The HBAP platform showcases the work of graphic designers worldwide, with entries like ‘Derailed’ by Engy Hesham, highlighting pressing issues such as Egypt’s railway safety concerns amid its vibrant exploration of Arabic design in contemporary contexts.

For the first time in Qatar, the ‘100/100 — Hundred Best Arabic Posters’ (HBAP) platform is exhibiting in Doha.

The inaugural showcase, which is now in its fourth round since its inception, is underway at Msheireb’s M7 – Qatar’s hub for innovation and entrepreneurship in design, fashion and technology.

The HBAP initiative invites creatives from the Arab world to contribute to the region’s visual art culture by designing original posters. A panel of judges are then tasked to select the best hundred out of thousands of poster entries.

This year’s panel of diverse jurors included Ali Al Masry, a type designer and multidisciplinary artist, Ghalia El Srakbi, a designer and researcher, Nora Aly, a multidisciplinary artist, Lina Ghaibah, an educator, comics and animation artist and Nassim Azarzar, an artist and designer.

In 2016, the first round’s judging panel featured Professor Muneera Spence, the former chairperson of Virginia Commonwealth University – Qatar’s (VCU – Q) Graphic Design department.

Engy Hesham, who represented Egypt and Qatar with her 2016 entry, was among the 100 selected winners from 1600 posters submitted from 15 countries.

As an Egyptian, who studied graphic design at VCU – Q and later became a graphic designer for Doha’s Mathaf museum, she drew attention to her country’s rife experience with railway derailments.

She called her entry ‘Derailed’ and said that, at the time, “Egypt has witnessed more than 20 railway derailments in the past decade. Most of them resulting in the tragic loss of life, numerous casualties and, needless to say, grief. Break the cycle.”

To date, out of the 400 winning posters since round one, the HBAP has received 7,400 entries from 23 different countries.

Glenn Adamson, the exhibition curator and artistic director of Design Doha, described round four of the HBAP initiative as “a showcase of the leading graphic designers from the world today, a collaboration with the American University in Cairo.”

Highlighting the colourful world of Arab design, the M7 exhibition journeys visitors through a new vibrant paradigm of Arabic script, image, graphic design and composition in contemporary times.