Nélida Nassar is a Lebanese-American designer and art critic. She founded Nassar Design in 1986 and started her own practice. Nassar is the Principal of Nassar Design, a visual strategy firm dedicated to the advancement of design innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration and an intensive dialogue with the various

graphic Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of data, as in design and manufacture, ...

industries. The practice work lies at the intersection of architectural

signage Signage is the design or use of signs and symbols to communicate a message. A signage also means signs ''collectively'' or being considered as a group. The term ''signage'' is documented to have been popularized in 1975 to 1980. Signs are any ...

, branding, graphic design and strategy of communication and is notable for its inventiveness in dramatically complex projects.

Early life and education

Nassar was raised in Beirut, Lebanon and France. With degrees from the

École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs The École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (ÉnsAD, also known as Arts Decos', École des Arts Décoratifs) is a public grande école of art and design of PSL Research University. The school is located in the Rue d'Ulm in Paris. Profi ...

, the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule Basel, and

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. She was educated in France, Switzerland and the USA. Nassar received a master's degree after completing the 5-year course of study in Interior Architecture from the

in 1981. She continued her studies at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule specialising and earning a master's degree in Graphic Design and Typography in 1984. She then moved to the USA where she attended the Post-Graduate program in History and Theory at Harvard University then the Executive Degree Program at the Harvard Business School in 2000.

Work

The firm’s award-winning projects include numerous publications for the Harvard Graduate School of Design,

John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

, The Lebanese Company for the Development and Reconstruction of Beirut Central District (

Solidere Solidere s.a.l. is a Lebanese joint-stock company in charge of planning and redeveloping Beirut Central District following the conclusion, in 1990, of the Lebanese Civil War. By agreement with the government, Solidere has special powers of emin ...

Lord Norman Foster Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or a ...

, Art Catalogues for the

Peabody Essex Museum The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts, US, is a successor to the East India Marine Society, established in 1799. It combines the collections of the former Peabody Museum of Salem (which acquired the Society's collection) and th ...

, for painter Nabil Nahas, for sculptor Mireille Honein, the Beirut Film Festival and the

Baalbeck International Festival The Baalbeck International Festival ( ar, مهرجانات بعلبك الدولية, french: Festival International de Baalbeck) is a cultural event in Lebanon. Since 1955, people from around the world have gone to the city of Baalbek in the Beqaa ...

. Signage projects for

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,0 ...

Ronald Walker Tower Sigma Sigma,

Gresham Palace The Gresham Palace (''Gresham-palota'') is a building in Budapest, Hungary; it is an example of Art Nouveau architecture. Completed in 1906 as an office and apartment building, it is today the Four Seasons Hotel Budapest Gresham Palace, a luxur ...

in Budapest, the

Boston Public Library The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse'') of the Commonwea ...

Utah Museum of Fine Arts The Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) is the region's primary resource for culture and visual arts. It is located in the Marcia and John Price Museum Building in Salt Lake City, Utah on the University of Utah campus near Rice-Eccles Stadium. Works ...

: UMFA,

Provincetown Art Association and Museum The Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM) is located at 460 Commercial Street in Provincetown, Massachusetts. It is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and is the most attended art museum on Cape Cod. The museum's permanent coll ...

, St. Lawrence University,

Weidlinger Associates Weidlinger Associates, Inc., was a U.S.-based structural engineering firm that designs and rehabilitates buildings, bridges, and infrastructure and provides special services in applied science, forensics, and physical security. Weidlinger's clien ...

Headquarters, Scully Hall at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

, Nathan Marsh Pusey Library and the Farkas Hall, New College Theatre, Hasty Pudding Theater at

. Currently, the firm is working on a signage project for Veolia Energy North America, an environmental installation for the Cheng Long Wetlands art project in Taiwan. Recently completed projects are the design of the exhibition catalogues for the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, the Chinese Porcelain Company, “Word” exhibition catalogues for Al-Madinah Al-Munawarrah Research and Studies Center, Saudi Arabia. The firm has designed logos and branding programs for such companies as Ars Libri, ltd.,

Cosentini Associates Cosentini Associates is an engineering firm that provides consulting engineering services for the building industry. Company history Cosentini Associates was founded in 1952 by William Randolph Cosentini as W.R. Cosentini and Associates. Wil ...

