MDes students

Aboozar Beheshti

Aboozar Beheshti is a multidisciplinary designer and artist. He studied graphic design at the school of visual arts and Fine Arts Faculty of Tehran University. He also has a bachelor's degree in painting from University of Art of IRAN. He started his professional work as a graphic designer since 2001 in the most prestigious journal in the field of architecture in Iran, called Me'maar, and then he continued his works in many printed medias as an art director, executive director and editorial chief for about seven years. After that, Aboozar continued his work as an Art Director, Creative Director and Advertising Adviser in cooperation with advertising agencies and creative start-ups in the field of game and E-commerce in Iran. After ten years of professional experience Aboozar established the first holding company of professional artists called Gorouhe MA in Iran in 2012. The activities of Gorouhe MA was in the fields of education, exhibitions and projects in 10 different artistic subcategories. Over than six hundred of professional artists joined the holding in the first four months since it was established. After more than 16 years of professional experience, he decided to improve his abilities as a researcher in the field of Design and started studying Master of Design at Concordia university. Since his attitude toward the art is not limited to visual arts, he also experienced as an Artistic Director in music ensembles, Music Composer for Theater, poet and sculptor. The critical theory which he presented in the context of art economics followed by many controversial discussions in the artistic society of Iran. His current approach is to study about multiculturalism, and to raise the people's awareness about cultural diversities.

www.linkedin.com/in/aboozarbeheshti/
www.instagram.com/aboozarbeheshti.pro/

Rebecca Goodine

Rebecca Goodine is an artist and game designer interested in studying emotion, meaning, and learning in digital games. Originally from Fredericton, New Brunswick, she completed her Media Arts and Cultures undergraduate degree in 2016 from the University of New Brunswick where she was also a founding member of UNB’s Games and Cultures Research Group. Following her graduation she acted as a researcher in residence at the Zurich University of the Arts in Switzerland, where she studied emotional embodiment in virtual reality. Rebecca has also been directly involved with the games industry with her design of numerous educational titles for Fredericton’s “First Mobile Education.” Her most ambitious independent game design project, Guide, aims to promote awareness of social anxiety among children and youth. It will be the first title to be released under her co-owned game development studio “Reframe Games.” 

https://rebeccagoodine.com/

Shaney Herrmann

Shaney Herrmann is a photographer and visual artist from Montréal. Currently a candidate in the Master of Design program at Concordia University, she has earned a B.F.A in Photography from Concordia University, as well as a commercial photography degree from Dawson College. She is interested in studying food practices and food’s connection to culture, identity, and sustainability, as well as the relationship between landscape, photography, and memory.

One of her most memorable experiences to date is winning the Field Studies award in 2015, which gave her the opportunity to travel to Ireland and work on a site specific project about the Burren. Being able to immerse herself in her practice, as well as being witness to the unique landscape, food culture, and people that she met during her time there has greatly influenced her work today. Most recently, Shaney has had the opportunity to go back to Ireland to work on a project about the narrative landscapes of the author, Kevin Barry. Since graduating, Shaney has worked as a freelance photographer in both Toronto and Montreal. She has also enjoyed being a photography teacher with GTA Photography Classes, as well as a docent at the Ryerson Image Centre.

www.shaneyherrmann.com

Cyrus Lognonné

Cyrus is a designer working with websites, zines and typography.

Cyrus loves brutalist UI, guerrilla layouts and modular alphabets.

Cyrus is an artist working with code, apis, language and data.

Cyrus loves absurd bots, subversive hacking and poetic memes.

Ivette Nunez G.

Ivette Nunez G. is a third culture kid, a multidisciplinary Senior Art director, Digital Designer, and enthusiast explorer born in New York. She expended several years living in South America where she majored with a BFA in Graphic Design and Advertising Management at Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil in Ecuador. Some of her work has been for famed New York agencies for commercial brands and healthcare brands, collaborating with fashion designers in the industry of New York and working along with organizations for pro-bono work supporting causes in sustainable design, creative entrepreneurs star-ups and projects for protection of farm animals in the city of Philadelphia. In the past 3 years she is been working for the Healthcare advertising industry, developing broad concepts and tactical planning for winning campaigns dedicated to multiple myeloma, women’s osteoporosis and children atrophy diseases. Currently Ivette is a student of the MDes program at Concordia University, taking a step into looking for a new vision of design, through a research that could bring new knowledge in the field and contribute to new design thinking.

