The crazy month of March is finally over, and I say it with all the love. Every year, March gets filled with more and more big scale events in almost all the different fields of interest. This March we had the Emirates Airlines Festival of Literature, Art Season with all what it includes from Sikka, Design Days Dubai, Art Dubai and so much more art events, Fashion events, STEP conference, few design conferences, Arab Social Media Influencers Summit, Dubai World Cup, and the list goes on.
Having this growth of events is a great indicator of a thriving community with diverse growing interests. Growing to the extent that we are careful about who we contract from abroad to speak at those events to add to that knowledge and interest, and document the achievements from within the community in those interests.
However, it’s easy to be dragged to all those events, and spread yourself thin across them that you might lose focus on what really matters to you and your business or personal interests. It gets extra easy to be dragged to those events when it becomes a matter of a popular event, and the urge to see and be seen. I believe we need every now and then to reflect on what we attend, assess the value we may have acquired from attending each event, to decide better if it’s an event you’d like to attend again or would you rather focus your energy elsewhere.
It sure differs from a person to another, and even from a time to another. There are always times when you can entertain multiple events that are more about networking rather than content, but there are times where you need to focus on your business or career, and your personal growth that you’ll have to limit what you attend to what is really relevant to your current domain of interest. But you’ll never reach this conclusion if you don’t continuously assess what you attend from those diverse events and how they impact your time. Make the time for that assessment more often, and you’ll reap better results of your time and the events you attend.
In this issue, we are joined with two new talented artists as part of our creative team:
Aalaa Albastaki, a graphic designer and photographer who’s an Applied Communications Graduate (with distinction) from HCT-Dubai. Aalaa creates simple creative designs from corporate identities to posters and packaging. She takes personal and professional photos almost every day and shares them on Instagram. She likes to inspire, spread creativity, broaden imagination, and most importantly increase awareness of various issues. Aalaa is a simple creative quite person who always wants to make a difference.
Amna Al Saleh, a graphic design senior at Zayed University in Dubai. Graphic design is not only her main field of study, but also a great passion of hers. History and culture play a great role in her design process. Next to being interested in her own Emirati culture; Japanese culture and art are some of which she greatly appreciates and are inspirations to her work. Aside from graphic design; illustration, digital collage, handcrafts, and self-generated textures are some of the things she considers as her hobbies.
[/media-credit]
And now to our 61st issue for the month of April 2015:
- Feature – Design Interactions: Moza AlMatrooshi reflects on how being a part of Design Days Dubai 2015 as an exhibitor, as opposed to being part of the organizing team or being an intern gave her a fresh perspective on how the design pieces inform an interaction between the object and the viewer without any preconceived notions.
- Feature – Success Stories from Design Days Dubai: Alwid Lootah searched deep into Design Days Dubai to find three inspiring participants of the exhibition with inspiring stories to share.
- Feature – E7 Banat Al Emarat: Alwid Lootah features the e7 summit organized by POAG, the purpose behind it, and the aspired results from it.
- Ebb & Flow – Back Pain!: Dr. Mariam Ketait gives us an overview of lower back pain and ways to overcome it.
- Emirati Reflections – Is It Clear?: Abdulla AlWahedi talks about his experience through the fast developing media sector and the need for control and content monitoring.
- Hidden Promises – The Smurfette Principle: Alia AlHazami discusses the importance of acknowledging the power of television on the minds of children.
- Just A Nassasry – A Divided Unity: Nasser AlFalasi explains that no matter what race, religion, or culture you are from, there is more that unites us than that which divides us.
- Musings of an Entrepreneur – Adaptability and Goals: Sidiqa Sohail deals with the fluid nature of business processes and dependent success is on the ability to adapt to changing environments.
- Pocket Full of books – Mornings In Jenin – Book Review: Maitha AlMuhairi gives us her review of Mornings in Jenin and how she felt about reading the book.
- The Words Within – Without Roots, We Cannot Grow: Bahar AlAwadhi looks at the reasons why the Arabic language and culture may be at risk and the growing need for its preservation.
- To The Point – Muslims: The Challenge of Insecurity: Mohammed Kazim talks about Muslim nations having been severely affected over the years whether through colonization, social makeup, or lack of resources. This has led to a form of insecurity within their citizens, which sometimes presents itself in extreme forms.
Hats off to our amazing editorial team: Aida Al Busaidy, Dhabya AlMuhairi, and Deena Rashid. Enjoy our reads, and don’t forget to check out the inspired artworks by our talented creative team: Aalaa AlBastaki, Amna AlSaleh, Dana AlAttar, Hayat AlHassan, and Marwa Fuad.
To keep up with our monthly-published issues and to know about any of our coming events, make sure you register with us by clicking here.
Help us spread the word about the magazine and share the articles with your friends!
Warm regards,
Iman Ben Chaibah
Editor in Chief