, Leers Weinzapfel Associates Architects,

Machado and Silvetti Associates Machado Silvetti is an architecture and urban design firm headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Incorporated in 1985, the firm's principals Rodolfo Machado and Jorge Silvetti have been in association since 1974. They have been called "arguabl ...

, The Stubbins Associates Inc,

. Nassar Design is responsible for

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

’s Literacy Visual Campaign worldwide. Nélida teaches at Tufts University Experimental College, and has taught as a visiting faculty member at

Boston Architectural College Boston Architectural College, also known as The BAC, is New England's largest private college of spatial design. It offers first-professional bachelor's and master's degrees in architecture, interior architecture, landscape architecture, and ...

. In 2003, she was a Visiting Artist at the

American Academy in Rome The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill) in Rome. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. History In 1893, a group of American architects, ...

, in 2007 a Visiting Artist at

Cairo University Cairo University ( ar, جامعة القاهرة, Jāmi‘a al-Qāhira), also known as the Egyptian University from 1908 to 1940, and King Fuad I University and Fu'ād al-Awwal University from 1940 to 1952, is Egypt's premier public university ...

. She lectures widely throughout the United States and abroad.

Art criticism

In 2013, Nassar founded Art and Culture Today, an international platform for reasoned, innovative, and wide-ranging debate about art, architecture, literature, dance, music, and theatre, with an emphasis on the most creative and imaginative trends in those fields. Contributors seek, in particular, to bridge the gaps between the global and the local, and between East and West, and to bring to light both the congruences and dissimilarities among competing positions (without regard to whether these are likely to be avowed or rejected by the contending parties).

Articles

Nassar has authored several articles about design and

design history Design history is the study of objects of design in their historical and stylistic contexts. With a broad definition, the contexts of design history include the social, the cultural, the economic, the political, the technical and the aesthetic. D ...

. Among the submitted papers are: “Fusion between symbolist Poetry and the other arts: A visual dialogue of Concrete Poetry from Mallarmé to

Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire) of the Wąż coat of arms. (; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic of Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of th ...

”

University of Montreal A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

, The Language of

Modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

Conference, November 2009; “Who’s Afraid of New Media?” at

Babeș-Bolyai University The Babeș-Bolyai University ( ro, Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai , hu, Babeș-Bolyai Tudományegyetem, commonly known as UBB) is a public research university located in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. UBB has a long academic tradition, started by Universitas ...

, Media Center & Journalism, Interdisciplinary New Media Conference, Romania, Transylvania, May 2009. Two other papers were also presented at the International Society for the Study of European Ideas (ISSEI). “Memory through Visual Language: Linking Contemporary Middle Eastern Art and the European Tradition” at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, during the Language and The Scientific, Imagination Conference, July 2008; “Observations among Seminal Art Pieces from The Caves of Lascaux to African Sculpture” at the

University of Malta The University of Malta (, UM, formerly UOM) is a higher education institution in Malta. It offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, postgraduate master's degrees and postgraduate doctorates. It is a member of the European University Association ...

, Valletta Campus, during The European Mind Narrative and Identity Conference August 2006.

Exhibitions

In 2009, the French Cultural Center showed a retrospective of Nassar Design projects, under the title: “Nélida Nassar: Graphic Design Influence.” Several of the posters designed for various clients are in the permanent collections of the

Pompidou Center The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

, Paris and the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

, Washington D.C., the Pushkin Museum, Moscow and the American University of Beirut.

