Resident Alien
This 43 pages book is a reaction to the global political climate against Middle Eastern immigrants fleeing to Europe and the United States. It incorporates a total of four custom Farsi and Latin typefaces to showcase the cultural, political, and social similarities and differences of East and West, while investigating the possibilities of making connotation stronger than denotation typographically. The goal of this project was to produce a piece where the interplay of both writing systems (Latin vs. Farsi/Arabic) and their variations can reveal the underling significance of the subject matter rather than the syntax of the narrative. It examines the scope of the relationship between visual and verbal language within the context of content-driven type design.
In Collaboration with Pouya Ahmadi | Exhibited at Typeforce 7
Branding alialavi
Integrate–Assimilate
Immigration at its core poses many challenges to those who commit to it. While these challenges may remain unseen by those who have not ever experienced it, they build every moment of existence of an immigrant’s life. Identity being at the center of those challenges consumes the mind of an immigrant. How can one seek individuality while being forced to integrate into a society with major value differences compared to one’s origin? These issues are even more intensified when the immigrant’s point of origin is perceived—socially or politically—as one of significant conflict or exotic. With the recent global immigration crisis and simultaneous terrorist acts, the fear of foreign nationals has manifested itself in various forms in media. This very fact has automatically given rise to discrimination and hatred against a certain group of immigrants being associated with the current catastrophic economic and political situation. It has yet made the integration process even more complicated for those foreign nationals in this already-segregated society. One has to go through many stages in order to find oneself integrated into this new socio-political environment. Our work visualizes this very transition and metamorphosis by getting use of language and typography as significant signs of major cultural differences.
Integrate-Assimilate gives the typically 2D medium a new sculptural life and reinterprets the familiar forms of letters, as objects—stringing together ten (100x70cm) sheets to create a cavernous path between two custom letterforms morphing into each other. The trailing sculpture is cut from within to create narrow pathways through the center, yet the outer edges remain crisp. The piece hangs at eye-level and incorporates light and space just as equally as the material form and yet it appears voluminous despite the airy composition.
In Collaboration with Renata Graw and Pouya Ahmadi | Exhibited at Design Museum of Chicago
'What do you do' was the central question of the Graphic Design Festival Breda's Open Call Poster Project.
"The world is changing rapidly. Also, your job as a designer is influenced by social, cultural and technological developments. As a designer, you can shape change. How do you handle this? Are you looking for the confrontation, do you give structure to information or do you make tools for activation? What do you do? Your profession has changed from craft to ...? To what? How do you explain to your mother what you do? The answer is becoming less straightforward, but is getting more interesting. Words often fall short. Maybe you should visualize it?!"
Nature Design poster was shortlisted in Graphic Design Festival Scotland’s International Poster Competition
SweetScense is an experimental app design inspired by Yelp and designed to serve users with huge sweet tooth
Geko in the Box
The child orientated and timeless motives of all seven themes of GECKO IN THE BOX can be fixed and reaffixed to window glass over and over again and removed at any time without leaving any residue - all without the use of any adhesives or loss of the textile’s adhesive properties. GECKO the recipient of numerous design awards were developed in cooperation with Trix Barmettler, the Zürich based graphic designer. They are available in the Swiss market from the autumn of 2010.
Designed and executed at Trix Barmettler's Studio
Morningstar Investment Reseach Publication
This project features monthly publications that present research and investment strategies for stocks, funds, ETFs, and dividends. I recently redesigned one of The 4 publications' cover for the purpose of appealing to new customers, younger audiences and boosting retention. The inside and outside cover elements were reorganized to provide a more functional and user-friendly solution, along with a more visually engaging experience.