Habiba Multi-disciplinary/Design Soliman Researcher

Imagine a salad with two ingredients. As much as it could be delicious, it might not stand out for long or satisfy many appetizer lovers! And that's the same for design. As a multidisciplinary designer who gained experiences from product design and healthcare design fields, I have learned to push boundaries of identifying the design disciplinary for an outcome and combine several disci- plines throughout the design process. Working with the human-centered design approach made me realize that using the word user in design research is similar to thinking inside a transparent box; you see it all, but you might not know much. Therefore, conducting design research and understanding the cross fields between design management, service design, information design/storytelling, interaction design(IxD), user interaction(UI), product design, environmental design and graphic design is the key to develop innova- tive design solutions for humans' needs.

Experience

Graduate Research Assistant

- Essential Medication Project (2020-2021)

The essential medication project was a collaboration between the Health Design Studio at OCAD U and the CLEANMeds team at St. Michael’s Hospital. The project's aim is to design medication packages, which deliver free essential medications (including HIV meds) for patients with middle or low income. My job role revolves around project management, research, packaging design, setting branding directions and plan the testing phase.

- COVID-19 Printables Project (March-November 2020) COVID-19 printables project is an ongoing collaborative project between the Health Design Studio at OCAD U and St. Michael’s Hospital to provide visuals and content awareness in 40+ different languages in Canada. I worked on the project's visual side, which included designing icons and suggesting content to fit with the design layouts. I also participated in planning the testing phase and taking notes in some of the testing sessions.

- Dying.dialogues 2021

Joining the Death and Dying Symposium (DesignTO+Taboo Health+Health Design Studio), as a designer, was mainly a learning experience. Because the symposium happened during the second wave, the exhibition did not take place. Therefore, I joined the team's meetings to support discussions and design the digital schedule. Design Collaborations (September 2019 - December 2020) During the master's program, several collaborations were made. The first was enhancing Wishplay onboarding patient's journey and testing it in the Human Factors at Toronto General Hospital. The second was working with Toronto Fire and EMS Training Centre to identify challenges that the paramedics face and propose design solutions. Third came the collaboration with the SickKids Hospital, identifying spatial challenges at the atrium and providing design solutions. Lastly, working with a team of Physicians at Sunnybrook hospital to help patients monitor their hypertension. (Projects are available on my portfolio/website)

Content Manager at 34 Media Labs (April-July 2019) My role included researching for ways to build 3D models on Rhino + render on Keyshot

+ export them to be compatible with VR applications/Oculus headsets and create content (apps + websites).

Private Teacher (Rhinoceros 3D) (2018-2019)

"To teach is to learn twice over"– Joseph Joubert. Thus, after graduation from GUC, I started helping out and giving private lessons to ungraduated industrial design students to enhance their approaches/techniques on building 3D models for 3D printing and discover new techniques while enhancing my skills. 2D + 3D Designer at Sketches Advertising Agency (2015-2016) I worked, as a commercial 2D + 3D designer during; creating cooperate identity, advertising visual social media posts, building mock-ups on Rhino+Photoshop, and designing+planning outdoor booths.

Designer at Bdaya Club (2015-2017)

Bdaya is a charity club that aims to rebrand charity. As a designer and a team leader in 3 projects, I was responsible to represent the club aim by designing social media visual posts while collaborating with the marketing logistics team. I have volunteered to work on projects that provided shelter and education, promoted the importance of healthcare within high areas of poverty, and plan visits and design activities for hospitalized patients under the age of 12 and orphans under the age of 7 in marginalized communities.

Montessori Teacher Assistant (July 2011)

I was able to volunteer as a teacher assistant in a Montessori program that was eligible for orphans with limited educational capabilities. Working with such method enlighten me with how could tools be tailored and designed for a specific target group could elevate their quality of the end users' day-to-day activities. Simple guidelines and layouts could be put together to change children's life from being dependent to be independent in their own way. From that moment, human-centered design has changed from being an approach to a way of thinking.

Education

Ontario College of Art & Design University, OCAD U Masters of Design for Health (2021)

German University in Cairo, GUC

Faculty of Applied Sciences and Arts (2018)

(Major Product Design/Industrial Design Track)

Publications

Kanoe Article (2021 - Current)

The essential medication graduate design team has been writing a paper that will be submitted to the Journal of Health Design; however, the paper is currently being reviewed. The paper focuses on the design process and what directions did the team take and why to end up with this specific outcome. The paper also discusses the primary and secondary research data collected in depth, which provides solid rationals through the process phases. (The article's link will be added to my online portfolio as soon as it is published online.)

Interests

Collaborating on projects with members of various backgrounds motivates my critical thinking and inspires the research design process direction. Along the design process, the phase that interests me the most is transitioning research to design. That moment where theories and collected data gradually come to life is where I consider the turning learning point. This transitioning phase of information determines the projects' design directions, goals and design plan implementations. As much as it could be very challenging, it is very exciting for me as it combines my passion for learning from the research collected and my creativity for problem-solving. Some of the project topics, which excite me to work on are healthcare, sustainability, communications and education, sensitive or taboo related, self-identity and mental health. Other project topics I would like to explore and gain experience in are animal services, animal rescue and sheltering, ageing in place, energy-efficient designs that fit the humans' needs and Cognitive

Skills

Design Thinking

Research Skills

Creative Writing

Problem Solving/Mapping

Data/Situational Analysis

Programs

Rhinoceros D

Keyshot

InDesign

Illustrator

Photoshop

Adobe Premier

-Figma

Languages

+ Skills

English/Arabic

Bookbinding

Letterpress

Woodworks

Ceramics

Still Image

Best Bdaya Club member 2015

Best Bdaya design member 2016

Contact Information

Awards

ado3zk@r.postjobfree.com

habibasoliman.format.com

Toronto, Canada

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