Artist spotlight: Raghad Murad and her fun size trail blaze of self-expression

A starburst message in your pocket…

Raghad Murad was a bright-eyed university student when the idea to start a sticker business came to her. The year was 2020, the talk of the town the pandemic, and the need of the hour for Raghad – Arabic stickers that stood out. She had set off to source some for herself, and surprisingly couldn’t find any.

“I would find Arabic ones but they were expensive or the designs would be super cliché,” said Raghad. “So, that was the starting point, and because stickers are also the easiest form of artwork – it’s very simple.”

And so Waggish was born, brought to life by her and three of her friends. Now, it’s been four years and the trajectory of growth for this little homegrown business built on pure passion, the technicolour fuel of pop culture and the fortifying powers of girlhood is a sweet victory pill.

I first met Raghad in January of 2023 and since then, the other team members have departed (but not in spirit) on their individual paths to find their own thing. This is Raghad’s thing and she is determined to unlock the full potential of the cocktail that is her craft and her commerce.

But what exactly does that level up look like?

“The first two years were just really like building a library of designs and then we would produce them on everything – so, shirts and totes and mugs,” explains Raghad. “Now I’ve decided to take Waggish to its full potential by not just doing the stickers but do more original products, more collaborations with other brands.”

The bright colours, bold lines, slogans and messages all come from Raghad’s mind, one artistically inclined towards the infinite universe of digital design. She draws these original prints by hand, featuring Arabic and some English quips, quotes and catchphrases with all the wit of the modern Internet citizen. It’s just an uber fun way to celebrate life or make a social statement and naturally what is one to do but gravitate.

In this current state of transformation, the brand is less just a store for stickers and more a full-bodied creative brand with a unique illustration style that takes the flavour of our day-to-day lives to create products with flair, finesse and personality by the boatload.

“When Subway reached out, I was in complete shock,” recalls Raghad, when asked of her favourite collaborations so far. “Now it’s an international brand that is collaborating with Waggish – that one was the biggest one when it came. After that, it was Rimmel London. TikTok Business was really big too and Shahid from MBC.”

In Raghad’s eyes, stickers are an expression of the self, and when you have strong stances on certain topics, they can be used to visually represent that. Which is also why Waggish doesn’t shy away from going down that route.

“Stickers, at their essence, are a visual expression of who you are. The way that you put stickers on your laptop or your iPad, they tell stories about your hobbies, what you stand for, stuff you like.”

“I think because Waggish was born in the UAE, has all those Middle Eastern people following it and it’s like an Arab brand, we need to have a voice to share and promote that. It’s not like a political approach, but more like an awareness approach, more of like lets open this conversation – it doesn’t have to be scary to talk about those things. ”

The ultimate goal for Waggish is to set up a physical shop, a destination that doesn’t seem very far off from this vantage point. Whenever it does, you’ll find me there, stocking up on my own fun size bits of self-expression.

Follow Raghad at @raghaddmurad

Shop Waggish at @waggish.ae, shop.waggish.ae

Images: Supplied