin Wright, whom distinguishes Art from Design by saying the difference between them is like the difference between masturbation and sex! The book is biased slightly toward Design, giving it a bigger role. Considering Art is a part of Design and Design makes use of Art, this idea will shock the reader like a cold shower because most scholars believe that art is the highest concept rather than design, but this book contradicts this assumption and thus will have an impact on the reader.
What do you have in mind for your next writing project?
In fact, I'm thinking to write an English book about the relationship among Graphic Design, Advertising and Photography.
Is there anything else you'd like potential readers to know about your book?
I invite all specialized readers to read my book as they will find comprehensive information and general information about Art and Design as well as get exposed to ideas that are absent in other literature. The book will not allow the reader to be bored.
More Information
Buy the book on Amazon
No comments:
Post a Comment