Integrated, multidisciplinary experience design for products, services and spaces.

Led design, brand and experience at The Fred - a boutique hotel and group of restaurants borne out of FRED - a dining space and experience unlike any other in Pakistan (I was the art director for that project too). FRED stands for Food, Research, Experience and Design.The FRED Company (formerly S-Luxe) is the luxury retail and hospitality division of East Gate Industries Pvt. Ltd, formerly known as SEFAM Pvt Ltd, which operates brands such as Bareezé, Minnie Minors, Chinyere, Bareezé… Show more Led design, brand and experience at The Fred - a boutique hotel and group of restaurants borne out of FRED - a dining space and experience unlike any other in Pakistan (I was the art director for that project too). FRED stands for Food, Research, Experience and Design.The FRED Company (formerly S-Luxe) is the luxury retail and hospitality division of East Gate Industries Pvt. Ltd, formerly known as SEFAM Pvt Ltd, which operates brands such as Bareezé, Minnie Minors, Chinyere, Bareezé Man, in addition to being Pakistan's official partners to Giorgio Armani and Ralph Lauren. Show less

{Design, process, experience} • {Standardization, Optimization} across physical and digital experiences for Pakistan's largest and best-led professional coworking community; the most interdisciplinary project I've led to date and a great first project for Studio Sapuri. Some highlights:-Developed custom standards and guidelines for architecture, interior design, lighting and lighting design, acoustics, industrial and product design for furniture, human ergonomics and even more… Show more {Design, process, experience} • {Standardization, Optimization} across physical and digital experiences for Pakistan's largest and best-led professional coworking community; the most interdisciplinary project I've led to date and a great first project for Studio Sapuri. Some highlights:-Developed custom standards and guidelines for architecture, interior design, lighting and lighting design, acoustics, industrial and product design for furniture, human ergonomics and even more. Think 'Time Saver Standards', but a custom chop and built in Notion. Daftarkhwan already has a stellar and mature relationship with their architect, HY-PR; This manual serves both upstream for core standards and guidelines, and downstream for their existing and very capable building and maintenance teams. Built a custom team of architects and an industrial designer for this; advised and co-led by Dr. Anis Siddiqi, Fellow, Institute of Architects Pakistan. -Hired and built org-wide design capacity and design ops; rolled out new processes across design, marketing, sales, content and even construction over custom Asana task templates.-Conducted physical user experience research to identify improvements across all physical experiences - from furniture comfort to efficacy of wayfinding and navigation - to new user onboarding. -Built a grid system for wayfinding, adapted from the IBM Carbon system to make custom typographic guidelines, to accomodate an analogous 'physical breakpoint' system. -Established a framework for a growing design system that handles assets for digital and physical brandind leveraging components in Figma. Show less

Design storytelling for deep tech. Branding. Systems and Process. Web. Typography and Performance for the web. Design system development and growth. Fortunate to have joined the company when it went through a complete branding overhaul by Pentagram.

Brand standards - typographic, photographic, artwork. Packaging design that was consistently standard-setting (and 'inspirational') to many other Pakistani brands. Built an in-house creative and photography studio multiplex for graphic design, industrial design, retail interior design, visual merchandising, photography, retouching, videos and animations - all for Bareezé Man, Bareezé special projects. Creative directorship by Zain Aziz - a true visionary and polymath amongst the saturated… Show more Brand standards - typographic, photographic, artwork. Packaging design that was consistently standard-setting (and 'inspirational') to many other Pakistani brands. Built an in-house creative and photography studio multiplex for graphic design, industrial design, retail interior design, visual merchandising, photography, retouching, videos and animations - all for Bareezé Man, Bareezé special projects. Creative directorship by Zain Aziz - a true visionary and polymath amongst the saturated retail and hospitality landscape of Pakistan.A lot of the teams and processes we built together are the core foundation of Fred, The Observatory and The Fred hotel (see more recent experiences above)Some memorable (but not comprehensive by any measure) highlights- Soundtrack design for multiple fashion shows, including a life-changing experience at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Amsterdam.- Multiple sculpture and installation design experiences for photography shoots and their art direction- Growing partnerships and supplier bases with luxury accessory and fabric manufacturers abroad over multiple trade show visits, primarily in Paris - Overseeing exclusive and extremely high-quality artwork, accessory and product partnerships with #BlackSheepRestaurants, a Hong Kong hospitality group with multiple Michelin-starred restaurants.- Creating the FRED brand and identity, interior spaces, patron experience with Zain in a way that still remains a culinary treat unlike any other in Pakistan.- Prototyping and designing furniture through 3D printing and traditional model-making methods for retail spaces and VM windows- Overseeing adoption and rollout of SAP E-commerce supply and retail platforms by the larger group for digital commerce and marketing prowess.- Designing lighting and lamps for photography shoot sets and stores alike- Developing a novel techpack solution that reduced wastage The processes and methods developed now powers a lot of The Fred Company's work. Show less

