Icon Designs for UNRWA
Designing for the United Nations Palestinian Refugee Fund- Class Assignment!
Introduction
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has helped over five million Palestinians living in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Gaza and the West Bank. UNRWA operates in the Middle East but they are known worldwide and get support from many countries in the United Nations [1]. Their website, https://www.unrwa.org, provides information about their mission and the services they offer for the public. UNRWA focuses on human development and humanitarian services such as education, health care, social services, micro-finances and infrastructure for Palestinians in refugee camps [1]
The UNRWA website aims to educate people around the world about their mission. Because they are an agency working for a specific group of people, the designs implemented on the website need to be universally understood, but they should also have significant meaning to Palestinians and reflect their culture and values as well.
After researching and learning more about designing for Middle Eastern Culture, I was able to create icons for the UNRWA website. The icons I designed are meant to visually help aid those navigating the website for topics like Family Planning and Reproductive Health, Education and Gender Equality. The icons should reflect Middle Eastern culture and values, as well as be universally understood to anyone browsing the site.
Icon Design #1: Family Planning and Reproductive Health
Designing for Family Planning and Reproductive Health Analysis:
One of UNRWA’s main focus is the health of Palestinian Refugees, which includes reproductive health and family planning [1]. Family planning and reproductive health are new trends in Middle Eastern Culture and access to contraceptives is becoming more prominent and accepted throughout the Arab World [2]. However, there are still cultural taboos and images that may be deemed as unacceptable or inappropriate. I had to be able to find a balance between making a design that would be recognizable, but also respectful of one’s cultures and values.
The Process:
In “Graphics: The Not Quite Universal Language”, William Horton describes how to design with for both globalization and localization. I used these two concepts in my icon designs. For Globalization, one must think about universal design, and how there should be no assumptions on culture within a graphic or icon. For localization, you have to make a product specific to the local area [3]. However, culture has shifted over time, and it is important to find a balance between designing globally and designing locally. Designing both globally and locally helps break down cultural barriers within design and is the most effective in helping communicate an idea to a community [3]. In fact, Horton indicates that one should globalize their design first, see how it will work for a variety of people, and then localize those designs and make changes to specify a certain group. This is an approach I took when designing this, and the rest of my icons.
Designing Globally and Locally:
Family Planning and Reproductive Health is starting to become acceptable around the world, but there are still taboos and cultural preferences one has to consider. In Western cultures, one would accept a drawing of a uterus to represent reproductive health. An icon representing birth control options (pills, IUD, etc.) can also represent both family planning and reproductive health. This may be seen as inappropriate for some cultures so I had to shift away from those types of designs and try to come up with a design that could still be recognized, but also respecting a particular culture. I decided to draw a traditional family: a husband, pregnant wife, and child. This heteronormative approach is most practical in the Middle East and it represents a “typical” married couple around the world. Displaying an entire family represents the importance of having everyone involved in the family planning process, as well as reproductive health. The color green represents fertility in the Middle East, so it was an appropriate color choice for this particular design [4]. Overall, this design is simple enough for people around the world to understand, but it also has some cultural components that are appropriate and significant to people from the Middle East.
Icon Design #2: Education
Designing for Education Analysis:
With nearly 530,000 Palestinian children are enrolled in UNRWA funded schools, Education is one of the most life changing services they offer [1]. The UNRWA website already had an Education Icon, but I decided to redesign the icon with some type of cultural significance to add more meaning.
The Process:
To represent Education, a book drawing is the most common representation. In fact, the book icon was already on the UNRWA page, however it was lacking a design concept called mirroring [5]. Mirroring is an important thing to consider when designing for Arab users, and it was something I had to explore when redesigning.
Looking at the World in an Opposite Lens:
Arabs in the Middle East read from right to left, so the flow of things has to be the opposite of those in the United States [5].
