01 Mar

Posted at 22:02h in Service

Throughout the Fall 2018 and Spring 2019 academic year, I was honored to serve as a member of the "Tasmeem in the Classroom" sub-committee at VCUarts Qatar with Wajiha Pervez, Maryam Y Al-Homaid, and Mahmoud Abbas. This initiative aimed to engage faculty and students in the Tasmeem Doha Conference by showcasing projects developed around the theme of Hekayat (stories) within art and design practice. "The concept of Hekayat (stories) in...

16 May

Posted at 12:20h in Research & Scholarship, Service

Wow! I had an amazing time in Guana (Egypt) over the past four days serving as a mentor, workshop leader, and speaker at Vested Summit (May 9-12, 2018)! It was an honor to get to know the conscious tech community—a diverse group of startups, investors, designers, and developers working together to make conscious choices, conduct business responsibly, find an inner drive, and build happiness. “The future is already here—it’s just not very evenly distributed.”...

28 Jan

Posted at 08:15h in Service

On a cool Doha Saturday morning this January, I joined Graphic Design Seniors Rabeya Khatoon and Alisha Saiyed in the last session of the Community Art Workshop entitled “Built / Unbuilt: City / Home.”  We spent the day working alongside a wonderful group of people dedicated to building artistic bridges with the Nepalese community led by Dina Bangdel (Chair of the VCUQatar Art History Department), UCLQ colleagues, and NRNA-Qatar. Through...

09 Mar

Posted at 17:37h in Service

Mark your calendars! Our spring workshop, Designing Web Sites in Webflow, will be held on April 13 from 3 to 5 at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar. Led by Ahmed Hashmi, this event is free and open to the public. Please email me if you would like to attend so that we reserve enough seats! Interaction Design defines the structure and behavior of interactive systems. Interaction Designers strive to create meaningful relationships between...

05 Feb

Posted at 09:48h in Service

As part of the GDES Department's ongoing effort to bring in visiting Arab designers to VCUQ, we were pleased to host the talented type and graphic designer, Ali AlMasri, this past week. Ali visited us from Jordan and spent his time at VCUQ lecturing and running workshops in the Sophomore and Junior graphic design studios. A big thank you to Ali for sharing his typographic wisdom and inspiration with the students....

10 Dec

Posted at 12:07h in Service

The Middle East Design Educators Association (MEDEA), in collaboration with ico-D member Applied Science University (ASU), recently held a series of workshops led by educators in the field of design. The event was attended by 180 students representing universities from across Jordan, including Petra University, the University of Oman, and the University of the Middle East, along with professionals from across the city of Amman, Jordan. In alignment with the association's interest...

20 Mar

Posted at 17:53h in Service

MEDEA aims to foster dialog between the design industry and those who educate the next generation of designers by providing a platform for sharing ideas, challenges and opportunities. In responding to this platform, the Board of Directors of MEDEA developed a panel discussion on the broad topic of 'Contemporary Design Portfolios' as a way to engage with the audience of the Tasmeem Doha 2015 3ajeeb! Conference. The President, Diane Mikhael, and Vice...

15 Dec

Posted at 19:04h in Service

The first MEDEA Symposium held in Kuwait took place this December at the American University of Kuwait (AUK). Board Members from universities around the MENA region spent three days together conducting workshops and participating in roundtable discussions with design educators in Kuwait. Workshops for design students were held on Saturday (December 6th) from 1:30-3:30 p.m. at AUK in the Design Department. Workshop 1: Islamic (Universal) Design led by Julia Towsend (Associate Professor in...

14 Apr

Posted at 22:18h in Service

The second annual MEDEA symposium was held April 4-5 in the welcoming city of Amman, Jordan. The thematic agenda for the symposium was a focus on the development of MEDEA's strategic plan including, promoting and sharing research activities, workshops and conferences. The MEDEA board of directors and members met for two days, working together to finalize initiatives, build consensus, and delegate tasks.  ...

01 Mar

Posted at 19:51h in Service

Japan has been at the top of my list in terms of places in the world I would like to visit for a long time now. The culture, the design, and the food have always called to me from across the seas. I couldn't believe my luck when I heard our Departmental Field Study was a trip to Japan. Shiawase! With almost all of the graphic design faculty in attendance, we were...

27 Feb

Posted at 21:25h in Service

I am thoroughly inspired by the work of Iranian typographer and calligrapher, Mehdi Saeedi. Not only is the breadth of his work impressive, but his ability to integrate contemporary graphic design with traditional Iranian calligraphy is exceptional. On top of that, he’s a really nice guy! I was honored to spend a week with Mehdi during his visit to VCUQ this Spring semester, where he presented a series of workshops and...

28 Nov

Posted at 21:29h in Service

The first MEDEA Board of Directors Symposium was a wonderful opportunity to meet with Art & Design educators from Egypt, Jordan, KSA, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, and UAE. Hosted by VCUQatar, the board met in Doha this November to map the Art & Design terrain, highlight issues in education, share achievements, and begin new initiatives. We were honored to have Ruki Ravikumar (AIGA National board & AIGA Design Educators Community) help us...