Arabic: University of Oregon

I was commissioned to create a new logo for the Arabic Language Program at the University of Oregon, and to launch some promotional material for the UO’s first event of the year. Some of the requests were a simple logo that only have the Arabic initials in a traditional typeface, and that the promotional design incorporate a duck, as that is the mascot of the University. The theme of this promotion was Birds.

So I decided, why not Birds Around the World? Mmore specifically birds in Cascadia and West Asia.
I illustrated several birds of importance to the Cascadia region, which is where university of Oregon lies, and birds of importance from around Western Asia, which is where the Arabic language is spoken. I did this to highlight the cultural exchange between both regions of the world, but through their native birds, to reflect the language and cultural education of the Arabic program.

Here is a mockup of the T-Shirt. Although I do not have one myself, I am happy to report that they were a hit, as acknowledged by two professors in the Arabic Department and the Dean.

If you look at the map I made for the tablecloth banner below, you’ll see several birds attributed to these two regions:

• Cascadia
• (1) The American Bald Eagle (national bird of the United States),
• (2) Northern Spotted Owl (old growth forests of the Pacific Northwest),
• (3) Tufted Puffin (Pacific Northwest Coast),
• (4) Black-billed Magpie (Eastern Oregon),
• (5) Western Meadowlark (Oregon state bird),
  
• (6) And finally, the university mascot in this series: I chose the Harlequin Duck (PNW and northern Canada) as the focal point to be in the middle of all the other birds in flight.
  
  Arabian Peninsula, Mesopotamia, and the Levant: 
• (1) Levant Sparrowhawk (Levant),
• (2) Palestine Sun-Bird (Levant),
• (3) Chukar Partridge (Levant, Iraq, Iran, and Arabia),
  (4) Hoopoe (Yemen),
  (5) and Yemen Linnet (Yemen). 

I took the bird motif one step further by adding two mythological birds from each region:
(1) the Thunderbird, to represent the folklore of Tillamook people in Cascadia,
(2) and the legendary ‘Anqa of the Arabian Peninsula.