The School of Art in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences is pleased to announce that designer Wael Morcos will speak virtually as part of the school's spring Lecture Series on Thursday, April 18, on Zoom at 5:30 p.m.

After receiving his B.A. in graphic design from Notre Dame University in Lebanon, Morcos joined the branding and design department of Saatchi Beirut where he spent three years developing identities, bilingual typographic solutions and working in print and exhibition design. Meanwhile, his interest in Arabic typography and its modern development led to his involvement in the Typographic Matchmaking projects, where he teamed up with Dutch type designers to collaborate on designing bilingual typefaces. Morcos uses language to investigate words' formal qualities and their complex meanings. 

"Wael's multi-faceted approach to design, coupled with his expertise in bilingual typography, presents an outstanding learning opportunity for our students and the community," said Ryan Slone, assistant professor of graphic design. "We are honored to welcome Wael as a guest speaker for the 2023-24 lecture series in the School of Art, and we are excited to hear about his journey, current case studies and how he envisions his practice moving forward in an ever-evolving design discipline." 

Morcos' work has won several international design awards including the Dutch Design Award and the Core77 Award, and he was a finalist for the Adobe Achievement Award as well. His work has been exhibited in several design exhibitions including the Graphic Design Museum in the Netherlands, the Haus der Kunst in Munich and the Bastakiya Art Fair in Dubai.

Morcos holds a Master of Fine Arts in graphic design from the Rhode Island School of Design and lives and works in New York City, where he is a partner at Morcos Key.

Everyone is invited to learn more about Wael Morcos and his work at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 18, on Zoom. Link information is listed below and found on the art.uark.edu website.

Zoom lecture link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82266656014