Design Documentation in Education:
AUK Student Projects Preserving Regional Visual Culture and Beyond
This section presents seven capstone projects from the American University of Kuwait’s Graphic Design program as qualitative case studies in cultural documentation. Each project exemplifies how design students transform cultural narratives, artifacts, and traditions into designed outputs that preserve and reinterpret Gulf and regional heritage. Together, they demonstrate that design education can serve as both a site of creative experimentation and a mechanism for cultural continuity.
3.1 Sharbaka: Documenting Gulf Musical Heritage (See Project)
Sharbaka is a student-designed magazine that archives traditional Gulf music through editorial design. The project began with field research: the student conducted interviews with folk musicians, recorded oral histories, and documented musical instruments and lyrical forms such as sout and fidjeri. These findings were translated into a bilingual magazine that merges visual design with ethnographic storytelling.
The publication integrates Arabic calligraphy and typographic rhythm to visually echo the patterns of Gulf melodies. Infographics depict musical structures, while photographs and archival material contextualize each genre within local culture. The result is both a print artifact and an educational tool that bridges oral and visual traditions.
Sharbaka demonstrates how design documentation can convert intangible sound heritage into tangible form. The project also illustrates how students can use research-based design to engage communities in preserving cultural knowledge. In pedagogical terms, it teaches students to apply design methods, typography, layout, and publication systems, to cultural research, producing work that is both academically rigorous and culturally resonant.
3.2 Soriana: Syrian Cultural Heritage through Play (See Project)
Soriana transforms Syrian cultural knowledge into a physical card game that introduces players to regional heritage through play. The student designed 42 illustrated cards, each representing a landmark, a traditional dish, or a notable figure from major Syrian cities. The game board, shaped as a map of Syria, invites players to “travel” through the country by matching visual and textual clues.
The design system integrates Arabic and English typography to reach multilingual audiences. Color palettes and illustrations are inspired by Syrian crafts and natural environments, producing a coherent visual identity rooted in local aesthetics. More than a game, Soriana serves as a pedagogical device for intergenerational learning, parents, educators, and children engage in dialogue as they play, sharing memories and cultural knowledge.
This case highlights the potential of game design as a documentation tool. By embedding heritage into interactive formats, students extend the lifespan of cultural content and make it accessible to non-specialist audiences. Sorianaexemplifies how playful design can act as an entry point to serious cultural preservation.
3.3 SafArt: Illustrated Heritage Guides through Slow Travel (See Project)
SafArt merges travel illustration and cultural documentation, transforming site observation into heritage preservation. The project title combines the Arabic safar (“to travel”) with “art,” signaling a journey through drawing. The student’s first publication focused on Alexandria, Egypt, documenting vernacular architecture, doorways, and urban textures through hand-drawn sketches and short textual narratives.
Each page juxtaposes illustration with reflective writing, an act of seeing and recording that slows the pace of visual consumption. By favoring ink sketches over digital renderings, SafArt reclaims drawing as a documentary practice. The aesthetic minimalism, black ink on white paper, emphasizes observation over embellishment, giving attention to unnoticed details of urban life.
The project demonstrates that cultural documentation can occur through analog processes. It teaches students that preservation need not depend on advanced technology but can arise from sustained attention and personal engagement. As a pedagogical model, SafArt cultivates visual literacy and mindfulness, showing that design documentation is as much about perception as it is about production.
3.4 Mowajaha: Interactive Storytelling and Kuwaiti Identity (See Project)
Mowajaha, literally meaning “confrontation”, is a digital role-playing game that critiques sociocultural dynamics in Kuwait through interactive narrative. Developed using RPG Maker MV, the game merges satire, folklore, and local archetypes to explore issues of identity, community, and political agency.
The protagonist, “Abaya Auntie,” embodies resilience and cultural continuity, while secondary characters symbolize societal challenges such as complacency and corruption. Through metaphor and humor, the game invites players to engage critically with contemporary Kuwaiti life. The pixel-art aesthetic references early video games familiar to Gulf youth, bridging nostalgia with social commentary.
