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In Photos: The Young Egyptian Graphic Designer Raising Awareness Through Funky Designs

March 30, 2020
All below designs are created by Dalia Ossama.

Almost everyone everywhere is doing what they can to raise awareness around the COVID-19 pandemic. From articles and long inspirational posts on social media, to various brand-created social media posts and posters, it seems as though most people are honing in on raising some kind of awareness.

And this is where Dalia Ossama comes in, a 21-year-old Graphic Design student at the German University in Cairo (GUC). Ossama took it upon herself to make use of her time social distancing and create awareness around the novel coronavirus by doing what she does best – graphic design. 

The young student and entrepreneur, who last summer started her own brand (Quila) of eco-friendly tote bags featuring a series of her designs, stated that, “I’ve always wanted to start a visual diary or journal on Instagram to share some of my own work or projects, as well as share interesting projects of others, but I never really had enough time for that.”

She goes on to say that, “I wanted to make the most out of time spent social distancing, so I finally had enough time to start working on that page.”

The Instagram page Ossama created is called kairoverts, and so far it features a series of six designs that revolve around the coronavirus (the designs featured below). Seeing as how the pandemic seems to be the main topic on everyone’s minds these days, the young designer decided to create awareness with her own twist. 

“The pandemic changed our routines, lifestyle, and social norms to something completely new to people, especially Egyptians,” Ossama explains, “we’ve drastically changed from a highly interactive community to a socially isolated one. All these changes inspired me to start creating a playful and sarcastic series of artworks under that theme.”

By using funky looking designs and bold colors, whilst also integrating the use of lines from popular songs, Ossama managed to create a series of posts that are both attention grabbing and have a sense of resonance with audiences as a result of their relatability. 

“The very basic purpose of design is to communicate a message and motivate the viewer or audience to do something,” says the 21-year-old design student, “So the main purpose of these artworks is to raise awareness, entertain and cheer people up. I do think the pandemic is a serious matter. However we should still look at the bright side of things and what this time could teach us.”

Following the COVID-19 outbreak, it is advised for people to stay at least two meters away from each other in order to decrease the risk of getting infected.
The use of anti-bacterial and disinfectant products such as hand sanitizers has increased significantly since news of the outbreak.
It is recommended not to touch one’s face when out in public in order to avoid the risk of getting infected. A practice which many have found to be difficult.
This design plays on the concept of avoiding to touch one’s face, integrating lyrics from MC Hammer’s popular song ‘Can’t Touch This’.
Making use of the lyrics of the popular Gloria Gaynor song ‘I Will Survive’, while the caption of this post on Instagram reads the number of recovered COVID-19 cases worldwide.
Playing on the idea of social distancing, as well as avoiding physical contact with others at this time despite humans’ yearning for connection, these lyrics from the famous The Beatles song ‘I Wanna Hold your Hand’ fit perfectly.

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