Faculty and Students Design Identity for NU-Q Exhibition

An interactive exhibition at The Media Majlis of Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) looks at the power of persuasion and the use of persuasive techniques in media.

‘Unravelling Persuasion’ explores the arts and sciences of persuasion by examining its omnipresence in various aspects of everyday life as well as the origin of the language and psychology of persuasive communication, from early television in Britain to contemporary media in the Middle East.

“Media, politics, language, culture, religion, and all aspects of our lives are influenced by the power of persuasion and influence us in turn,” said, Pamela Erskine-Loftus, director of the Media Majlis.

“Unravelling Persuasion delves deep into the history and theories of persuasive messaging to help visitors understand the power of persuasion and increase their awareness of its impact in influencing our behaviors and moulding our perceptions of the world around us.”

The exhibition features three digital installations to help visitors understand how advertising and different forms of media, such as posters, social media, body language, speech, and sloganeering, enable the subjection of individuals and societies to political and social influence.

‘Where do you stand?’, a film-based interactive installation, includes a recorded experiment displayed on a big screen through which participants respond to statement prompts based on their frames of reference.

Spanning the main exhibition space is ‘What Would You Die For?’, a commissioned video installation by the internationally renowned artist Bahia Shehab. The 360-degree installation tackles the concept of mass persuasion by exposing visitors to the ideas that individuals and societies across time and space have considered as worth dying for.

In another interactive installation, Trophy Camera, visitors learn to critique the tropes and conventions of photojournalism and to be critical of the published images they consume and respond to in everyday life.

The visual identity was created by the TypeAraby team. TypeAraby is a platform initiated at VCUarts Qatar and is dedicated to the creation and promotion of Arabic Typography and TypeDesign and is founded and directed by Basma Hamdy, Associate Professor of Graphic Design at VCUArts School of the Arts in Qatar. The Unraveling Persuasion exhibition identity was designed by a team of VCUarts Qatar Graphic Design Alumni. Zainab AlShibani and Shima Aeinehdar created the Exhibition and publication graphics and Sara Aweida created the Animations.

“The concept of the latest Media Majlis visual identity for the exhibition “unraveling persuasion” was inspired by optical illusions and the impossible object: a two dimensional shape perceived as three dimensional,” Basma said. “We wanted to represent the idea of “unraveling” as navigating a maze to discover the multifaceted complexity of persuasion. It was important for us to create a strong typographic presence in both English and Arabic and to integrate the title within the complexity of the maze.”

In addition to the content exhibited, Unravelling Persuasion is accompanied by a series of events and online programmes that are open to the public, including discussions with academics and experts on the dynamics of persuasion as well as the use of persuasive tools in marketing and cross-cultural communication.

The Media Majlis is open Sunday to Wednesday from 12.30 to 5pm and on Saturdays from 10am to 5pm. The current exhibition will run until December 11, 2021.

Photographs by Raviv Cohen.