Naseeb Networks pioneered the notion that Pakistani employers could one day source talent, and find better jobs online than through newspapers and word of mouth; they proved this was successfully possible through their star product-platform, Rozee.pk. I joined Naseeb Networks to enact the CEO’s vision right after an unprecedented round of venture funding - to build new products, processes and culture to raise the bar that the company itself had set before.Very few organisations… Show more Naseeb Networks pioneered the notion that Pakistani employers could one day source talent, and find better jobs online than through newspapers and word of mouth; they proved this was successfully possible through their star product-platform, Rozee.pk. I joined Naseeb Networks to enact the CEO’s vision right after an unprecedented round of venture funding - to build new products, processes and culture to raise the bar that the company itself had set before.Very few organisations show a growth path from 3-person startup to 150 country-wide market leader, then back into a startup frame of mind and urgency to scale. I built a fresh team of product managers, UX designers, UI engineers, content and multimedia editors to provide our superbly adept web and mobile development organizations support on product definition, design and ownership - formalizing product design and management as processes at the organization with a mobile-first approach on development and optimization.I looked after all products for Rozee.pk and Mihnati.com (our sister company in the Middle East) as well as design and product strategy, and am fortunate to work with one of the finest entrepreneurs and leaders in both Pakistan and the US; Monis Rahman. I am fortunate to have planned and made products that help Pakistan find a better tomorrow, every day, any time they want.#AgayBarho Show less

Shopistan.pk develops e-commerce solutions combining software, design and customer experience like no one else in Pakistan, powered by the finest talent in the country. We served the market through managed services, omni-channel commerce enablement and a curated online marketplace that I designed from the ground up at my founder's request. Our clients included some of Pakistan's most coveted luxury clothing retailers, largest electronics suppliers and even insurance services.I looked… Show more Shopistan.pk develops e-commerce solutions combining software, design and customer experience like no one else in Pakistan, powered by the finest talent in the country. We served the market through managed services, omni-channel commerce enablement and a curated online marketplace that I designed from the ground up at my founder's request. Our clients included some of Pakistan's most coveted luxury clothing retailers, largest electronics suppliers and even insurance services.I looked after all things creative, with a special focus on design and content delivery, and run the largest team under the Shopistan roof at the moment. As our client list expanded, so did our offerings. Having started designing front-ends for websites, my team in particular, morphed into a digital agency of sorts - handling social media, graphic design and illustration, product photography and video production. I was very involved with strategy and process improvement. The organisation on the whole has a flat structure- even literally on the floor. Every single person on the floor is invaluable, and having taught electrical engineering for four years prior to joining Shopistan, I’m happy to say that we were heavily geared on being a knowledge-creating organisation, and everyone learned something new every day, from the CEO, down to the support staff. Though a background in electrical engineering may sound ironic as a run-up for this position, it helped me set things running in a pretty fun and precise (engineered) manner. Show less

FAST was the first university in the country to offer a computer-science degree, and has produced some of the country's finest technology and tech entrepreneurs. After returning to Pakistan and not wanting to work in a corporate environment, I was fortunate to be recruited by the faculty of Electrical Engineering at the university. I taught courses that leveraged my work at Cypress Semiconductor a great deal, focusing on digital and embedded systems. I also discovered a penchant for teaching… Show more FAST was the first university in the country to offer a computer-science degree, and has produced some of the country's finest technology and tech entrepreneurs. After returning to Pakistan and not wanting to work in a corporate environment, I was fortunate to be recruited by the faculty of Electrical Engineering at the university. I taught courses that leveraged my work at Cypress Semiconductor a great deal, focusing on digital and embedded systems. I also discovered a penchant for teaching, as it allowed me to rethink all I knew about electrical engineering, and explaining difficult concepts to a much younger audience than I'd ever faced professionally. This stint at teaching remains to date, the best learning of my life.Teaching: Digital & Micro-controller focused undergraduate courseworkResearch: Creativity in engineering pedagogy, and its efficacy particular to developing countriesNotable Senior Design Projects:1. Intervehicular Collision Avoidance System Over Brake Lamps using Visible Light Communication(see a video of its operation here: http://vimeo.com/sapuri/vlc) 2. A Compact and Integrated Building Automation System using WiFi Both systems were developed for under US $50.00, with a focus on application in developing countries Show less

