Iman Safai Case Study

Iman Safai*
* The current article focuses on Iman Safai’s graphic designs for art and cultural centers and on a few of his bodies of work.
In his teenage years, Iman Safai recognized that he is not going to become a doctor or an engineer. Thanks to his father’s job, he spent summers in the cultural center of the head office of the Ministry of Education, helping the center’s designer and, in the meantime, amateurishly experiencing calligraphy, fabric banner writing, and drawing. He completed high school education in Malek Ashtar Vocational School and passed his internship in a lithography and printing office through which he became familiar with printing techniques and process. After gaining an associate degree from the Islamic Azad University
Having gained experiences in the vocational school and the university, just when Iman had decided to become a painter for the rest of his life, his professional work in cultural graphic design commenced with the poster he designed for Makous Sculpture Group’s exhibition in Assar Art Gallery in 2006. This poster was ordered to Iman due to his friendship with this group of sculptors and based on Parviz Tanavoli’s recommendation. However, it is considered as a turning point in Iman’s professional life. The poster consisted of the photograph of cast metal types put together to form the group’s name, Makous (i.e. reverse), which is inspired by a bronze casting process. Omid Tehrani, director of Assar Art Gallery, was impressed by the poster; so a short while after Makous Exhibition, Iman was put in charge of the Gallery’s graphic design. Assar Art Gallery and Iman Safai were perhaps the first case of the serious collaboration between a gallery and a designer to create the gallery’s graphic products with a certain visual identity –a
Mahriz, which was used to be an established publisher with a particular visual identity, asked Iman to join as designer and art director. Following a tough and bold decision, Iman accepted to cooperate and redesigned the graphical system of Mahriz –which was then pursued in Meshki Publications since Saed Meshki had quit the organization. Working with Mahriz was one of the key points in Iman’s résumé. The diversity of Mahriz’s productions provided endless possibilities for new experiences. Via new layouts, dividers, and illustrations, Iman extended the design of literary books, which is generally restricted to the front and back covers, to the interior parts and made use of the spine as an active space, not confined to giving information. In the design of the book Mondo and Other Stories, he eliminated the cover and transferred the beginning of the story directly onto the book cover. Another noteworthy part of Iman’s design practice in Mahriz was CD design. Iman considered the whole CD package –including the disk, the front and back covers, and the box- as a white canvas and approached product design through pure graphic design. Examples of these innovations were the designs on the discs, the folding brochures which were placed in the spine of the CD box, folded posters as the album cover, elimination of the cover, and silk screen printing on the box. Iman has also performed the art direction of Mohsen Gallery,