For the fourth edition of Cairo Art Book Fair, the organisers and Cairo-based creative agency NTSAL introduced a playful new approach to visual identity. Instead of producing a single fixed poster, they sent out poster kits to artists across the city, inviting them to reinterpret the materials and return their creations to be exhibited during the fair.
Designer Fatma Alkhayat was among the artists who received the kit. Inside was a B2-sized envelope, the official Cairo Art Book Fair poster printed on honeycomb packaging paper, and a collection of abstract neon stickers. The poster itself featured custom Arabic typography by the NTSAL team reading النسخة الرابعة, meaning Fourth Edition, alongside vertically arranged dates and the fair’s Arabic typographic logo designed by Nora Aly.
Rather than keeping the poster flat, Alkhayat set out to transform it into something more dimensional.
Inspired by the Flag Book structure, a non-adhesive bookbinding technique developed by Hedi Kyle and documented in The Art of the Fold, she began by working directly with the honeycomb paper. The open structure allowed her to slide the neon stickers between layers of typography, creating subtle depth and shadow within the design.
Once the composition was complete, the poster was cut into fifteen equal cards measuring roughly 16.6 x 7 cm. Each card was mounted onto holographic cardstock to add strength and a reflective peek-a-boo effect on the reverse side. The cards were then attached to a black cardstock accordion spine, forming the distinctive “flags” of the book structure.
Even the original packaging became part of the final object. The B2 envelope was dissected and reused as the back cover, while smaller typographic elements from the kit were applied along the sides of the structure and its packaging. A simple cardboard case was then built to house the finished piece, decorated with the remaining neon stickers and the Cairo Art Book Fair Arabic logo.
The result is a tactile book-object that turns a poster into an unfolding sculptural form, expanding the fair’s identity beyond the wall and into the hands.
Fatma Alkhayat is a multidisciplinary designer based in Cairo, Egypt. After graduating in graphic design from the German University in Cairo in 2021, she worked for two years as a teaching assistant in the university’s workshop department, where she explored bookbinding techniques, paper materials and experimental book structures.
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