Monday 20 December 2010

So you win a design award in Germany, you get some money, you move to Lebanon and get a job... so now what?

It's always like that isn't it? You work on something for a whole year, day in and day out, just striving to get to the top (but mostly to get through the day without a mental breakdown), and then to your surprise, you reach it. It's there. All for you. So you dwell in your own self-flattering glory for a while, you enjoy the frivolous surge of compliments you receive, and you feel like a winner. But how long before that becomes a thing of the past, and you suddenly feel like time is passing by and your not doing anything? Well for me, 2 months.

Don't get me wrong, Im not sitting at home eating ice cream out of a tub and watching RomComs all day. No, I have a great job, with an impressive title (design research consultant - ooooh). I have a great boss, who doesn't think that thinking all day about great ideas and writing about them is a waste of time. I have work colleagues who can bare me for 9 hours a day. I also have a plan.

As I got my current job due to my work on design in the Middle East, I am currently setting up, with Maya Karanouh- CEO of TAGbrands, the MENA Design Research Center -just as my master thesis proposed. So right now, Im writing for our new blog (which of course I will share with you my non-existent reader). We're also going to be working on some international projects, all for the sake of creating awareness about the power of design as a multidisciplinary agent of development and innovation. Although, currently we are a small team, I have high hopes for the work we will be doing, and looking forward to more collaboration with brilliant designers who believe in design research - a much needed field for the MENA region.

Eventually, I want to get into design education and further develop my own research, perhaps for a PhD? But thats's not happening anytime soon as I'd rather stick to my job for a while, it feels good not to be a student -finally :)

So... yeh. GO MENA DESIGN RESEARCH CENTER!

5 comments:

  1. Good Luck in everything you do. You deserve the best!

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  2. Good to know that about It's always like that isn't it? You work on something for a whole year, day in and day out.. thanks

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  3. Hi Doreen,
    Great blog and this kind of blog always useful for blog readers. I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article

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  4. very nice sharing, i like this site, its very info for everyone ....

    ReplyDelete