Pedagogically, Mowajaha redefines cultural documentation for the digital era. It demonstrates that video games, often dismissed as entertainment, can serve as vehicles for cultural storytelling and critical reflection. The project expands the boundaries of design education by introducing interactive media as a legitimate form of ethnographic expression. It also responds to the regional gap in culturally localized games, offering a model for future student projects to blend design, heritage, and digital participation.
3.5 Ghamanda: Illustrated Kuwaiti Folktales in Print (See Project)
Ghamanda addresses the disappearance of Kuwaiti folktales by adapting oral stories into illustrated children’s books. The student selected three lesser-known tales, Borashed, Habbabah, and Fatooma, and reimagined them through modern illustration and bilingual text.
Each book is distinct in tone and visual style yet unified through research-driven design. Character costumes reflect traditional attire; architecture and motifs draw from Kuwaiti craft traditions such as Sadu weaving. The color palettes correspond to narrative mood, muted earth tones for somber tales, bright hues for playful ones. The bilingual text ensures accessibility to both Arabic- and English-speaking readers.
Beyond storytelling, Ghamanda acts as a visual archive of Kuwaiti intangible heritage. It translates oral memory into permanent, shareable media, extending its educational use in classrooms and community programs. The project also serves as a design-process model: research, storyboarding, illustration, and layout work in tandem to transform ephemeral stories into lasting cultural artifacts.
3.6 Mythical Revival: Reinterpreting Gulf Mythology through Editorial Design (See Project)
Mythical Revival is a speculative design project that reintroduces mythological figures from Gulf folklore through contemporary visual language. Structured as a conceptual magazine, each spread reimagines a different mythic character, Um Al-Sa’af wa Al-Leef, Himarat Al-Gayla, and Bu Darya, through expressive illustration and typographic experimentation.
The project’s goal was not to reproduce traditional tales but to provoke interest in them through reinterpretation. By merging archival textures with digital illustration, the student created a modern aesthetic dialogue between myth and media. Each page functions as both artwork and cultural provocation, inviting viewers to reconsider familiar legends through a new lens.
However, this case also underscores the ethical dimension of cultural documentation. As Reviewer 1 cautioned, visual reinterpretation can risk constructing fictionalized heritage if not framed critically. Mythical Revival acknowledges this tension by positioning itself as speculative homage rather than historical record. In doing so, it opens a pedagogical conversation about authenticity, authorship, and creative responsibility in heritage design.
The project demonstrates that documentation need not be static, it can involve reinterpretation that keeps culture alive through imaginative re-engagement. The challenge for educators is to teach students to balance creativity with fidelity, ensuring that reimagined narratives respect their origins.
3.7 Aysha Publishing House and Budreah: Building a Platform for Cultural Storytelling (See Project)
The Aysha Publishing House project exemplifies how design education can simulate real-world cultural enterprises. Developed by student Aysha Al-Braidi, the project proposed a children’s publishing house dedicated to reviving Gulf folklore through illustrated books. Under this brand, the student produced three titles, Budreah, Tantal, and Sehaila Um Al Khalaqeen, each adapted from regional myths and urban legends.
The publishing system included a full visual identity, logo design, brand guidelines, promotional materials, and merchandise. Budreah, for instance, reinterprets the maritime legend of Bu Darya, once a cautionary tale among pearl divers, transforming it into a child-friendly narrative emphasizing respect for the sea.
Visually, the books are grounded in cultural research: depictions of old dhows, traditional dress, and vernacular architecture situate the stories within Kuwaiti heritage. The student’s documentation process, collecting oral accounts, sketching, and prototyping, demonstrates a rigorous practice-based methodology.
From an educational standpoint, Aysha Publishing House shows how capstone projects can move beyond academic exercises to propose sustainable cultural initiatives. It merges entrepreneurship with cultural preservation, illustrating that design students can become both cultural custodians and creative industry innovators.