PATHWAYS TO EXPERIMENTATION

Apr 2019, 2020
American University of Beirut

In this workshop, I introduce participants to the culture of experimentation within the human-centered design process and demonstrate its value through a series of interactive activities and case studies. Participants acquire the tools to design and implement their own experiments, which allows them to minimize risk, time, and resources, while maximizing learning. From identifying assumptions, to designing prototypes, to determining testing methods and protocols, participants are prepared to run experiments and evaluate them.

Design for Arrival: Refugees, Transitory Populations, and Sanctuary Cities

Jun 2018
Beirut Design Week

Taking Beirut as a case study, in this session, participants considered how design can help cities not just react to the crisis of immigration but instead prepare for the arrival of new city-dwellers. Participants looked at how refugees have been integrated into the city through formal structures and institutions, and proposed ways in which new systems, products, and services might develop a culture of inclusivity, wherein refugees, immigrants, and transitory populations are not a burden but rather contribute to their own wellbeing and to the urban environments they inhabit. By addressing the central question of how we can design cities for the arrival of new populations, particpants addressed larger concerns in design history and theory about cultural values, participatory methodologies, and Do-It-Yourself (DIY) infrastructures.

Hack The City: 72-hour Hackathon

Oct 2018
SmartESA, Beirut

The hackathon was a 72-hour event during which 50 participants worked in teams to find solutions to make Beirut a better city! During the hackathon, teams underwent extensive training and mentorship with experts in Design, Business, Urbanism, and IT and pitched their solutions to a panel of local and international jury members.

Design Thinking for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Nov2017
Tamkeen, Bahrain

A hands-on workshop in which participants used human-centered design tools and methods to empathize with Bahrain-based business owners, understand their challenges, analyze them, and propose potential solutions by creating low-fi prototypes.

The Future, Backwards: A Sense-Making Exercise

Jun, Aug 2017
AMIDEAST, Fulbright, Beirut

This workshop offered participants the opportunity to imagine, visualize, and give order to their future plans and goals. Carefully designed to balance past decision-making with future aspirations, this mapping activity helped participants identify the steps necessary to achieving an ideal future. By the end of this session, participants understood the logic of events and learned how to navigate around their concerns and fears and to manage events outside of their control.

Visualize your service

Dec 2016, AINAC, Amman
Dec 2014, BDL Accelerate, Beirut

In this hands-on workshop, participants were introduced to the service blueprint, a tool used to diagnose problems with operational efficiency and to conceptualize structural change. They mapped and visualised how their service is delivered across different channels. Using this blueprint, participants then defined the role of each stakeholder and touchpoint, as well as the specific requirements at each stage of the user journey. Participants later identified pain points within the service and proposed solutions to ensure a better service and, therefore, a better user experience.

DPU SummerLab | Beirut

Sept 2014, 2016
ALBA, Beirut

This workshop was part of University College London’s Bartlett School of Architecture’s annual DPU SummerLab. Through interactions with residents and local stakeholders, in-depth interviews, and systems mapping, participants identified the most pressing challenges and potential interventions to address them using tactical interventions.

Disrupt! Design! Three-Day Ideathon

May 2016, April 2015
MENA Design Research Center + Hivos Mideast Creatives, Beirut

This three-day ideathon welcomed participants and strat-ups to develop design projects with a social significance. Teams went through refining their design concepts and the prototypes, understanding how to set up a social entreprise and how to communicate it to their audience. Winning proposals received corwdfunding to move on to their next stage.

Toolbox

January 2015
GAIA-heritage, EU MEDNETA Project, Beirut

Toolbox was a series of workshops for artists, craftsmen, and designers aimed at reinforcing creativity and enhancing its role in the regeneration of neighborhoods. It exposed creatives to new technologies and innovative techniques; provided them with the needed business, entrepreneurial, and marketing skills; and facilitated collaboration and co-creation between artists, craftsmen and designers.

Engaging Student Diversity in the Classroom and Studio

May 2014
Center for Teaching & Learning, University of the Arts, PA, USA

During this workshop, my co-facilitators and I led participatory activities with university professors to design methods to help engage students and build stronger, more dynamic communities in the university'es diverse classrooms and studios.

Fox DESIGN Challenge

February 2014
Temple Center for Design and Innovation, PA, USA

Commissioned by Temple University Fox School of Business Design Challenge, this three-day design thinking workshop and competition brought students from across the region and from various disciplines to combine business and design concepts in creating pioneering solutions to address litter abatement in partnership with the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics and Keep Philadelphia Beautiful.

DESMEEM

April-June 2012
MENA Design Research Center, Beirut

DESMEEM was a cross-cultural design workshop that brought together participants from Europe and the Arab region to use design as a creative problem-solving tool. Over the course of three months, 27 participants and nine teams collaborated with Lebanese NGOs to create more sustainable and effective solutions to a variety of social issues in Lebanon.