Human Centred Design UAE

Most designers are not stuck because they lack talent. They are stuck because career progression in design is often unclear. What does “next level” actually mean? What skills matter most? How do you prove impact? How do you move from good work to recognised growth? After years of running the HCD UAE community, we kept seeing the same pattern: Capable designers plateauing. Promotions feeling subjective. Feedback changing from manager to manager. Impact being hard to explain. So we built HCD Pro to help designers stop guessing and start designing their career strategy with more clarity. Our first step is the Career Strategy Workshop, built around the Design Capability Standard. You will assess where you are today, understand your strengths and gaps, and leave with a clearer roadmap for your next move. Tickets: www.hcd.ae/pro #HCDPro #HCDUAE #DesignCapabilityStandard #CareerStrategy #ProductDesign

Our full panel is now locked in for the next Human Centred Design (HCD) UAE Meetup. Research Isn’t Enough Anymore. Now What? This one is for anyone who has ever watched good research fail to land. Insights get lost. Teams move forward without clarity. Research happens, but decisions don’t always change. So we’re bringing together researchers, designers, product people and leaders for an honest conversation about what actually makes research matter. We’ll explore research craft, ResearchOps, AI, insight delivery, stakeholder influence and the gap between research and real impact. Joining our host Jonathan Steingiesser: - Nathan Young - Shazmin Rishmawi, Ph.D Co-hosted with the Dubai User Experience Research (UXR) community @uxr.dubai 📍 Building A5, Dtec, Dubai Silicon Oasis 🗓 Thursday, 21 May ⏰ 6.30 PM 🍹 Followed by drinks afterwards at the Radisson @radissonreddubai @dubaisiliconoasis rooftop pool Big thanks to our venue partner @dtec_dso and our sponsor @aspexx.social for supporting the HCD UAE community. If you work in design, research, product, strategy or leadership, this conversation is for you. Register via www.hcd.ae

Human Centred Design UAE Meetup Abu Dhabi | The DDX Lightning Edition sponsored by @aspexx.social Six speakers. Ten minutes each. A clear shift in how we think about design. From Elizabeth Churchill on designing relationships with AI, to @espiekermann reminding us that simplicity and results matter, the message was consistent. Design is moving upstream. Jue Lu highlighted the gap between adoption and reality. Laura Fehre made it clear that AI is raising the bar, not lowering it. @jonathan_design_coaching shared how design is evolving within government at the Early Childhood Authority. More clarity before commitment. More experiments before scale. And as @thechrisclark.design closed the night: “Data informs the mind. Story engages the heart.” Design is no longer just about outputs. It’s about shaping decisions, systems, and outcomes. — Next stop: Dubai 🗓 21 May 📍 Dtec, Dubai Silicon Oasis ⏰ 6:30 PM See you there.

Human Centred Design @hcduae UAE Meetup | @designdrives DDX Lightning Edition | Abu Dhabi ⚡️ Building on the magic of DDX Dubai, we’re bringing another special night of lightning talks to Abu Dhabi with 6 standout voices from the conference. Expect fast-paced talks exploring how design is evolving across AI, startups, systems and leadership and how we shape better products and services for people. 🎤 Speakers: • Elizabeth Churchill • @espiekermann • Jue Lu • @jonathan_design_coaching • @thechrisclark.design • Luis Ouriach 📍 @thebridgehub | Abu Dhabi 🗓 23 April ⏰ 6:30 PM 🎥 In person + live broadcast (details on eventbrite or meetup.com) Big thanks to our partners at @aspexx.social and the HCD UAE crew 🙌 🎟️ Link in bio

What a night @hcduae Packed room, 100+ people, great energy and one of those events where the conversations don’t stop when the talks do. We’re still thinking about it. Huge thank you to our speakers for bringing it, to our hosts @dtec_dso and to everyone who showed up and made it what it was. And as always, couldn’t do this without our team @jonathan_design_coaching @thechrisclark.design @katral and our partners at @aspexx.social This community just keeps getting better 🙌

Last night at @dtec_dso 🙌 What a night. 100+ of you showed up and brought the energy 🔥 Huge thanks to our hosts, our partners @aspexx.social , and every single person who came out. It really was awesome. And to our speakers… @leopoldajami @crashdownes @arya__d__s @joumana.mahmoud @anasofiag thank you for the engaging, honest, and thought-provoking talks 👏 This community just keeps getting better. ❤️

@jonathan_design_coaching and @thechrisclark.design are really excited to see you tonight. Here’s the details on how to find us @dubaisiliconoasis @dtec_dso Massive thanks to @aspexx.social for all their support.

