Neda Barbazi

I have grown up surrounded with art and architecture. Ever since childhood, while walking down the river front to the old Bazaar on the way to Shah square – a UNESCO’s World Heritage site – I would always find myself in the midst of artistry everywhere. Astounding architectural marvels, the palaces, the bazaars, the gardens, the bridges, with their spectacular designs, mosaic tiles, painted walls, and cerulean domes all around me, mesmerized me and gradually, yet subliminally brought about an acute awareness and fiery enthusiasm for artistry in me. I have also been blessed to raised among artists in my own family. All of this always encouraged me to pay attention to details and planted the seed of passion for art in my heart. It is no wonder that I chose design as a means of merging my interests in art, architecture, history, science and technology. Pursuing my dreams, I have also been blessed to travel around the globe, from my birthplace to all other lands I have visited and lived in: from east to the west. I feel that my dual educational background, my travels, my genuine curiosity and love for learning different school of thoughts have served me greatly to build a diverse perspective. My interest in design is no longer a school-girl’s dream. As a testament to my desire to stay true to my passion, I have worn many hats throughout my academic and professional career, having been multidisciplinary designer, researcher, creative strategist, artist, trained-architect, and entrepreneur allows me to enrich human’s lives through designing modest yet beyond-expected values.

Design is connecting dots to simplify lives and bringing excitement to everyday life.

At the root of my design philosophy to the present, it is a continuing curiosity in the way things are and the way they interact with each other in different kinds of settings. I satisfy my curiosity by focusing on creating socially responsive, culturally relevant, and technologically appropriate lasting experiences. With a profound interest for uncovering latent, unmet human needs, I would like to always maintain a close link between body and object. The resulting design blurs the boundaries between subject and the object with sensitivity to new trends and maximizing adaptability to the environment.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe | Peter Eisenman | Berlin, Germany. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, is highlighting the historic responsibility taken for the crime while expressing remorse for it. Remarkably, the memorial has rather become a reminder of loss, terror and survival for all the individuals as for the Jewish community and people of Germany. Memorials in general have always been a powerful storytelling landscapes with conventional symbols to be understood by the majority. The New York architect, Peter Eisenman, was able to find an unconventional, more innovative way to express the story behind an object of remembrance. It consists of 2,711 rectangular, homogeneous concrete slabs arranged in a grid pattern across a sloping field. “As visitors descend into the site, the slabs rise above them and their perspective become disoriented, fragmented; they can hear voices, sounds, laughter, but cannot locate the source; they pass blindly through the grid’s intersections, unsure what they will find around the corner.” The uneven monotonous gray with a smooth finish concrete slabs give many visitors a moment of dizziness or even ambiguity. Its openness and abstraction give them space to confront the topic in their own personal way. “It is a cold, hard, deaf, heavy, extremely un-natural environment, contrasted with the Tiergarten, Berlin’s largest park, across the street.” “Walking down one of these passages is disorientating, and scary; you can’t see who is approaching you, nor who is behind. The tilting ground and lack of vision offers some small idea of the Jewish experience from WWII: your past snatched away, your future insecure, little hope of escape.”

Human Needs + Beauty + Ease of Use, while keeping in mind that "Less is More".

Sketching, brainstorming, talking and creating with people for people. Synthesizing abstract ideas and datain ways that are easy to use and digest. Reducing information down to the essentials to bring clarity to designs. Deliveringminimalist solutions for complex problems. Working closelywith my team throughall phases fromconceptualization to execution.

Seeing, Looking, Hearing, Listening, Touching, Exploring, Learning

I have grown up surrounded with art and architecture. Ever since childhood, while walking down the river front to the old Bazaar on the way to Shah square – a UNESCO’s World Heritage site – I would always find myself in the midst of artistry everywhere. Astounding architectural marvels, the palaces, the bazaars, the gardens, the bridges, with their spectacular designs, mosaic tiles, painted walls, and cerulean domes all around me, mesmerized me and gradually, yet subliminally brought about an acute awareness and fiery enthusiasm for artistry in me. Pursuing my dreams, I have also been blessed to travel around the globe, from my birthplace to all other lands I have visited and lived in: from east to the west. I feel that my dual educational background – fine arts and architecture, my travels, my genuine curiosity and love for learning different school of thoughts have served me greatly to build a diverse lifestyle. My interest in art and architecture is no longer a school-girl’s dream. Proud of my mixed background, I have worn many hats throughout my academic and professional career, having been artist, trained-architect, designer, researcher, lecturer, design strategist, and entrepreneur allows me to apply lateral thinking to problem solving. Applying different design strategies ranging from human-centered research, prototyping, and iteration to business modeling and foresight analytics, I leverage my background in entrepreneurship, architecture, and fine arts to craft an experience and validate my assumptions.

I love design for its potential to enrich human’s lives through creating modest yet beyond-expected values. With each chance I take, my attempt is to form enjoyable experiences, with the goal to make positive impact on human’s Behavior. My joy of research, learning, teaching, and consulting is what informs my design approach and continues to spark my curiosity, interest, and passion throughout the design process. I focus on creating socially responsive, culturally relevant, and technologically appropriate lasting experiences to better understand the human experience and determine appropriate value propositions for total value creation. I enjoy connecting dots to simplify lives and bringing excitement to everyday life.

At the root of my design philosophy to the present, it is a continuing curiosity in the way things are and the way they interact with each other in different kinds of settings. I satisfy my curiosity by focusing on creating socially responsive, culturally relevant, and technologically appropriate lasting experiences. With a profound interest for uncovering latent, unmet human needs, I would like to always maintain a close link between body and object. The resulting design blurs the boundaries between subject and the object with sensitivity to new trends and maximizing adaptability to the environment. My wish is to expand the capabilities of what can be accomplished in design through new techniques and gain insight for how integration between design, science, technology, business, and human behavior can change the way we engage with our context.

I believe that they should always maintain a close link between research, design, and practice. They should also appreciate the fact that any sort of design can be constructed through a better understanding of function, nature, culture and context to which the design is intricately linked. The solution that emerge at the end of their design process should hit the overlap of three different lenses: they need to be desirable, feasible, and viable to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success. Last but not least, curiosity and persistence must be the main tools of their toolkit.

Design is connecting dots to simplify lives and bringing excitement to everyday life.