Arab and British in equal measure, Samar Maakaroun is a designer and creative director renowned for her creatively multilingual approach to design.
Growing up in Beirut before moving to London, Samar is fluent in three languages and two cultures. Spanning 20+ years across branding, digital storytelling, scenography and typography, her career has focused on balancing aesthetics, context and heritage with brand voice and purpose.
In a globalised world with burgeoning diasporic communities in every city, Samar believes in embracing the fluidity and nuances of identity, seeing complexity as a source of creative inspiration and narrative power. Her work explores the space in-between – where cultures and languages intersect, integrate, align or diverge.
Since October 2023, Samar joined Pentagram as Partner.
Growing up in Beirut before moving to London, Samar is fluent in three languages and two cultures. Spanning 20+ years across branding, digital storytelling, scenography and typography, her career has focused on balancing aesthetics, context and heritage with brand voice and purpose.
In a globalised world with burgeoning diasporic communities in every city, Samar believes in embracing the fluidity and nuances of identity, seeing complexity as a source of creative inspiration and narrative power. Her work explores the space in-between – where cultures and languages intersect, integrate, align or diverge.
Since October 2023, Samar joined Pentagram as Partner.
She founded Right to Left in 2021, a design agency that straddles cultures and typographic traditions. Specialising in designing for hybrid brands, the multidisciplinary team speaks seven languages and crosses three generations, working to fluidly integrate worlds, cultures and languages across naming, brand strategy, brands systems and identities. An example of their language-hopping, culture-crossing approach manifested in the typographic project 29 Words for 29 Letters, which explores language, translation and the fluidity of meaning through design.
Before Right to Left, Samar worked in the design industry for over 15 years, where she led ambitious projects with major studios. Her notable achievements include coining the first integrated destination brand for Dubai with M&C Saatchi (2015); launching Apple’s brand in Arabic across digital, retail and print (2017); rebranding the Abu Dhabi Media portfolio and later bringing the Diriyah City brand to life with Pentagram (2019).
Before Right to Left, Samar worked in the design industry for over 15 years, where she led ambitious projects with major studios. Her notable achievements include coining the first integrated destination brand for Dubai with M&C Saatchi (2015); launching Apple’s brand in Arabic across digital, retail and print (2017); rebranding the Abu Dhabi Media portfolio and later bringing the Diriyah City brand to life with Pentagram (2019).
CONTACT
For new business
samar@rightoleft.co.uk
To work with us and our team
teamsm@pentagram.com
For Interviews and Press
roberts@pentagram.com
TALKS & CONFERENCES
2006 University of East London, UK
2007 Culture in Dialogue, Krakow
2008 Branding War – Baltic Centre,UK
2010 Modern Arts Oxford, Uk
2010 Arab Creative Women, Kingston, UK
2011 INIVA, UK
2014 Baltic Centre,Uk
2015 Apple, London
2018 Kingston University
2019 LDF 21, Global Design Forum
2019 Pentagram London
2020 V&A with Design Can
2021 University of Greenwich
2021 Google Creative Labs
2022 Chelsea College of Arts (UAL)
2022 D&AD SuperCondensed
2022 Arts University Bournemouth
SCENOGRAPHY
Contemporary art festivals across Europe:
Festival Theatergarasjen Bergen, Norway
Theatre Formen, Hanover, Germany
HAU festival, Berlin, Germany
Theatre Frascati, Amesterdam, Holland
Festival de La Bâtie, Geneva
Tranzquartier,Vienna
Festival Baltoscandal, Estonia
Performing Arts Festival, London - ICA Theatre, London
Fondation Cartier, Paris
Festival de théâtre des Amériques, Montreal
Theatre De Appel, Amsterdam
Theatre Utsav, New Delhi
International Tokyo Festival, Japan
Festival d'Automne, Paris
Festival Temps d'images, France and Belgium
Masrah Al Madina, Lebanon