There’s a lot happening around us at the moment. And when things feel a bit unpredictable, I always come back to something simple. Being in a room with good people helps. So we’re bringing the community together again for the next Human Centred Design (HCD) UAE Meetup | DDX @designdrives Lightning Edition | Dubai. An evening of short, sharp talks from people doing great work across design, product, and research. Different perspectives, practical thinking, and space to connect. If you were at DDX, you already know the level. If you weren’t, this is a good way to experience a slice of it. We’re also hosting this one at @dtec_dso in @dubaisiliconoasis A space built for builders. Startups, designers, founders. It feels like the right home for where this community is heading. In light of everything going on, joining in person is completely optional. We’ll be streaming it live. But if you feel like getting out and connecting, we’d love to see you there. And we’ll keep things going after the talks, continuing the conversations next door at the @radissonreddubai rooftop. 📅 9 April ⏰ 6:30 PM 📍 Dtec Auditorium, Dubai Silicon Oasis A5 Building, Dubai Digital Park, DSO - https://lnkd.in/g2UpK4hM 🚙 Gate 5 Visitors Parking - https://lnkd.in/g6SyQgTn 💻 Google Meet Video call link: /uij-fzca-ebu 🎟 Tickets: https://lnkd.in/dW9wS7Jz Speakers: Ana Sofia Gonzalez – Principal Product Designer, Microsoft @leopoldajami – Chief Influence Officer, @novelphilosophy.academy @joumana.mahmoud – Head of Design, @frog_design @crashdownes – CoFounder, Scaleable Capital @arya__d__s – Lead UX Designer, @mashreq If you’ve been meaning to come to a meetup, come to this one. Thanks as always to our team @jonathan_design_coaching @thechrisclark.design and @katral , our partners at @aspexx.social @peter_mackintosh89 and @jackkidd89 , and the Dtec team, especially Sinji Washnam and Jasmine Warwick, for hosting us.

HCD UAE Meetup DDX Lightning Edition Building on the magic of @designdrives Dubai, we’re bringing together a special evening of lightning talks from some of the standout voices from the conference. If you experienced the energy of DDX you know how special it was. If you missed it, this is your chance to hear some of the ideas and perspectives shaping the future of design, product, and innovation. 📅 9 April ⏰ 6:30 PM 📍 @dtec_dso , A5 Building, Dubai Silicon Oasis Speakers @anasofiag – @microsoft @rousalama – @careem (Uber) @leopoldajami – @novelphilosophy.academy @joumana.mahmoud Mahmoud – @frog_design @crashdownes – Scaleable Capital @arya__d__s – @mashreq A special thank you to @sebastiangier , founder of DDX, for supporting the Human Centred Design UAE community and helping connect our local meetup with the global design movement. Thanks as well to our founder @jonathan_design_coaching and co-organisers @thechrisclark.design and @katral for continuing to grow this amazing community. We’re grateful to our venue partner Dtec – Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Campus for hosting us at TechnoHub in Dubai Silicon Oasis. This event is also proudly supported by @aspexx.social , with thanks to @peter_mackintosh89 and @jackkidd89 for their continued support of the design community. 🎟 Tickets: [link in bio] We’re super excited for this one. Register early as seats are limited.

Designing Ethical AI Hosted by the @hcduae in collaboration with Elizabeth F. Churchill @mbzuai 📍 Online 📅 March 10 🕟 7:30pm As AI reshapes our world, how do we design systems that are transparent, accountable, usable, and deeply human? ⸻ 🎤 Elizabeth Rosenzweig Talk Title: The Human Imperative: World Usability Day in the Age of AI Co-founder of World Usability Day, author, and global UX leader. Elizabeth will explore why usability principles matter more than ever in a world of opaque and autonomous systems, and how Human Centred Design must evolve toward explainable and trustworthy AI. ⸻ 🎤 Elizabeth F. Churchill Talk Title: Beyond the Algorithm: Embedding Human-Centered Design in AI Education Founding Chair of HCI at MBZUAI and former Senior Director of User Experience at @google . Elizabeth will share how MBZUAI is embedding Human Computer Interaction and Human-Centered AI into its curriculum, preparing the next generation of AI researchers to build ethical, transparent, and highly usable systems. ⸻ A timely and important evening for designers, researchers, technologists, academics, and students shaping the future of AI. Seats are limited. Join us for meaningful conversation and Iftar together.

Ramadan Kareem to our beautiful design community 🌙 Whether you’re fasting or simply embracing the spirit of the month, may this time bring reflection, patience, generosity, and connection. Ramadan reminds us to slow down. To be intentional. To design not just with skill, but with empathy. To everyone celebrating, wishing you a peaceful and meaningful month. To everyone supporting, thank you for holding space for others. Let’s carry that spirit into our work and our community. ✨

DDX Day 1 - Our founder @jonathan_design_coaching was running around co-hosting and catching some action from talks and workshops by Luis from @figma Ksneia, @arya__d__s @jnd1er @thechrisclark.design @leopoldajami to name a few