Designing for Education Analysis:
With nearly 530,000 Palestinian children are enrolled in UNRWA funded schools, Education is one of the most life changing services they offer [1]. The UNRWA website already had an Education Icon, but I decided to redesign the icon with some type of cultural significance to add more meaning.
The Process:
To represent Education, a book drawing is the most common representation. In fact, the book icon was already on the UNRWA page, however it was lacking a design concept called mirroring [5]. Mirroring is an important thing to consider when designing for Arab users, and it was something I had to explore when redesigning.
Looking at the World in an Opposite Lens:
Arabs in the Middle East read from right to left, so the flow of things has to be the opposite of those in the United States [5]. After learning about mirroring, I tried to think about how I could implement that in my own design. I thought about turning a page of a book in English. It was hard to visualize so I took a physical book and began turning the pages. I sketched that out to see what it looked like and then mirrored that sketch to create a book icon design that is being read by an Arab user. The icon I drew has a piece of paper in the book that looks like it is being turned to the right, which indicates users read from right-to-left. Although the icon representing Education is super simple, it has significance to the people they are serving and acknowledges their language and practices.
Icon Design #3: Gender Equality
Designing for Gender Equality Analysis:
Gender Equality is another topic that UNRWA is trying to promote. However, unlike Health or Education, it is not in its own category, but rather subtly discussed in other categories. Gender Equality should be clearly displayed on the homepage in order to promote the wellbeing and support for women across Middle Eastern cultures.
The Process:
A lot of equality icons are represented by gender symbols. Although these are recognized in a lot of places, there are more meaningful ways to convey gender equality. There were certain things I was able to take advantage of as well. The word ‘Equality’ contains the word ‘Equal’ which correlates to a mathematical symbol. Math is one of the Universal languages and according to Horton, “the plus and equals sign work for just about everybody” [3]. I could use an equal sign to my advantage to help represent equality and communicate the message effectively.
More than Just an Equal Sign:
Drawing silhouettes of people that are directly correlated to users has a more direct effect on the meaning. People feel directly impacted if icons represent them and their background. Even though not all women in the Middle East wear a Hijab, and not everyone in the Middle East is Muslim, it is still a dominate significance in Middle Eastern culture. In almost every UNRWA image, the woman would be wearing a Hijab, which represents the cultural dynamic they are representing and serving [1]. It would make sense to draw the silhouette of a woman wearing a Hijab as well, to keep consistent with the website content as well as respect the group of people they are helping. The equal sign between the man and woman silhouette represents equality. I decided to make the color of the Hijab blue because blue signifies safety, protection and spirituality in Middle Eastern Culture [4]. Gender Equality is deeply rooted in people’s spiritual beliefs because regardless of where you are from, treating people equally is the right thing to do.
Conclusion:
A lot of research went into designing these icons and I wanted the designs to be universally recognized and help users navigate but also culturally significant for the Palestinians using UNRWA service at the same time. The icon designs were simple but still took into account values, norms, religion and spirituality. Not every design is perfect but remembering to think of the people you are designing for and including their values is most important.
References:
[1] United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.unrwa.org/.
[2] Roudifahimi, F. (2012, June 26). Women’s Need for Family Planning in Arab Countries. Retrieved from https://www.prb.org/family-planning-arab-countries/.
[3] Horton, William (2005). Graphics: The Not Quite Universal Language. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publisher
[4] Shutterstock. (2019, May 10). Symbolism Of Colors and Color Meanings Around The World. Retrieved from https://www.shutterstock.com/blog/color-symbolism-and-meanings- around-the-world.
[5] Pineda, G. (2019, October 1). Mirroring: how to design for Arabic users. Retrieved from https://blog.prototypr.io/mirroring-how-to-design-for-arabic-users-a1dbcd3aa566.
[6] SmarterTravel. (2017, January 26). So THAT’S Why You Shouldn’t Wear A Green Hat In China. Retrieved from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/what-colors-mean-in- other_b_9078674?guccounter=1.
