Street Vernaculars

     Street Vernaculars can be classified under Street art which is settled in public spaces.  Street vernaculars are present on communal streets; they can be typographic, illustration, or a mix of both. In Lebanon, in the meantime, out of the economic and political situation we got just too many street vernaculars. Consequently, I decided to study the reasons behind these vernaculars and separate them in to different categories. My map study was considering Saida’s street vernaculars in general and Helaleyeh , Abra , Ayaeah, Kornish in particular.

Vernaculars expresses social and political messages which is common characteristic for all vernaculars, usually they refer to illegal messages, on unauthorized areas opposing to government sponsored initiatives. The essence of these typographical messages is communication and visual expression of what inside.               

      Vernacular messages is a type of public markings that may appear in the forms of simple written words to elaborate wall paintings.Particularly spray paints and marker pens are the most commonly used medium to write the message and the resulting visual. In all vernaculars typography varies in typeface and in size due to the spacing available or to the mean of abstraction. The expressionists are not concerned with the visual as much as their concern with the message they want to deliver, these people are rather worried with questioning the existing environment with their own language. The writer of this street vernacular uses his abilities to communicate with others (like in typography) and shares his personal expressions (like painting his name on a wall). Many choose to protect their identities and reputation by remaining anonymous.

     Street vernacular can be explained in images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property , I divided saida’s vernaculars into censored vernaculars , names vernaculars , mamno3 el wokof ( parking ) vernaculars , political vernaculars, and message vernaculars  grouped all under the same category which is street vernacular.

   

men hon w honek

A new approch of vernacular art found in the Lebanese street is billboards and posters done by Lebanese graphic designers. Designers are taking advantage of the Lebanese vernacular language and the Arabic language in its broad meanings. Visual arts now a day are getting creative in choosing their slogans and benefiting from the difference of meaning of the same word in vernacular and Arabic language. For example the poster on the below is a campaign against civil war in lebanon, the designer used the word “ nwalea’ah” which means to turn fire on as a slogan. The designer used the vernacular language to make a better preception to his work. Using dialect slogans would reduce the sophistication of a design and would make it simpler for people to precieve. Designers are looking outside the aesthetic and cultural ideologies of the profession in search of more direct and innocent forms of expression.

Here is some ads and posters that caught my attention and contains alot of vernaculars:

(note: none of these ads are my design )



This visual initiates the hotline of Kafa foundation."Enough Violence"





Leo Burnett Beirut has won another award for “Khede Kasra”, a campaign developed for The Hariri Foundation, an organisation in Lebanon focused on empowering women.