Kenani grew up in Saudi Arabia and came to the U.S. after high school in 2010, spending his first two years learning the English language. He then attended college in Pennsylvania to study marketing, only to discover it wasn\u2019t what he wanted to do. He pursued his passion and found Maryville in 2015.<\/p>\n
He thrived on challenges, says one instructor who recalled a time when Kenani\u2019s design, a class assignment, was not selected by a client.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a beautiful, geometric work that had so much movement,\u201d says Caren Schlossberg-Wood, instructor in graphic design. \u201cIt was very professional. But he wasn\u2019t going to take no for an answer. I encouraged him and he kept going back, working and reworking.\u201d<\/p>\n
His tenacity paid off. That logo was one of two selected for LogoLounge10<\/a>, a publication that showcases expert identity work by notable designers and up-and-coming talents from around the world. His were among 2,500 designs chosen from more than 37,000.<\/p>\n Kenani\u2019s second award this year was a gold designation from Graphis, a New York-based international publisher of books on communication design. For its annuals, Graphis selects \u201cthe most compelling work of the year\u201d for its platinum and gold awards in graphic design, advertising, photography and art illustration.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is an honor to be chosen for the Graphis Logo\/Letterhead9 book,\u201d says Kenani whose winning logo Hamsa Hand\u00a0<\/a>depicted an ancient Middle Eastern amulet symbolizing the hand of God. \u201cThe challenge was to find the perfect visual form of the Hamsa Hand, to bring it from ancient to modern without losing the meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n Kenani completed his studies in December, and his freelance work keeps him busy. He\u2019s working on landing a design job in St. Louis.<\/p>\n Kenani’s logo was one of two selected for LogoLounge10, a publication that showcases expert identity work by notable designers and up-and-coming talents from around the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1514,"featured_media":7102,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[296,5],"tags":[836,34,109,27,379,350,834,899,835,605,68,787],"class_list":["post-7101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-campus-community","tag-abdul-kenani","tag-alumni","tag-alumni-success","tag-art-and-design","tag-awards","tag-graphic-design","tag-hamsa-hand","tag-homepage","tag-international-award","tag-logo","tag-maryville","tag-st-louis","odd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Maryville](\"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2017\/11\/Abdul_M-300x200.jpg\")
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