Lina Hakim in Conversation With Yasmine Nachabe Taan

Khatt Chronicles: Stories on Design from the Arab World

Yasmine Nachabe Taan interviews Lebanese-British researcher and designer Lina Hakim about her professional journey into research on material culture, technology, crafts and play. Lina discusses with Yasmine modes of teaching and how to empower students to define their practice as designers. They delve into Lina's book "Dia Al-Azzawi. Taking a Stand: Activism Through Graphic Design." Lina discusses how she put forward the local understanding of graphic design without imposing western definitions. She explored through the book how 'design histories' get recorded, how identity and memory are preserved through design practice. Hakim explains how she approached Al-Azzawi's archive, reflecting on it, and pulling themes that formed the chapters of the book. She discuss the important of research in graphic design education, and how to decenter and decolonize design history by engaging in collaborative course development, and by exposing students to design history from the periphery and from outside the western design canon.