His specialty in
typography and
calligraphy is the shaping of letters in forms and shapes (
Zoomorphism) in graphic design. He also applies the principles of
calligraphy in
type design. Mehdi created the "Letters Melody" art and graphic design course and teaches this in Iran's Universities as well as at some international workshops.
In 2013, he also founded First International Exhibition of Type Design, as part of Silver Cypress. biennial, a competition that devoted to Persian type design for the first time.[4][5]
In consideration of Mehdi Saeedi's artworks, a large number of them have been selected for exhibition in many prominent
museums, collections, major domestic and international exhibitions worldwide. They have also been published in several reputable international magazines. Mehdi won several prestigious and well-grounded awards both locally and internationally resulting in becoming known as the most awarded Iranian
graphic designer in Iran's
graphic history Among which are: Grand Prize,
Taiwan International
Poster Design Award,
Taiwan, 2007;[6] Grand Prize, "Five Stars Designers' Banquet", International Invitational
PosterTriennial of
Osaka, Japan, 2009;[7] Top Award, 15th International Invitational
Poster,
Colorado, United States, 2007;[8][9] First Prize, 12th International Poster
Triennial, Ekoplagat ́11,
Slovakia, 2011[10] and
Gold Medal in "Graphis poster annual 2013", USA etc.[11]
Mehdi Saeedi's publications include 2013's From Contour to Calligraphy.[12] He is also included among 30 designers in the second edition of New Masters of Poster Design.[13]
Three books of Mehdi Saeedi's collection of works have been published, in both English and Persian. In 2005, Mehdi's first collection of works, Mehdi Saeedi: Collection of Graphic Works 1999–2004 (
ISBN9786006413082), was published by
Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. The book consists of approximately 70 color reproductions of posters and 46 logos and includes two introductions, by fellow Iranian graphic designer
Ghobad Shiva (AGI) and French designer Thierry Sarfis.[16]
A second book, From Script to Calligraphy: Collection of Mehdi Saeedi's Posters, is a collection of Mehdi's works in a decade and was published in Germany in 2008.
In 2013, Mehdi published the book From Contour to Calligraphy. This book is a collection of his works through 14 years of professional efforts demonstrating Mehdi's approach to figurative calligraphy (
Zoomorphism or Tasvir-Negari) and Graphic Design. The content of the book is divided into three sections. The first section consists of art pieces that inspired by traditional Persian calligraphy, and the second and third sections are based on works utilizing contemporary design titled "Modern Persian1" and "Modern Persian2". This book begins with introductions by renowned visual artists including:
Alain Le Quernec [
fr] (AGI) from France, Rene Wanner and
Niklaus Troxler (AGI) from Switzerland, U.G Sato (AGI) from Japan and
Aydin Aghdashloo from Iran.[17] In addition, Mehdi authored 5th generation of young Iranian graphic designers, that is a book of selected works of those who born in 70s and 80s and pioneer in having different look on contemporary Iranian posters.
Mehdi Saeedi is also featured in various world valid publications and collections that among them are:[18]Learn World Calligraphy that offers a unique glimpse of scripts worldwide and the calligraphers who write them and Covering nearly all of the world's writing systems, New Masters of Poster Design[19] that features around 30 top poster designers currently working all over the world, Atlas of Graphic Designers[20] a comprehensive collection illustrates the world of graphic design country by country, featuring the best graphic designers from all over the world., 1000 Type Treatments[21] and The Design of Dissent that examined graphic work focusing on social and political concerns from around the globe and is written and designed by
Milton Glaser and Ilic'.[22]
Honours and awards
Grand Prix, Exhibition of Visual Arts, Iran, 1998 & 1999
Honourable Mention, The 7th International Biennial of Poster, Mexico, 2002[23]
^Nazari +989173002505, Kamran.
"کتاب سرا". کتاب سرا (in Persian). Retrieved 31 May 2019.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link)
^Foster, John (February 2012). New Masters of Poster Design, Volume 2: Poster Design for This Century and Beyond. Rockport Publishers.
ISBN978-1592537365.