The December speaker at CreativeMornings Dubai is Mariana Missakian.

Sign up for the 15th here https://creativemornings.com/talks/mariana-missakian

This month our theme is LIMINAL and our framing thoughts come from Swati Kothari.

Enjoy the Moment

By Swati Kothari

Liminal - not a word I’ve heard of or used recently. And yet still, it captured the essence of life for me.

Liminal is rooted in the Latin word “limen” which means threshold. A boundary that marks a point of transition between one state and another. A place of entering or beginning. But also very much a period of waiting and not knowing. When facing major changes as a young adult, I’ve travelled through these hallways of transformation riding on clouds of anxiety, and discomfort. Be it for my graduation, new career, different countries, big house, relationships, marriage, children; the focus was always on the end game, in anticipation of a favourable outcome. Not knowing what lay at the end of the tunnel I’d often spend the time reaching there in fear of this unknown. At the time, I couldn’t understand the need to go through what I perceived as the ‘grating in the waiting’ period before it would end into a beautiful new beginning.

It was only after I’d crossed over each threshold did I start to appreciate the journey before and how it made me more. More strong. More sensible. More kind. More human.

The only constant in life is change, said Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher. No matter the phase of life that is currently active, we are in a constant state of transition - from morning to night, day by day, week after week, one year to the next. The outcome can be as happy or sad as we deem fit depending on our current active phase. A phase that is always moving to give way to the next milestone ahead. And yet we are almost always so consumed by that milestone, we forget to enjoy the journey leading up to it.

As life happened and I’ve crossed more seasoned goals over the years; the grating has subsided albeit slightly. However, the fixation on a favourable result persists. Still.

What I’m learning though - ever so slowly, is to have fun along the way from start to finish and everywhere in between. Instead of pushing forward at all times, to pause and take a look around every now and again. To see the magic unfold as it happens along the way rather than reminisce about it in hindsight. To truly appreciate not only where I’ve come from and where I’m going. But more importantly how far I’ve come.

Dr. Jenna Burton is the next CreativeMornings in Dubai speaker on November 24th, 2021, 8:15 AM – 9:30 AM GMT+4 Hosted at ATÖLYE Dubai.

Our November Speaker at CreativeMornings in Dubai is Dr. Jenna Burton and the theme is LIMINAL!

Priyal Mehta | CreativeMornings/Dubai

Time to register for Wednesday!

Priyal Mehta is our speaker on the theme of DESIGN this month.

Nada Badran writes our themed essay on the theme DESIGN this month.

Design

by Nada Badran

“The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement.” – Helmut Schmidt.

Over the years, there’s been a painfully slow, but gradually shifting focus in large organizations, one that puts design closer to the core business. That’s because all businesses face a common issue: simplicity. Simplicity in offering their value propositions in a world of increasingly complex technology. People need their interactions with anything they buy, to be simple, intuitive, and satisfying. They don’t want to have to sit poring over a thick manual deciphering complex codes, just so that they can use their purchases. They need help. So the shifting focus is on humanizing the users’ experience, especially the emotional aspects, rather than just the utility and product requirements.

Design helps create such emotional connections. It identifies needs by having the designer live the customers’ experience. Stepping outside of themselves, and into others’ shoes. Design thinkers use prototypes to explore potential solutions, a method of learning through making. But they are far from the finished product. They’re a work in progress, designed to be tested and subject to radical changes if they’re not deemed simple and inspiring to use. Design thinking processes are flexible but also follow a structure, so that innovation is driven by seizing opportunities, rather than focusing more on preventing errors.

But design thinking is also not without failure. It recognizes that it’s difficult, if not rare, to get things right the first time. Even the world’s most successful companies are victim to its iterative nature. Think of Coke’s unsuccessful ‘New Coke’, Apple’s ‘Newton’, or Amazon’s ‘Fire Phone’. If you don’t remember them, that’s because they all flopped and were discontinued. But that didn’t stop any of these companies from picking up where they failed. Design is a constantly evolving and inherently social process that asks for empathy and humility, driving a more human approach to business.

Priyal Mehta is the DESIGN speaker for October at CreativeMornings in Dubai!

This month CreativeMornings in Dubai is all about DESIGN and Priyal Mehta is going to help us break the design stereotypes.

This month is being introduced by Nada Badran and her thoughts on the theme.

Design

by Nada Badran

“The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement.” – Helmut Schmidt.

Over the years, there’s been a painfully slow, but gradually shifting focus in large organizations, one that puts design closer to the core business. That’s because all businesses face a common issue: simplicity. Simplicity in offering their value propositions in a world of increasingly complex technology. People need their interactions with anything they buy, to be simple, intuitive, and satisfying. They don’t want to have to sit poring over a thick manual deciphering complex codes, just so that they can use their purchases. They need help. So the shifting focus is on humanizing the users’ experience, especially the emotional aspects, rather than just the utility and product requirements.

Design helps create such emotional connections. It identifies needs by having the designer live the customers’ experience. Stepping outside of themselves, and into others’ shoes. Design thinkers use prototypes to explore potential solutions, a method of learning through making. But they are far from the finished product. They’re a work in progress, designed to be tested and subject to radical changes if they’re not deemed simple and inspiring to use. Design thinking processes are flexible but also follow a structure, so that innovation is driven by seizing opportunities, rather than focusing more on preventing errors.