Lectures

Nassar has lectured widely at institutions including the University of Montréal, Canada (2009); the

, Romania, Transylvania (2009);

, Finland (2008);

, Valletta Campus (2006). Nassar has participated in many symposia including the “Authentic Poor Rich Sell-out” panel at the Horology Forum of Dubai Watch Week 2021. An intellectual space consisting of free-flowing discussions between master craftsmen, captains of industries, visionaries and seasoned collectors. The panel was positioned to enlighten audiences and participants with their coveted insights and diverse opinions whilst dissecting the topic in question. Nelida was a speaker on the panel "Authentic Poor Rich Sell-out" at the Horology Forum of Dubai Watch Week 2021. An intellectual space consisting of free-flowing discussions between master craftsmen, captains of industries, visionaries and seasoned collectors. The panel was positioned to enlighten audiences and participants with their coveted insights and diverse opinions whilst dissecting the topic in question.

Awards

As the principal and founder of Nassar Design, Nassar’s work has been recognized with over 50 notable design awards. She was nominated four times in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 for the Chrysler Design Award. In 1998, the firm received the first prize for cultural posters at the IV Biennale de Lahti, Finland, in addition to several awards from the

American Institute of Graphic Arts The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) is a professional organization for design. Its members practice all forms of communication design, including graphic design, typography, interaction design, user experience, branding and identity ...

(AIGA) and Graphis.

Related publications

* ''The Big Book of Logos''], Author: Henry Hearst Books International and David E. Carter, Publisher: Nippon Shuppan Ilanbai, Germany, 1999
''The New Big Book of Logos''
Author: David E. Carter, Publisher: HarperCollins, 2000 * ''American Corporate Identity 2002'', Author: David E. Carter, Publisher: HarperCollins, 2002 * ''Allo Magazine'', Author: France Younane, Publisher: Eliane Gebbara, No. 14, December 2002 - January 2003 * ''Creativity 32: Bright Ideas in Advertising and Design from Around the World'', Author: David E. Carter, Publisher: HarperCollins, 2003 * ''The Big Book of Color in Design'', Author: David E. Carter, Publisher: HarperCollins, 2003 * ''The Big Book of Layouts'', Author: David E. Carter, Publisher: HarperCollins, 2003 * ''The Little Book of Layouts: Good Designs and Why They Work'', Author: David E. Carter, Publisher: HarperCollins, 2003 * ''American Corporate Identity 2004'', Author: David E. Carter, Publisher: HDI and imprint of HarperCollins, 2004
''Creativity 33: Bright Ideas in Advertising and Design from Around the World''
Author: David E. Carter, Publisher: HarperCollins, 2004
''Creativity 34: Bright Ideas in Advertising and Design from Around the World''
Author: David E. Carter, Publisher: HarperCollins, 2005 * ''The Little Book of Big Promotions'', Authors: Cheryl Dangel Cullen, Lisa I. Cyr and Lisa Hickey, Publisher: Rockport Publishing Group, 2005 * ''1000 Bags, Tags & Labels Distinctive Design For Every Industry'', Author: Kiki Elbridge, Publisher: Rockport Publishing Group, 2006 * ''Creativity 34: Bright Ideas in Advertising and Design from Around the World'', Author: David E. Carter, Publisher: HarperCollins, 2006 * ''2005 AIGA's BoNE Show Exhibition'', Author: David E. Carter, Publisher: Quarry Books, 2007 * ''American Graphic Design Awards'', Author: David E. Carter, Publisher: Quarry Books, 2007 * ''Creativity 36: Bright Ideas in Advertising and Design from Around the World'', Author: David E. Carter, Publisher: HarperCollins, 2007 * ''Graphic Design In The USA 9'', Author: David E. Carter, Publisher: Quarry Books, 2007 * ''Creativity 37: Bright Ideas in Advertising and Design from Around the World'', Author: David E. Carter, Publisher: HarperCollins, 2008 * ''1000 Garment Graphics A Comprehensive Collection of Wearable Designs'', Author: Jeffrey Everett of El Jefe Design, Publisher: Rockport Publishing Group, 2009

References

External links

Nassar Design Website

Art and Culture Today Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nassar, Nelida Living people American art critics American designers Harvard Business School alumni American people of Lebanese descent University of Paris alumni Year of birth missing (living people)