When: 2023 (in progress)
Professor: Gerardo Herrera
Course: Graduate Studio 3, ArtCenter
Media: branding, strategy, website, motion, 3D, transmedia, augmented reality, website, mobile app, packaging, installation
Tools: InDesign, Illustrator, Figma, AfterEffects, Blender, Midjourney, Photoshop

Typefaces: Clash Display and Clash Grotesk from Indian Type Foundry.

Disclaimer: this is a work in progress student project at ArtCenter College of Design.

For more information, please reach out at: hello@shakeel.design.

I re-imagined the identity of Midjourney across a wide range of touchpoints including digital, print, conference, wayfinding, a new corporate headquarters, and much more.

“How do you build these boats that let them navigate and be empowered and sort of sail the ocean of imagination, instead of just drowning?”. 
(Founder, David Holz).

The new Midjourney logo is an evolution of the previous sailboat symbol. This refined symbol is a reminder of the groundbreaking work they do within generative AI.

The new brand colors are inspired by light refraction, symbolizing the expansive creativity possible with our products. These colors aim to connect with a broader audience across cultures, and industries.

The underlying strategy is rooted in remaining competitive with the many new generative AI companies emerging since 2021. 

#Salgirah85 International Festival Identity

Dubai World Trade Centre. The Ismaili community in Dubai, UAE held their first in-person celebration since the COVID-19 pandemic at the Dubai WTC. Unfortunately I was not able to attend for multiple reasons, but received some photos from the local team. Additional highlights are shown below. All assets were designed by the local team in Dubai.


Above is the recording of my presentation of this project (at 6:15) from the 2022 AIGA Portfolio Festival.


Full-color logo. The colors come from the Ismaili community’s flag, seen in the photograph of His Highness the Aga Khan (below).


Here, His Highness the Aga Khan is pictured in front of the Canadian and Ismaili flags at the Global Centre for Pluralism in Ottawa, Canada.


Five Ring Motif. The motif is my take on Islamic geometric design. Initially, you see three rings of 17 diamonds. In the negative space between them, two additional rings are created for a total of five total rings of 17 (17x5 = 85). One diamond representing each year of His Highness’ life.

The three rings are inspired by the three nuktas (dots) above the first letter in the Arabic word, shukr, meaning gratitude. The rings in negative space are a reminder of the esoteric aspects of the Ismaili faith.

Additional logo variations. The system works in full color on white backgrounds, or in white on red or green backgrounds.


Brand pattern. Designed by deconstructing the motif to an individual diamond and tiling them infinitely. These forms create an interesting 2.5D illusion.

The following assets were created by marketing teams in various countries after delivering the completed brand package.

After delivering all brand assets, social media teams in the Ismaili community launched global, national, and regional digital marketing campaigns. These assets (social media content, videos, website) were created by many talented people around the world in multiple languages. I have included them here to show the context and impact of the brand identity.


Photo backdrop in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Designed by the local team.




Wow. I didn’t even know they had access to large scale printing in the mountainous region of Hunza, Pakistan. Designed by the local team.


I never expected a logo I designed to be on a cake! (Or sherbet bottle, a milk-based drink made for special occasions). Houston, Texas, USA. Designed by the local team.


Branding displayed on stage during musical performances. Designed by the local team.


Signage for Golden Members (elders in the community, 65+), and wristbands to enter the venue. Designed by the local team.


This is a mini-reel of all motion graphics I worked on for #Salgirah85. These animations were used across social media, opening slates for various forms of video content for the festival, and on stage at some live events. Music was selected by The Ismaili Sounds global team.

When: 2021 (6 weeks)
Organization: The Ismaili Community (globally)
Media: Branding, Motion
Tools: Illustrator, Photoshop, AfterEffects, InDesign

Goal: Design a unified festival identity for the global Ismaili Muslim community in 21 countries.

Salgirah is a religious festival observed by Ismaili Muslims every December. It marks the birthday of His Highness the Aga Khan, a descendant of Prophet Muhammad, the spiritual leader of 15 million Ismailis worldwide. December 13, 2021, marked his 85th birthday, or Salgirah.

The brief given to me by the Ismaili global communications team was to embrace the theme of shukr (gratitude in Arabic) while conveying 85 through (Islamic) geometry. This brand identity would be used worldwide by the Ismaili community to promote a sense of unity.

This was by far the largest project I’ve worked on in terms of scale and one I will remember forever. The team only had two brief Zoom meetings over the six weeks of the project. I was impressed with our ability to collaborate across timezones through a Whatsapp group. Since this is a faith-based organization, all team members involved shared a common belief system about the festival.

One year later I was invited to refresh the identity for the Aga Khan’s 86th Salgirah festival.

A poster series promoting the documentary episode.


Sean Adams, the Department Chair of Graphic Design at ArtCenter, selected one poster from the set to display in his office.


Screenshots of the augmented reality experience created using Adobe Aero.


During my research I visited MOCA in Downtown Los Angeles for another Rothko experience.


