Interview with Najeeb Omar

Najeeb Omar ("NO") interviewed on Wednesday, 11 November.

Could you please tell us about your experience as a designer, artist, architect or creator?

NO : I worked for several companies and institutions as a designer for almost 23 years, varied between private and governmental. Such as Reporters Training & Production, Dubai Tv, CNBC Arabiya and MBC Group.

How did you become a designer?

NO : I never choose to become a designer, it was inside me since i was a kid, I started to be impressed with all kind of arts, staring at paintings and dive between the brush strokes. Trying my best to understand how colors of nature blends in this magnificent way, and how everything around me filled with details, and those details links each other. All of that created something inside me, that makes me seek for more and more. That haw I started to make my own designs, practicing for hours, to reach that kind of professional artworks i saw around me.

What are your priorities, technique and style when designing?

NO : My first important aspect to start a design, is by my hand, sketching is the first thing i do when ideas or thoughts starts to flow in my head. My keystone in all my designs is the balance, its there in my head, so i don’t trigger it, it starts to guide me automatically. Information and research is one of the most important things i do, it allows me to communicate more with the idea and helps me link the all parts to achieve the best i can.

Which emotions do you feel when designing?

NO : The emotions i feel when starting a design, is like falling in love with someone. you start getting closer and closer to know that person more, to talk and find the things he/she likes to share, and things he/she doesn’t. To feel what makes him/her worthy.

What particular aspects of your background shaped you as a designer?

NO : I used to write and read a lot, and this is one of the greatest things that helped control my emotions and direct it where i want it to be. Classical Music as well, shaped my feelings, and gave me a deeper look and taught me how to take every step with care, and never accept any careless move when it comes to art.

What is your growth path? What are your future plans? What is your dream design project?

NO : I think a lot about a design that brings together all civilizations at the same time, showing their integration and harmony with each other, with their details and diversity, and how each of them is an integral part of each other. A design that indicates that we are all one entity that does not dispense with any of its various parts.

What are your advices to designers who are at the beginning of their career?

NO : First, you need to love what you do, because when it comes from you heart, you will handle it with care, it will end up a masterpiece. If you believe you are an artist, then you are an artist, start looking at everything around you in depth, and choose the right tools to express the world, no one can teach you how to become an artist, but they can teach you how to use the right tools to make your creation visible for everyone to see & feel.

How do you know if a product or project is well designed? How do you define good design?

NO : A successful design is one that covers the whole desired aspect from its creation; what it means, and why it has been decided to look and be shaped a certain way, as well as colored the way it is, and the message it carries if it has a slogan or so. And its very important how it's been presented.