Rayan Abdullah has lived in Germany since 1980. He describes himself as a “Prussian and bridge-builder between Orient and Occident” and is considered one of today’s leading experts in corporate design. Born in Iraq, he now lives in Balingen, Baden-Württemberg. After studying cultural education and visual communication at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK), he initially worked at, among others, MetaDesign Berlin, before being appointed professor of typography at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig (HGB) in 2001. As founding dean at the German University in Cairo (GUC), he remains active there even after his retirement two years ago. He continues to run his own corporate identity and corporate design agency Markenbau as an international consultant.

Rayan Abdullah is the author of numerous publications and a type designer, particularly of Arabic typefaces.

Photo: Raisan Hameed