Location: paca

Speakers
of April 15

A-Z

Bishoy Gawdat is an award winning creative motion designer, art director; increasingly focusing on strategy and creative thinking. He is currently working as a creative designer at MBC group. He has a strong foundation in design, animation and compositing. Early in his career, he often found himself working as a solo artist or part of a team, that experience allow him to pick up on a range of skills through the lifecycle of projects.

After graduating from Architecture school in 2002 and completing a diploma in multimedia in 2004, he has been working in TV branding, designing motion graphics, art directing and giving training to various TV networks design teams. He worked on a wide variety of projects for On-Air graphics, Motion design and virtual set design for top broadcast networks in the MENA region. In 2011 he got a Promax Award for best promo not using footage for Abu dhabi TV. He consider himself a creative type with organizational skills who loves to work with other like-minded artists to produce arresting work. Interested in raising the standards of visual communication.

His tools of choice are 3ds max, Adobe Creative suite apps like After Effects, Photoshop and Illustrator, as well as Premiere, and Cinema 4D.

With basic knowledge of Nuke, substance painter, daz and megascans. He believes that software is just a tool in the process of creation, so he will pick whatever it takes to achieve his direction. With his experience in media and being part of the brand management industry, He has the practical in which to ground the theory. 

Specialties: Motion Design, Branding, Art Directing, Graphic Design

Programs: Adobe Creative Cloud, After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, 3DS Max, Cinema 4D, Vray and octane renders.

Theme

Bishoy Gawdat will elaborate on designing for a media giant MBC.  He will elaborate on technical advancements of the design specialization as well as critical thinking strategies used by design teams to accomplish ultimate projects to enrich and promote the Arab culture.

Eduardo Aires is the artistic director of White Studio, recognized for designing the new image of the City of Porto. Eduardo Aires has a PhD in communication design by the University of Porto’s Faculty of Fine Arts, where he also teaches since 1987, in which he concluded his bachelor’s degree at the same institution. His work focuses on editorial and graphic design.

In addition to the City of Porto, Eduardo Aires’ clients are: Herdade do Esporão, the Gulbenkian Foundation, the Serralves Foundation and CTT (national mail service).

Theme

Territories, their width and depth, their density and complexity are fundamental in the definition of concepts and production of content when communicating, especially with visual language. 

Geography, architecture, nature, people and their habits or traditions are what make territories differ. Wether your briefing is to design the identity of a city or that of a world heritage site, it is in the very essence of the territory that lie the most adequate solutions. Studio EduardoAires will present a selection of projects that better illustrate the approach to translating territories into visual communication projects.

Francisco Laranjo (b. Lamego, Portugal, 1955) finished the Fine Art Degree at the School of Fine Arts, Porto, in 1978. He conducted his post-graduate studies in Portugal, The Netherlands and Egypt, as a scholar of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (1981–83) and the Portuguese National Research Board. Laranjo was also a scholar of the Goethe Institute in Dresden, Germany (2000). He is Professor at the School of Fine Arts of the University of Porto, and has been a guest lecturer in many universities and academies such as Bilbao, Ottawa, Calgary, Daegu, Sheffield, Manchester, Istanbul, Alexandria, Sofia, Paris and São Paulo. He has done both solo and group exhibitions since 1979 in Portugal, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Canada, India, China, South Korea, Japan, Brazil, amongst other countries.

Theme

What distinguishes art from design?Contemporary creation insistently seeks to put all disciplines and thinking in a state of crisis and permanent update. Society demands, both from the audience and creative, increasingly demanding and complex challenges, with knowledge about a universe in constant change and interconnections of such a scale that seemed unthinkable until little time ago. It is about this weightlessness of knowledge and strategies of looking—as well as answers from different perspectives, from the artist and from the designer, that I will seek to problematize.

Hassan Meer was born in Muscat the capital city of the Sultanate of Oman in 1972 where he continues to live and work. He received his Master’s degree in Art in 2000 and his Bachelor degree in Fine Art with Media Art specialization in 1999 from Savannah College of art and design, Georgia, USA. During his study, he started using video and installation art as a new form to express his ideas, which have been inspired by personal experience and childhood memories with an impressionable sense of spirituality. In 2000 he organized the Circle Show, which, is taking the lead in encouraging this new form of art in Oman and the region.

His work has been presented in many local and international exhibitions. Hassan is very much inspired by the changes in culture identity and he studies individual identity in relation to a collective experience through his installation works.

