“The revolution needs colors to be complete,” that’s how Vector--an activist-led design initiative starts its mission statement. The group aims to be “a revolutionary organisation looking after Syrian designers, and providing an umbrella for their work, and advancing the ideals of the Syrian revolution.”

The idea for such a group came out of “a meeting with colleagues, where we discussed the difficulties faced by Syrian designers,” recalls one member, “we decided to create an umbrella organisation that can protect the rights of individual designers, and to turn the work of individuals into a collective movement.” Vector was officially established in January 2015.

The founding team is an image of Syrian diversity: “As an association we have members from different social, ethnic and political backgrounds.” This is reflected in the works of the group which focus on the reality for the average Syrian. The released works include posters in support of Kobane, Palestinian-Syrians, and against the tyranny of Bashar al-Assad.

The team also offers its services to other Syrian civil society organisations. Thus they work to create logos, pamphlets, graffiti, infographic, animations upon request from other organisations, or to support certain events or joint activities. “We want to put ourselves in the service of Syrian civil society organs that are working to advance the ideals of the uprising, and that have no links to extremism or to the Syrian regime.” This effort is offered without reward as the association styles itself as a non-profit organisation. However, the main obstacle they face in their work is the difficulty of establishing stable contacts with Syrians inside the country where infrastructure (such as electricity and internet) are scarce, and where security concerns may trump such collaborations.