Hena Ali is a PhD student at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London. She received her MSc in Mass Communication and Bachelors in Graphic Design from the Institute of Art and Design, University of the Punjab, Pakistan, and was an assistant professor at Fatima Jinnah Women University, Pakistan, 2007-2009.

Her PhD research is practice-led and concerned with ‘graphic communication design’, investigating the communicative capacity of vernacular art in indigenous settings. She is exploring Pakistani vernacular visual media within user-centered graphic communication design. Visually, these are immensely vibrant and exotic but are uncharted territory in terms of communication. Hena is investigating sign systems located within indigenous visual media, exploring the influence of content and context on how they are read. Her research suggests graphic design as a paradigm in which indigenous art can be critically located and discussed as communication. The research findings will include a ‘graphic communication design’ schema of practice to facilitate the design of visual communications targeting low literacy groups.

Email: h.ali9(at)csm.arts.ac.uk