A close-up look at the contemporary design scene of Dubai. A city which is sometimes described as "all sickening shine and no soul, n air-conditioned bubble of hype whose hubris guarantees imminent cultural and ecological Armageddon." 

But Dubai and the whole region, originally desert sparsely populated by Bedouins, is now rapidly transforming into a center of trade, finance, and tourism. A new Arab world is being plotted and planned; the entire Gulf is teeming with initiatives—from the most public to the most private—that promise to change and reinvent seemingly immutable rules, regimes, edicts, and assumptions. The culmination, perhaps, is an explicit intention to work more closely together. The Gulf states have a past, and they will have a future—and this issue of Germany's Slanted magazine traces the contours of that future!

Illustrations, photography, interviews, and essays complement the issue's themes.

With contributions by Abjad Design, Uday Al-Araji, becky beamer, Jason Carlow, Dr. Nadine Chahine, Afra Bin Dhaher, Fatmah Al Dhanhani, Noor Eid, Elephant Nation, Jori Erdman, Reem Falaknaz, Marcus Farr, Fikra Design Studio, Martin Giesen, Glyphs, Nan Goggin, Gökçe Günel, H2R Design, Hanken Design Co., Tulip Hazbar, Khalid Al Jallaf, JAM Type, Kemistry Design, Ibraheem Khamayseh, Cristiano Luchetti, Faissal El-Malak, Mohammed Mandi, Möbius Studio, Moloobhoy & Brown, Myneandyours, Nasir Nasrallah, Ingo Niermann, Narjes Noureddine, Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, Uzma Z. Rizvi, Khaled Al-Saai, Sheikh Saifi, Fatmah Salmeen, Ruben Sánchez, Tarsila Schubert, Wissam Shawkat, Slash, The Flip Side, The Lighthouse, T.ZED Architects, Tahreek, Tinkah, Toil & Tinker, Tribe Magzine, Twothirds Design Bureau, WTD Magazine, Majid Al Yousef, and Mandana Ziaei.

The issue comes with a “Contemporary Typefaces“ booklet, an editorial selection of recently published international high-quality typefaces as well as typefaces with Arabic language support in an additional section. 

Designed by Julia Kahl and Clara Weinreich, with assistance from Melina Vafiadis and Alex Staudt

Published by Slanted Publishers
First edition, 2018 (English)

Softcover, 256 pages + 48 pages booklet, 6.3 × 9.45 inches

ISSN: 1867-6510