Hello! I’m Dima.

I design for people and the planet.

Once dubbed the "YES Girl," my boundless optimism drives me to believe that there's always a better way to do things. I specialize in empowering businesses and organizations to harness the transformative power of design, serving as a catalyst for the adoption of innovative solutions. With 14 years of experience in participatory research, I craft products, services, and ventures that truly cater to people's needs, creating meaningful and impactful experiences.

Creating great products, services and experiences starts with asking the right questions.

Approach

(1) I gather people ,

Co-designing with people and building on the knowledge of experts is magic. My favorite question to ask is - “Are the right stakeholders in the Room?”- Design drives collaboration by elevating and distilling the right voices.
(2) Map insights,

Design aims to simplify and navigate complexity. I translate data and voices into actionable insights mapped to user behaviors. Adding a layer of storytelling to products, services or experiences, leads to increased adherence amongst stakeholders.
(3) And create.

Through experimentation, prototyping and visualization, I then start building. By designing experiential prototypes and real-world scenarios, I test user feedback long before we invest. That feedback gives greater confidence when implementing to build products, services and ventures that cater to true needs and behaviors.

Learn More

My areas of expertise

Qualitative Research

Concept Ideation

Rapid Prototyping

Service & Experience Design

Storytelling

Systems Thinking

Behavior Change

Futures Thinking

Co-creation and Workshop Facilitation

In short, I can help with

Design & Innovation Strategy

I offer experience in taking projects from initial open briefs to final, ready-to-launch products. Merging design with business strategy and futures thinking, I support organizations to create, develop (& improve) services, products, and systems that are locally relevant, meet user needs, and are financially viable.
Workshops & Facilitation

I'm passionate to design for culture. I curate and facilitate workshops and experiential learning engagements for teams to come together and align. Whether you're planning a series of strategic workshops or a team offsite, I design and deliver a full experience based on your need.
Speaking & Mentoring

Whether it's a keynote, a workshop, or a mentorship session, I guide designers and organizations in cultivating a deep understanding of Design's role. I bring a wealth of experience in speaking about Design, sharing insights that bridge creativity and practicality.

Let's work together

Bridging Design and Government

In my current role at the Dubai Design Lab, I lead the Design Research team. Using the power of design to bring transformation to government.

As Design Researchers, we work closely with people to understand human needs and behavior to be able to craft human-centric policies, systems, and strategies that would serve Dubai’s vision to improve Quality of Life for its people.

We work across entities and industries. Want to explore opportunities with the Lab? Get in touch!

dima@dubai.design

Discover the Dubai Design Lab

Selected Projects

Facilitating Access to Early Childhood Education, Jordan

2018
Developed and tested interventions to improve delivery of low contact Early Childhood Development content through scalable mediums to caregivers and children in underserved communities and encourage play-based learning. Considering the social and economic barriers, the main design principle was to incorporate new learnings within their routine to encourage behavioral change.
Fighting misinformation and the spread of online hate speech, South Sudan

2017
Using journalistic data to inform South Sudanese communities about the true impact of misinformation, disinformation and hate speech. This project was in the context of a Data4Change Design Sprint. The outcome was a tool that can help community leaders to identify hate speech and its actors online and curb its frequency.
Designing for better walkability in the Future District in Dubai

2023
Identified and designed for the main barriers that hinder intuitive and comfortable pedestrian paths in a local neighborhood in Dubai. Together with the Gehl institute based on ethnographic research and public counting, we designed three interventions for a more comfortable, intuitive and safe experience for pedestrians.