Andrea Peña

Andrea Peña is a Colombian, Montreal based, multidisciplinary artist within the fields of choreography and design. Her works are focused on the creation of critical, alternative, performative, spatial and object based universes that question the individual within society, to bring about a consciousness of self within the public and audience. Artistic Director of Andrea Peña & Artists, founded in 2014, the dance company is recognized nationally and internationally, touring locally and abroad. Peña’s work has been commissioned by Montreal’s prestigious Musee des Beaux Arts, Canadian Center for Architecture, Laval Symphony Orchestra, the 375e Anniversary of Montreal, amongst others. Commercially, Andrea has worked for top Montreal fashion brand RUDSAK as Creative Director, spearheading the company’s full visual direction and creative content channels. Peña is currently undergoing a masters at Concordia University starting September 2017, awarded the Dora and Avi Morrow Fellowship for Excellent Achievement in Visual Arts. Academically Peña has worked with Concordia Chair of Design Department, PK Langshaw for an extensive exhibition presented at the FOFA Gallery in 2016 and has been the recipient of two Concordia Undergraduate Student Research Awards. Peña is a TA within the Masters Engineering Department, for courses focused on Critical Design and Innovation. Her artistic creations have been supported by artistic residencies from Topological Media Lab Concordia, Hexagram Concordia, Circuit- Est Centre Choreographic Residency, Ionion Arts Center Greece, FIDCDMX in Mexico and the Banff Centre. Peña’s works have been recognized and received awards by Royal Bank Emerging Artists, LOJIQ, and are financially funded through grants from Conseil Des Arts et Lettres Du Quebec and Canada Arts Council.

www.andreapena.net
http://andrea-pena.format.com/

Lupe Pérez 

Lupe is an Argentinean graphic designer, researcher and design thinker working for social justice. Interested in the intersection of design practices with questions of power, identity and politics, she is an advocate for collaborative, mindful design as an avenue for social change. Lupe holds a BFA from Concordia University (Double Major in Design and Philosophy) and a Permaculture Design Certificate from P3 Permaculture. Since 2016 she has been a member of co-design studio And Also Too, working alongside an inspiring team using community-centered design processes and design justice principles towards a future without injustice.

Seyed M. Tabatabaei

Seyed M. Tabatabaei is a multidisciplinary Designer, Media Content Creator and a Researcher who tries to investigate the relationships and specificities of both fields of ‘Designing’ and ‘Directing’. He holds a BSc in Architecture and MFA in Animation and has a decade of professional experience in both domains. As a concept designer and 3d visualizer, he has worked in a number of architectural consultancies in Dubai and has been working as a self-employed designer in Tehran. His projects ranges from the architectural facade to interior and exhibition space designs. He has also devoted hundreds of hours to teaching architectural visualization in arts and engineering institutions. As a filmmaker, he participated in production of some telefilms as a director assistant, editor and photographer. His short animation Light Sight has been officially selected in almost three hundred festivals around the world and has won more than sixty national and international awards. As a researcher, he attempts to overlap the narrative qualities of the cinema, interactivity of the game design and spatiality of the architecture within the realm of Mixed-Reality. He aims to investigate and propose speculative cinematic experiences. He looks forward to fruitfully unite his passions in rational research activities and intuitive design practices within the multidisciplinary atmosphere offered by MDes. program and Concordia University in general.

Current key interests: mixed-realities, interactive narratives, speculative cinemas and 3D visualization

www.linkedin.com/in/seyed-m/

Patil Tchilinguirian

Patil is a Lebanese-Armenian multidisciplinary designer based in Montreal. Her work uses different mediums such as data visualization, digital storytelling, mixed media installations, urban interventions and textile arts tackling socio-cultural subjects and political narratives. She believes that design has an inherent power to change beliefs and behaviors; a capacity to do social good, and to speculate better futures. Patil’s work has appeared in various exhibitions in Beirut, Barcelona, Istanbul and Venice. With ten years of professional experience, in 2015, she established Patchil, her own multidisciplinary design studio where she strives to deliver immersive visual experiences in print, pixels and stitches. Patchil focuses on research-based and collaborative approaches to the development of communication strategies and the creation of print publications, infographics and interactive projects. Patil’s diverse portfolio includes work for UNESCO, Online Censorship, Mercy Corps, UNDP, VisualizingPalestine, Free Press Unlimited and many others. She holds a bachelor of graphic design and a minor in fine arts from the Lebanese American University. Currently, Patil is a masters of Design student at Concordia University exploring ways in which compelling interactive narratives of Armenian identity, history and cultural heritage can be communicated through electronic textiles. Patil is a member of Milieux Research Institute at the textiles and materiality cluster, and also a member of MENA Design Research Center, where she engages with different communities through various cultural interventions, design workshops and collaborations. 

http://www.patchil.com

Mandi Zhou

Mandi Zhou is a graphic designer who is interested in studying different cultures through design. Born in China, Mandi studied abroad in the United States through her high school and college. She completed her dual degree in Marketing and Graphic Design from Lehigh University in summer 2017. During her undergraduate study, she interned at companies from different fields, including the global financial data company, Dun & Bradstreet, Altitude Marketing, Office of International Affairs at Lehigh University. She also worked as a senior designer at the Lehigh based student-run design agency, Fusion Studio. Mandi is currently interning at Cambridge Media, a multicultural film production company based in Montreal.

Besides art and design, Mandi is also passionate about bringing educational equalities to the underdeveloped regions. Mandi has served at kindergartens and elementary schools in rural China and Antigua. Mandi was also the president of the non-profit organization, World Youth Value Society, Lehigh Chapter. She led her team to conduct events to support local schools, as well as recruiting more than 100 Lehigh students to teach English courses to students in rural China through online platforms.