This was a 3-month contractual assignment with the World Bank, which was advising the Punjab Government on improved governance through mobile phone SMS technology with a team of young and extremely talented computer science graduates. I produced videos, edited audio samples that were pitched to the Chief Minister of the Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif and subsequently won approval to move the World Bank's initiative from pilot/ proposal to Punjab government ownership. I also wrote and designed… Show more This was a 3-month contractual assignment with the World Bank, which was advising the Punjab Government on improved governance through mobile phone SMS technology with a team of young and extremely talented computer science graduates. I produced videos, edited audio samples that were pitched to the Chief Minister of the Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif and subsequently won approval to move the World Bank's initiative from pilot/ proposal to Punjab government ownership. I also wrote and designed white papers explaining the technology and its benefits.www.punjabmodel.gov.pk Show less

Cypress Semiconductor was my first foray into the 'silicon' part of Silicon Valley; a relatively smaller chip company that worked hard, and was known as the 'quintessential chip company' by the Wall Street Journal. I worked in a robust role that involved sales, marketing, technical cross-functional team management and most uniquely- designing unique user experiences for both hardware and software tools that supported flagship products. Some responsibilities are listed… Show more Cypress Semiconductor was my first foray into the 'silicon' part of Silicon Valley; a relatively smaller chip company that worked hard, and was known as the 'quintessential chip company' by the Wall Street Journal. I worked in a robust role that involved sales, marketing, technical cross-functional team management and most uniquely- designing unique user experiences for both hardware and software tools that supported flagship products. Some responsibilities are listed below:-Managed turn-key, whole-product solutions for Ultra-low Power, and Battery Management markets for 8051 and ARM-cored flagship PSoC microcontrollers.-Managed two cross-functional teams of 3 applications and design engineers in multiple solution centers, developing technical collateral and training, reducing costs and time to market for customers.-Drove engagement with key customer accounts through business development and sales organizations.-Lead the development of single-chip solutions for wired and novel contact-less battery management in mobile communication and portable computation applications.-Developed training and documentation for sales and customer training to facilitate adoption through knowledge transfer.-Owned marketing product definition for power system in next-generation of flagship programmable products.-Delivered on stringent technical and marketing requirements as a liaison between lead customers, upper management, engineering, procurement, and technical publication teams.-Developed ultra-low power, cost-effective energy harvesting prototypes with SunPower Corp. -Designed custom evaluation boards, optimizing functionality and usability to provide in-depth, standalone evaluation of system power performance, for ease of use by sales force and customers.-Directed corporate web team to address content and web-usability for internal and external users. Show less

Researched and wrote case studies for MBA courses on high tech innovation and its uptake under marketing strategy expert Dr. Gerard Tellis. Our focus during my time there was on alternative energy technology. http://www.marshall.usc.edu/faculty/centers/cgi

Sophomore engineering and procurement intern on the Indus Basin Irrigation Monitoring Project, a revolutionary SCADA at the time underscored by the Indus River System Authority. Worked directly with Amer Ashraf and Zargham Khan on this, as well as other lighting projects at the time.I helped research, evaluate and procure industrial flow management sensors and systems, as well as evaluate office Philips (now Signify) lighting systems, where I got my first introduction to the overlap of… Show more Sophomore engineering and procurement intern on the Indus Basin Irrigation Monitoring Project, a revolutionary SCADA at the time underscored by the Indus River System Authority. Worked directly with Amer Ashraf and Zargham Khan on this, as well as other lighting projects at the time.I helped research, evaluate and procure industrial flow management sensors and systems, as well as evaluate office Philips (now Signify) lighting systems, where I got my first introduction to the overlap of lighting technology and human productivity in office environments. Show less

This was a highly selective position as a student employee (6% acceptance in my cohort year), providing 100% reimbursement- even as an international student. The typical roles of a resident assistant in a student dormitory were expected, but at a very high level of dedication. I make no secret of the fact that the time spent through this position, gave me the best set of interpersonal and time management skills one can ask for. I also believe that it introduced me to some of the finest people I… Show more This was a highly selective position as a student employee (6% acceptance in my cohort year), providing 100% reimbursement- even as an international student. The typical roles of a resident assistant in a student dormitory were expected, but at a very high level of dedication. I make no secret of the fact that the time spent through this position, gave me the best set of interpersonal and time management skills one can ask for. I also believe that it introduced me to some of the finest people I still know today.Hail Purdue! Show less

-Intern on High Voltage Products team for ABB Pakistan-Assisted field engineers with installation of high voltage frequency filters multiple industrial sites ranging from automotive to textile manufacture