"Designing logos, logotypes and corporate identities are always attractive to me as a difficult linear equation," says Abbasi, who has been designing logos for regional and national clients for 20 years. Many of his clients are newly registered companies, all of whom need fresh identities.

Because of Iran's history of great political and social upheavals, the state of design there is still slowly developing its own identity. It is a country of many different cultures, languages and dialects, and it contains many large and vibrant cities such as Isfehan, Mashad, Tabriz, Tehran, and Sheraz. But most of the most noticeable design still comes from the capital Tehran. There is not of yet a sense of regional design.

Iranian design is-like western design-influenced by Swiss, Polish, German and North American graphics. "But our designers are finding their personal ways to express themselves, and we can already see this," he says. Indeed, this work is beginning to be much imitated by western designers, aided by Iran's visibility on world news: The beauty and drama of the country and its culture has revealed itself.

Still, he does not believe Iranian design has yet achieved that certain something that will truly distinguishes itself, as Swiss design does. "Iranian [design] is attractive to westerners, but it is very difficult to be internationally acceptable when you do not have a national character," Abbasi says.

A brief history of Iranian design, still very young: In 1959, the first school of graphic design opened under the auspices of the then Ministry of Culture and Art and the direction of a painter who had graduated from the School of Decorative Art in Paris. About ten years later, graphic design was added to the fine arts program at the University of Tehran by Morteza Momayez. Not until just before the Islamic revolution in 1979 was another graphic design program established in the radio and television department of Girls' University in Tehran.

Following the revolution and the establishment of private universities, graphic design training spread quickly in cities including Yazd, Isfehan and Kerman. Students who graduated from these programs either went to work in printing and lithography offices or in small, non-professional advertising agencies.

"Unfortunately, only a few of them became professional [designers in larger offices], and the rest began small studios, with only one person working out their home with a personal computer and printer," Abbasi says.

A significant growth in population since 1980 has resulted in ten times the number of students graduating from graphic design programs. In 1998, the Iranian Graphic Designers Society (IGDS) was established, and it has played a very important role in uniting and promoting professional designers and design firms. IGDS is a non-governmental organization, although it is the result of political and social reforms of the past eight years. Other national and international design-related groups have shown increasing interest in Iranian design, and this has encouraged designers, including the firm The 5th Color, for example, to enter international exhibitions and competitions.

Even simple technological advances, such as electronic fonts in Farsi, have made a huge difference in his work and that of others. This allows designers to synchronize, so to speak, Iranian design with an international practice.

Today, Abassi works to be as minimal as possible, to be contemporary but honor his culture. "Being contemporary and at the same time loyal to originality is a very difficult task," he explains. "The result is sometimes too popular and ordinary, and sometimes repetitive and just a fashion. This is where the designer has an important role to play in increasing society's understanding."

Abbasi says that any logo he produces must be "practical, indelible and satisfactory to the client." "I would like to have a style that is comprehensible worldwide. I try to be simple, indelible and Iranian considering contemporary international norms," he adds.

©2007 Logolounge Inc.