But design thinking is also not without failure. It recognizes that it’s difficult, if not rare, to get things right the first time. Even the world’s most successful companies are victim to its iterative nature. Think of Coke’s unsuccessful ‘New Coke’, Apple’s ‘Newton’, or Amazon’s ‘Fire Phone’. If you don’t remember them, that’s because they all flopped and were discontinued. But that didn’t stop any of these companies from picking up where they failed. Design is a constantly evolving and inherently social process that asks for empathy and humility, driving a more human approach to business.

Priyal Mehta is our speaker this month and we are back LIVE at ATÖLYE. Seats are very limited so sign up soon.

https://creativemornings.com/talks/priyal-mehta

Me... Me... Me... — michael r. ogden teacher, scholar, storyteller I’m a mid-century Baby-Boomer myself, but to anyone within “year-shot” of Gen-X (or Gen-Y, or even Gen-Z) the emojis in the title are self-evident. By which I mean, we use them all the time – almost by reflex – as we scroll through our social media networks “friending,” “liking,” and “caring” as we go without so much as a second thought or deep read into the posting. Each of these emojis (among others) are how we now “connect” and acknowledge the existence of the person on the receiving end of our thumb-clicks. Each response is a dopamine hit of recognition, of validation that they are not invisible. For those of you that may not have read my past musings on Creative Mornings “themes” (e.g., ripple & dare), I grew up on a family farm in rural America – the Pacific Northwest to be exact. I can tell you that nobody on a farm is invisible! Your absence from chores is quickly noticed and you will be just as promptly reminded that, if you want to eat, you better take care of the animals first! Likewise, in small rural towns everyone knows everyone (and everyone’s business, too!). Even now, when I return to my “old haunts,” I’m still recognized as my father’s “oldest boy.” This used to bother me as a teenager... I felt that my own identity was “invisible,” that I was merely an extension of my father. Now that he is many retired, he’s more likely to be introduced as my “father” rather than by name... how the tables have turned! Yes, in older times were simpler ways and everything was done pretty much face-to-face on a handshake. Nobody was invisible. You knew the people you interacted with because you were neighbors, you grew-up together, worshiped together, went to the same schools, shopped at the same stores, ate at the same restaurants (you get the picture). But in today’s atomized, fast-paced, networked society we seem to be too busy to look up from our mobile devices and see the individual in the crowd (especially when everyone is wearing a mask – thanks COVID!). In the early, heady days of the Internet, and when the World Wide Web still had that “new technology smell,” scholars like Sherry Turkle (MIT professor of social science & technology) and Howard Rheingold (American author & critic) wrote rhapsodic about the possibilities of having different “online identities” and living our lives in “virtual communities.” Nowadays, with the prevalence of Web 2.0 (and rumors of a Web 3.0 “metaverse”), scholars have modified their stance. Turkle, in her 2012 TEDx talk (look it up on YouTube!) describes how we have become so vulnerable to technology that in real life we are alone even when we are together – we are becoming invisible. Our “online life” is unplugging us from real relationships and real world connections. Founder and President of Data & Society Research Institute, danah boyd (yes, all lower case) talks about “networked publics” and “invisible audiences” and the inability for one to know who exactly has viewed the various self-expressions we post on social networks. So, we continue to desperately post to the “networked publics” in hopes of making contact,ofbeing“ ”or“ ”oreven“ .” Through such emojis we are authenticated and made visible. This is why we all engage in such careful impression management of our social media accounts. We wish to influence the “invisible audiences” perceptions about “us;” we want strangers to “friend” us, to “like” us, and to “care” about us. In William Deresiewicz’s 2009 article, The End of Solitude published in The Chronicle of Higher Education, he asked a simple but profound question; “What does the contemporary self want?” It turns out that what we want is to be recognized, to be connected. In other words, we want to be visible. The contemporary terror of our postmodern times is anonymity... to be invisible. With the advent of social media, visibility has become the quality that validates us, being seen by others is how we become real to ourselves. I can’t help but think of my favorite 2020 Chilean film, Nadie Sabe Que Estoy Aquí (“Nobody Knows I’m Here,” dir. Gaspar Antillo –on NetFlix if you’re interested), in which we see the adult character Memo (Jorge Garcia), constantly revisiting the trauma of his past as a talented child singer. He has become a recluse on an isolated Chilean sheep farm quietly nurturing his pain, invisible and mostly forgotten. He dwells in a past that might have been, that is, until he meets Marta (Millaray Lobos), a woman who really hears him. This act of “seeing,” of recognizing Memo for who he is, brought him out of his shell and in the film’s climatic scene the world finally knows who he is – Memo is no longer invisible. In closing, I’ll leave you to reflect on the chorus from the song Invisible, U2’s “electro-tinged rock-anthem” (aren’t they all?) from their 2014 album Songs of Innocence. In the contemporary, postmodern world we find ourselves living in today, I think we can all relate. Invisible (RED) Chorus: I'm more than you know I'm more than you see here More than you let me be I'm more than you know A body in a soul You don't see me but you will I am not invisible I am here U2 (Songs of Innocence, 2014)

Priyal Mehta is our DESIGN speaker for October and it is happening LIVE at ATÖLYE Dubai on October 20th.