Ines Pires has a degree in Economics, a Master’s degree in International Politics, Image and Communication and a researcher in Cross Cultural & Nation Branding Concept Design. Previously, she was the International Affairs adviser of the Vice-President of the European Parliament, former Training adviser of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Timor-Leste and Journalist at “O Independente”. She is author of Several articles, books, Publications, position papers, and Interviews and lives extraordinary encounters with multiple personalities in more than 250 Events and Visits she organised in 17 Countries. Served in Brussels, Madrid, Lisbon, Singapore, Moscow, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Muscat. She was recently awarded an entrepreneurship Innovation Distinction by the President of the Portuguese Republic, Prof. Aníbal Cavaco Silva. 

She is our expert of International Protocol, Soft Diplomacy Skills, Cross cultural Intelligence and Corporate Diplomacy. Ines speaks 8 languages. A Globe Trotter with Photography, Jazz and Design as passions.

Theme

There are new ways of designing products, services and business that are impactful for people, businesses and our world. Design thinking is an outstanding tool that combined with business diplomacy offers an innovation tool for tackling complex systemic challenges across borders.It not only offers an approach that generates market momentum through prototyping, but also creates awareness and  insight around what works (and what doesn’t) globally. To understanding economics in the 

path of design and added value creates a nation branding identity awareness capable to benchmark quality and methodology for success.

Marwa Fadhil heads the Design department at Zeenah, Oman’s award-winning and leading integrated communications agency. Marwa completed her Bachelors degree in Graphics and Communication Design at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom, where she was praised for her outstanding creative work on Douwe Egbarts coffee packaging, Nike and her final year project which tackled feminism in the Middle East.

 Before joining the private sector, Marwa started as an independent freelancer, executing creative work for significant premium clients in the fashion, arts and real estate industries. At only 21, Marwa simultaneously launched her own graphic t-shirt line featuring her modern and local design interpretations of infamous childhood characters, ultimately highlighting her work and potential as a young local designer to the market. 

 At present, Marwa leads the development and overseeing of creative work for some of the biggest clients in Oman, including but not limited to; Oman Arab Bank, Opera Galleria, Jeep, SOHAR Port and Muscat Bay. Marwa's dedication to the field of design, her cultural and international understanding, her fresh and youthful creative approach, along with her unwavering ambition were drivers to her rapid and impressive professional progression.

Theme

Marwa will be outlining the evolution of design and its position in the Omani market as well as the importance of digitally-led creative thinking, cultural integration and the importance of team work.

Rui Moreira is the Mayor of the city of Porto (Portugal) since 2013. His election sparked the interest of media worldwide, as he was the first independent candidate to be elected in a major European city, drawing a wave of support from a movement of citizens across the political spectrum. In 2017 he was reelected as Mayor, this time with majority.

Prior to that, he was a successful entrepreneur and investor with interests in different sectors, from transports and shipping to agroindustry and finance. He is an opinion leader in Portugal and an influential voice on different areas. As a columnist and commentator in different TV channels and newspapers, he has been a leading advocate of the interests of the city of Porto and of the North of Portugal. He is the author of various books on economic, political and other contemporary issues – never shying away from controversy and from an informed and staunch defense of the values and principles he believes in.

From 2001 to 2013 he was the President of the Commercial Association of Porto, the oldest and one of the most prestigious entrepreneurial organisations in Portugal.

Theme

Capital of Experience, Urban Events as an Incentive to Growth. Cities have hosted and valued events since classical times.

However, globalization has brought a new impetus to such events. These events are fast accelerators in the branding of cities, which is relevant in the attraction of investment. New tourists are looking for experiences, rather than for heritage or landscapes.

The externalities have reached unprecedented figures, due to the fact that much of the investment is now immaterial. Urban events also foster new and fast redevelopment of urban areas which have lost its traditional industrial activities. New generations travel easily, the information flows within informal platforms and have a multiplying effect.

Sherif is the Co-Founder, Managing Partner of “The Marketing Hub”, a company specialized in providing marketing consultancy services to companies in different sectors and industries.

Throughout his career, he has been working with tens of multinational and local companies across different industries in more than 12 countries including; FMCGs, Hospitality & Tourism, Learning, Education, Banking, Automotive, and Real Estate among others. Sherif has an experience of more than 5,000 hours of academic teaching and corporate training in Management, Marketing, consumer psychology, and Design Thinking. He holds a Master’s Degree in Marketing Management from Cardiff Metropolitan University, in addition to a professional marketing diploma from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), UK.