Associate Professor of Practice of Visual Arts and Director of the A&H Visual Design Lab at NYUAD, Goffredo Puccetti, presents on The Banality of Evil Design. This talk challenges the common view that disability is solely caused by an individual's condition, arguing that it's often a result of environmental factors, such as bad design choices. The speaker proposes re-thinking disability as a diversion from a norm, highlights the need to address bad design and train ourselves to spot it, and introduces the inclusive design research initiatives done by students in the Visual Design Lab. Part of the IDBE in Engineering Series.

Wissam Shawkat will be presenting a four-day workshop on Arabic calligraphy in the Types of Art class, with very limited seats open to community guests. Shawkat is an award-winning artist, calligrapher, and designer based in Dubai. His calligraphies range from the monumental ones in Dubai’s Etihad Museum to the small ones on the dials of Rolex watches. In 2003 he created his eponymous Arabic script Al Wissam. His ‘calligraforms’ have been displayed in artgalleries all over the world. Secure your place by contacting gp56@nyu.edu.

As part of NYUAD's inaugural "Our Learning Community" event, design instructor Erin Collins will offer a mini-course on how to design your living space to improve human health and well-being. Drawing on concepts from the WELL Standard by the International Building Institute, she will translate research into practical, actionable strategies.

NYUAD alumni Van Anh Bui and the team at The Lab Saigon will present a talk titled "Visual is the most boring part of design." The Lab is a creative investment studio based in Saigon and Dalat, Vietnam that build a more thoughtful, creative world using branding, spatial design, and communication.

Are you interested in type design? Attend the Visual Design Lab Lecture Series #12, "Questions & Answers on Type Design" led by Dr. Nadine Chahine. Dr. Nadine Chahine is an award winning Lebanese type designer. Nadine’s research focus is on eye movement and legibility studies for the Arabic, Latin, and Chinese scripts. She has numerous awards including two Awards for Excellence in Type Design from the Type Directors Club in New York in 2008 and 2011. Her typefaces include: the best-selling Frutiger Arabic, Neue Helvetica Arabic, Univers Next Arabic, Palatino and Palatino Sans Arabic, and Koufiya. She will answer student questions on type design from her years of expertise and research. Hosted by Goffredo Puccetti (gp56@nyu.edu) and the Types of Art class.

Scientific research is only relevant when it is shared, understood, and applied. Can the choice of typeface or background color affect the impact of scientific data? Researchers need to understand how to employ visual tools to communicate effectively to all kinds of audiences. In this practical workshop, Goffredo Puccetti and Erin Collins demonstrate how to use principles of graphic design to create graphics that engage and inspire. Participants learn the fundamentals of graphic excellence, typography essentials (it’s not every day that you announce the discovery of the Higgs boson in Comic Sans!), and have the opportunity to improve their own graphics.

Convened by
Erin Collins, Instructor of the Arts in Design and Alumna, NYUAD
Goffredo Puccetti, Designer and Assistant Professor of Practice of Visual Arts, NYUAD

As NYUAD has grown into a leading liberal arts institution, student-led visual design has played a major role in the evolution of NYUAD’s identity, community and global reputation. Students and faculty have done professional-level projects both for NYUAD’s own research and events and for international organizations such as WWF UAE, the Xenon Lab and ArabWIC. Every design project has engaged questions of identity, accessibility, empowerment and culture in new ways. On the occasion of the opening of the Design Works exhibit, this panel explores how those conversations have developed over the past decade and sets a course for the future of design education at NYUAD.

This event is open to the general public. Registration (using the form on this page) is required. Vaccination status will be verified at the door.

Cerović is an architect and mapmaker who shocked the design community with his proposals for coordinated transport diagrams for many capitals around the world. His creativity and extraordinary craft brought him rapidly to fame. Founder of Inat Consultancy in Paris, Cerović now lives in Madrid and collaborates with the consultancy DezignTechnic in Dubai. He will share with the Wayfinding class his insights on the uni versal language of maps.

Massimilano Sagrati, founder and head of design at Humus Design, and Serena Ciriello, copywriter and strategist, will tell the students of the Yes Logo class the story of the rebirth of the iconic Italian brand Agusta.

Director of the Museo Egizio, recognized as one of the most influential intellectuals in the contemporary art scene in Europe, and one of the greatest Egyptologists of our times, Christian Greco will guide us on one of his ‘director’s walks’ through the museum. He will elucidate on the challenges the muse um had to overcome when the online portal became the main entry point to the Museo Egizio because of the Covid pandemic.

Artist and designer Piera Luisolo will guide Yes Logo students on the crossroads of art and design, illustrating her extraordinary work for the Museo Egizio of Turin.

Born and raised in Italy, Giuseppe Attoma Pepe studied communications science and architecture and has been working in the de sign field for more than 25 years. He created Attoma, a service and UX Design practice, in Paris in 1997. Attoma is now part of Assist Digital group, one of the European leaders in Customer Experience.Giuseppe will share with us his already iconic work for the Châtelet exchange hub in Paris and engage the Wayfinding class in a workshop on the future of mobility in the UAE.

Born in Basra in 1974, Wissam Shawkat is an award-winning artist, calligrapher, and designer based in Dubai. His impressive client list includes names such as Ethiad Museum Dubai, Rolex, Chopard, Abu Dhabi Media, and Dubai Mall. In 2003 he designed his eponymous Arabic Script Al Wissam. His ‘calligraforms’ have been displayed in art galleries all over the world.A longtime friend of NYUAD, Wissam will deliver a lecture and workshop on Arabic English logo design matchmaking.