Balad AlFann - Twothirds

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Client

Ministry of Culture

Year

2024

Service

Culture

Description

Visual Identity design and Way finding for the annual arts festival

Celebrating Saudi creativity while honoring the soul of Al Balad.

Client

Balad Al Fann is a contemporary art and culture festival set in the heart of Jeddah’s historic district, Al Balad. It reactivates the alleyways and heritage buildings with bold artistic interventions, immersive installations, performances, and exhibitions. The festival bridges past and present, celebrating Saudi creativity while honoring the soul of Al Balad. It’s a step into the future of culture, told through the lens of art, architecture, and expression.

Challenge

The Creative Tension at the Heart of Balad Al Fann

The challenge was never just about designing for a space. It was about holding space for contrast, for conversation, for creativity.

On one hand, Al Balad is a historic ground. A UNESCO heritage site with centuries-old textures, histories, and a distinct visual identity deeply embedded in the national psyche. On the other, Balad Al Fann is a call to artists. Not to decorate the past, but to confront it, question it, and create work that reclaims and defines culture.

The brief demanded a careful balance. The branding had to respect the visual integrity of Al Balad, but also make room for expressive, boundary-pushing artists who see the city not as a backdrop, but as medium and message.

So the approach embraced tension. It allowed for friction. The visual system does not aim to blend in. It frames, contrasts, and sometimes interrupts. This dialogue between preservation and provocation is what gives Balad Al Fann its unique energy. A cultural festival where the past is present, and the future is being painted over it in bold color, sound, and form.

Solutions

Rather than a seamless blend, the visual identity deliberately clashes the old with the new. Bold geometric color blocking cuts through the intricate textures of Al Balad’s historic fabric. The visual language honors the district’s layered topography by disrupting it. Framing systems feel intentionally imposed, like architectural interventions that refuse to fade into the background.

These dynamic overlays — stark triangles, rectangles, and bands of color — in hues pulled from the streets (terracotta, saffron, deep navy, mint green) don’t try to blend. They assert. They provoke. They highlight the tension between preservation and progress.

Signage mirrors this ethos. It echoes the bones of Al Balad’s original wayfinding system but is rebuilt in sharp lines and modular forms. Arabic typography is rendered in crisp, angular cuts, positioned unapologetically across old stone and wood.

This is not “Harmony in Heritage” as a soft melody. It’s a visual remix where past and present collide, and from that friction, new culture emerges.

Testimonials

The identity of Balad AlFann is strong, nice, playful - very fun !

— Maha AlMohawish

The visual identity for Balad Al-Fann was developed through a process of observation, experimentation, and adaptation. Starting with the district’s historic and architectural landscape, the team explored how Al Balad’s topography and building forms could inform a system that feels both grounded and current.

Geometric shapes inspired by the district’s layout were used to build flexible framing systems. These shapes help structure the visual language while referencing the area’s layered history. The goal was to create a system that acknowledges tradition while making space for contemporary expression.

The signage system was reimagined by studying the district’s original wayfinding approach. Rather than replicate it, the design borrows key characteristics and updates them with a cleaner, more functional look suitable for today’s festival context.

Color choices were based on direct observations of Al Balad’s street life. Textiles, architectural finishes, and everyday visual cues informed a palette that feels energetic and relevant. This use of color supports a brand expression that is rooted in place and easy to activate across different materials and platforms.

The architecture of Al Balad also played a role in shaping the visual elements. Unique patterns, facades, and structural details were analyzed and translated into graphic forms. These were tested across layouts, signage, and environmental graphics to ensure consistency and adaptability.

“Recalling the Path Forward” reflects the design team’s approach: looking closely at what exists, testing how it can evolve, and building a system that respects the past while creating new possibilities for how the district is experienced today.

Logo Process

SERVICE

Culture

CLIENT Ministry of Culture

YEAR 2024

Balad Alfann shows that culture isn’t just history, it’s alive and evolving now. It’s a platform where today’s voices express, create, and connect, shaping the culture of the present and future. To read more in regards to the project kindly click on the Case Study tab above.

Balad Alfann, draws inspiration from AlBalad’s topography, where dynamic geometric shapes form captivating framing systems, symbolizing the convergence of past (the space) and present (its utility).

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