My research included reading Johanna Drucker’s recently released book, Inventing the Alphabet, as I saught a deeper understanding for primitive letterforms. Conceptually, this aligned with Rothko’s ability to tap into the viewer’s primitive emotions with his artwork.


Various sketches during the wordmark design process which ultimately led to me discovering the magic of this H-K ligature to minimize visual clutter.


The final wordmark set on a purple inspired by the colors of Rothko’s paintings in the Rothko Chapel. The primitive forms for “Mark” tie back to the primitive emotions evoked by his work. While “Rothko” is set in all caps to symbolize the monolithic scale of his paintings.




During our midterm critique with some recent alumni, Erin Georgia suggested looking at the placement of “Mark” as a dynamic element which could create a logo system. Conceptually, this connects back to Mark Rothko’s many years of searching before finally settling on the style of art we know him for (and his legacy) as Rothko.


Envisioning the start of an opening title sequence for the documentary.


The final set of posters with a call to action to stream the documentary at PBS.org.

When: 2022
Professor: Christian Perez-Morin
Course: Graduate Studio 1, ArtCenter
Media: Branding, Posters, Augmented Reality,
Tools: InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, AfterEffects, Aero
Recognition: One poster was selected for display in office of the Chair of Graphic Design at ArtCenter. (Spring 2023)

Wordmark and posters for a campaign promoting a documentary about Mark Rothko, the abstract expressionist.

We selected an episode of the PBS documentary series American Masters, and the individual featured as our subject.

Design concept: in memoriam.

Depth of research and critique helped me to clarify the forms and vocabulary used throughout the project. Once I let go of initial logo concepts focused on the negative aspect of Rothko’s life, I landed on a dynamic system.

In my solution, “Mark” can be placed in numerous positions around “Rothko”, symbolizing the artist’s search among many styles of art. Big thanks to Erin Georgia  for this idea during midterm guest critique!

The posters came together at the last minute once I embraced placing elements over Rothko’s artwork. This project taught me to design outside of my comfort zone and take risks once in a while.

During a break in our final presentation, I pulled together a rough augmented reality experience with Adobe Aero.

Future work: I plan to expand this project further by envisioning a pop-up exhibition to promote the documentary episode. This exhibition would be focused on his life, rather than his art, giving the audience an opportunity to lean more about the artist through an immersive experience.

Special thanks to: The National Gallery of Art for high quality images of Rothko’s artwork. I am also grateful to Sean Adams, Michael Neal, Erin Georgia, and Sean Shang for additional critique during the semester.

The complete book is available for viewing above.

When: 2022
Professor: Christian Perez-Morin
Course: Graduate Studio 1, ArtCenter
Media: branding, editorial, book
Tools: InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator

Subject: Mark Rothko, abstract expressionist painter
Goal: Design a book to accompany the documentary campaign demonstrated in the previous project.
Title: Mark Rothko: Art for Mystics.
Cover: Stark off-white, reminiscent of mass market religious texts. People often feel unexpected emotions in front of Rothko paintings. To me, these are mystical experiences.
Typeface: Neue Haas Grotesk was chosen to embody the crystal goblet concept, letting the content speak for itself.

Colors were inspired by the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas. The non-denominational Chapel was one of Rothko’s final projects which he never saw completed.

Intro/outro: A few spreads guide the reader from from the everyday material world to that of the mystical, symbolized by a slow gray to purple gradient. The outro follows the sequence in reverse. This concept is based on an engawa, a Japanese architecture element to bridge the outside world to the home.

Each chapter begins with a full spread. The chapter title is large, paired with a relevant Rothko quote on the opposite page.

1. Preface — an introduction to Mark Rothko.
   
2. Search — early explorations through lesser known styles of art.
   
3. Voice — a photo essay of his best known abstract works.
   
4. Wisdom — his advice for new artists.
   
5. Legacy — an interview with Christopher Rothko, his son, which informed my overall design direction.
   
6. Reflection — my brief and emotional editorial capturing my thoughts as I completed the book.
   

In the end, I found my 74 page book was not enough to convey the impact of one person’s life. Let alone a 500 page book.

Special thanks to the National Gallery of Art for providing high quality images of Rothko’s artwork, and to Architectural Digest for a beautiful photo of the Rothko Chapel.

When: 2023
Professors: Simon Johnston, Lavinia Lascaris
Course: Graduate Typography 3, ArtCenter
Media: type design
Tools: Glyphs, Illustrator, InDesign, Figma

Referential Mono is built on a 5x5 grid, inspired by early computing and Islamic History. As a developer and Muslim, this project was an opportunity to combine many aspects of my identity in one.

HMCT graciously featured some typefaces from our class in their holiday greetings. Shoutout to my peers who were also featured: Umang Ahluwalia, Sisi Chen, Jean Wang, and Amanda Mei!

Future work includes: an Arabic version, motion design, and generative typography.

Special thanks to: our teaching assistant Noah Cousineau, and feedback from Milka Broukhim and Wael Morcos.