A designer by day.

This post will not be about things I've learned at TEDxBeirut. The things I've learned are still raging in my mind and will definitely nor fit in one blog entry.

This is more about feelings/impressions TEDx has installed in me. I felt proud, proud of being Lebanese, proud of having a glimpse at Lebanese dreams coming to life. Lebanon is always perceived as an obstacle or rather an alibi for not achieving one's goals. Saturday's talks taught me otherwise. With enough faith, determination and perseverance, we can do it. Bassam Jalgha needed a 'oud' tuner and so he simply invented one. Ziad Abi Chaker fell in love with garbage and so he simply found a solution for it. Passion will get you there.

Still, what if being in the presence of so many inspiring people made me feel so much less inspiring? I don't know how many people react the same way I do to all of this but somehow it all makes me feel more helpless. Perhaps, this is my one step deeper towards hitting bottom and then digging my way up again. This is getting closer to limitation before finding inspiration.

One of my favorite talks was To Ted or Not To Ted. Mahmoud Yammout traces the pros and cons of Tedding. Is another fast soundbite enough to change one's perspective on things? He argues that the solution for a dilemma is not either/or but a way out of it, inviting a third subjective. I'm a very contradictive person by nature, I wander in the in-between of almost everything. It's the talk i felt I related to most.

But don't get me wrong. TEDxBeirut did not have a negative effect on me. This conflict I'm goind through is priceless. Every awakened feeling and triggered thought is priceless. The energy of the team behind TEDx was priceless. That is perhaps what touched me most. I've had the chance of being a small part of this team and I've learned so much about passion and dedication even from afar. So thank you team, for being you and for putting forth this wonderful experience!

You can still check out the saved live stream on TEDxBeirut's website, it's really worth going through the pain of endless buffering! My favorites were by Mahmoud Natout, Halim Madi and Ziad Abi Chaker. The separate talks should be online in a month time.

I’m usually one to hate inspirational speeches, I mean what a load of crap! All words and no actions, all theories and no applications. But with the TEDTalks it’s different, having real people, from all walks of life, sharing their experiences is crapless inspiration. So I went yesterday to the TEDxBeirut 3rd salon and here are a couple of things that I've learned about myself and the world:

1 - The left hemisphere has a huge hold of my life. I’m all about the left hemisphere. I’m over conscious of myself and of the things around me in the wrong way. I should stop postponing those yoga lessons.

2 - Lately I’ve been telling myself that I’ve spent too much time curled up into my own bubble and that it’s probably time for me to open up and get out there. And it kinda felt like that was naturally happening for me. And coincidentally, in one of the TEDTalks, the guy talks about how ideas are more likely to be born when you’re in a group. I’ve never experienced that really. I always shut down in a brainstorming session and I almost always come up with ideas when I’m alone. Or maybe, thinking about it, all the research we do is a kind of fictional group.

3 - Connecting VS protecting. Now that is a struggle that fits me perfectly. I love sharing ideas but there’s a very motherly, protective voice inside that tells me I should protect them. After TEDTalks I have all the more reason to fight that voice. “Chance favors the connected mind.”

4 - All work and no play makes Nisrine a very boring, unproductive person. And that is a scientific fact.

5 - It’s OK that I haven’t been giving my blog the attention it deserves because I’ve been unknowingly fighting local warming!

So make sure to attend TEDxBeirut on September 24th at Berytech Technological Pole. I’m sure it’ll be an event to remember!

www.tedxbeirut.com
www.ted.com

Teachers, lecturers, peers, everybody who's anybody will tell you that the biggest, most important step in any design project is research. And this is largely, though not undeniably, true. Back in college, I wasn't quite the online research guru that I am now. The only 2 websites that I ever ran to for help were Google images and DeviantArt. And although, looking back, I realize that my visual eye was really immature, I still made it top of my class. I didn't need endless hours online, just my concept and the little visual culture I had growing in the back of my head. Things have drastically changed now. The magic word for any Google research now is "showcase", they're everywhere and they cover EVERYTHING!
So after going from little to too much visual research, I'm realizing that I should hit the brakes again. Why, you might ask? Here's the reasoning behind it: