A symbol of integration between Western and Islamic world.
Andante Records is a record label and a production company established to provide a range of music-related services to support talented composers, producers, musicians, singers and songwriters basically from the Middle East. It is a new label based in Emirates. The company’s director is Sami Yusuf.
From the strategic framework, I designed for Andante a brand sought to link three issues: First, to communicate the literal meaning of the Latin word Andante as someone who moves, plus a musical symbol. In addition, all of that without losing the identity of Andante as an Arab company.
On the other hand, I focused on the creation of an integrational symbol between Western and Islamic world. That means that without losing its essence, Andante has to express gestures to both cultures, as well as functioning as a reference for a wide range of musical genres, including the classical one.
This position forced me to learn about Islamic culture and its calligraphy, because my design must be decoded by all their viewers without any contradiction with my strategy. For that reason, I took private lessons with the greatest specialist in Arabic calligraphy in Barcelona, who also helped me by translating the possible readings that my designs could shoot for Muslim creed’s spectators.
As a result of this work, I built an image that included the Andante’s word, using Latin letters but replacing the uppercase A of its centre by an ambiguous particular figure. That is an image with two communicational resources: it looks like a person walking, but at the same time its vertical stroke shows the Arabic letter Alif with its accent.
Then, this symbol that looks like a Latin letter A, it’s also sound as an A in Arabic, while its accent resembles the sense of being a human head (Alif with hamzah above). This letter, Alif, has a substantial significance in Islamic culture, while phonetically in Arabic this initial links with the sound of the Latin word Andante.
Finally and as base for the walker, I designed a lower crescent, which fused the musical sign of the Andante with a referent of the Islamic iconography, closing thus the visual message.
Sebastian Guerrini
I feel this design contributes to synthesize one of the most important aspects of seeking for peace ,which is to engage the essence of being humans beyond our differences.