Originally from Marseille, Nadina Ali is a London-based graphic designer with a love for colour and bold typography. She began her career in fashion design, studying at Manchester Metropolitan University before working as a garment technologist for various clothing brands. Nadina turned her hand to lettering and typography, whilst taking a career break in 2017. This was the pivotal moment when she realised that she wanted to pursue a career as a graphic designer.
Through her vibrant type-focused style, Nadina’s work is centred on creating empowering messages around social justice, representation, and sustainability. She works across a variety of different channels, from designing book covers for ‘The Black Friend’ by Frederick Joseph and ‘Carefree Black Girls’ by Zeba Blay, to creating billboards as part of the Black Outdoor Art project, a social creative initiative organised by Greg Bunbury to amplify Black voices. As well as working for charities and raising awareness for good causes, Nadina has also collaborated with the British Red Cross and contributed to a Mental Health Awareness week campaign organised by POCC and Clear Channel, amongst many other non-profit organizations.
We talked to Nadina to find out more about where she finds inspiration, her career journey so far and her thoughts on diversity and inclusion within the design industry.
How did you first become interested in being a graphic designer?
I developed an interest in design while studying Clothing Design at Manchester Metropolitan University between 2005–2009, but I didn’t consider becoming a graphic designer until recently. I came to the UK to study fashion and admired how ubiquitous graphic design was and how much you could do with it creatively. My career plans after graduation were very fashion focused and working as a graphic designer was not a career path I had envisioned for myself. I never saw or met any graphic designers who looked like me so becoming one didn’t even feel like something I could do. At the end of 2017, I decided to take a break from fashion to explore other creative outlets and started dabbling with lettering and typography. This led me to working on projects for friends and that’s when I realised that maybe I could be a graphic designer after all.
“I never saw or met any graphic designers who looked like me so becoming one didn’t even feel like something I could do.”
Your work is often focused on bold typography, where did that interest using type begin?
My interest in type started when I discovered the poster art of Roger Borders in my early 20s. He did many travel posters back in the day, including a couple of advertising posters for my hometown Marseille in which he used bold typefaces alongside very picturesque imagery. That’s when I realised how visually impactful using the right typeface could be; his posters have always stuck in my mind.
Your style is vibrant, type focused and filled with powerful messages. What are your go to places where you find inspiration and how do you usually approach a new project?
I love going to Shoreditch to do street art spotting as it’s everywhere and it’s very inspiring to walk around in that area. Going to art exhibitions is also a great source of inspiration. It’s always fascinating to me how other artists see the world and communicate their ideas/creative vision. Otherwise, I’m always on the lookout for anything colourful, so inspiration usually comes in various shapes and forms for me. As Paul Smith said, “You can find inspiration in everything, and if you can’t, look again!”
When starting a new project, I usually grab my sketch pad first to write and draw down ideas before taking them to the screen. I find going through that process helps me formulate ideas better than sitting in front of my computer and attempting to generate ideas there and then.
Your work is often focused on issues of social justice and representation. Can you tell us about any stand out projects that you’ve worked on and why they’re important to you?
To date my favourite project focused on social justice is the ‘Decolonise Everything’ billboard I did for the Black Outdoor Art project curated by London-based graphic designer Greg Bunbury. That artwork was important to me because it tackled a topic that I feel isn’t discussed enough in the context of fighting racism. As a child of immigrants from a previously colonised country, I’m aware of the negative impact colonisation had on colonised countries at a time when it was common practice. And even if many today consider it a thing of the past, colonial mindsets continue to prevail in many places — whether it is school curricula not focusing on Black history or the Eurocentrism of the design industry. This is what I wanted to challenge with this billboard and it was great to be able to do that for a wider audience too.
Has being a woman of colour impacted your career and what challenges have you had to overcome?
It 100% has. First of all, the lack of diversity and representation in the creative industries when I was younger made it harder for me to visualise myself doing anything creative which is why it took me so long even to consider a career in graphic design. Then, being from an immigrant and working-class background, a creative career is not a career path that was encouraged so I had to find the motivation and ambition within myself to make it happen. That said, I’m really glad the internet and social media platforms such as Instagram have made it a lot easier to connect with fellow creatives and showcase your work to the world. Without them, I think I would have struggled even more to do what I am doing today.
“It 100% has. First of all, the lack of diversity and representation in the creative industries when I was younger made it harder for me to visualise myself doing anything creative which is why it took me so long even to consider a career in graphic design.”
How do you think we can encourage greater diversity and inclusion across the creative industries?
Companies need to hire more people from diverse backgrounds, especially for top roles. A lot of companies in the creative industries are predominantly — if not entirely — white, and that’s not being challenged enough. Ways to improve this could be by diversifying the places where companies hire or creating more internship opportunities that are easily accessible to non-white working-class people. For instance, unpaid internships in the creative industries are still far too common. That alone prevents a lot of people from accessing valuable experience in the first place.
“Ways to improve this could be by diversifying the places where companies hire or creating more internship opportunities that are easily accessible to non-white working-class people.”
What do you hope to see in the future in terms of the role design can play in influencing societal change and challenging inequality and the lack of diversity?
In the future, I hope to see more design that is inclusive of different cultures and challenges societal norms more. If the design industry remains dominated by white men, no significant changes will happen.
If you could go back to the beginning and start your career again what would tell your younger self?
I would tell my younger self to trust her talent and pursue a creative career with confidence. Just because you don’t see other people looking like you doing it, it doesn’t mean you can’t.
“Just because you don’t see other people looking like you doing it, it doesn’t mean you can’t.”
Do you have any top tips for women considering a creative career in design today?
Stay true to yourself and don’t be afraid to do things your own way.
Name your top 3 creative women who you find inspiring.
Morag Myerscough, Camille Walala and Lakwena
