AUS student wins international award for design management essay

A student from the College of Architecture, Art and Design (CAAD) at American University of Sharjah (AUS) has won an international student essay competition coordinated by the Design Management Institute (DMI) in Boston, USA—a first-time achievement for AUS and the Gulf region.

Bayan Al Masri, winner of the prestigious award, is a passionate young writer from Syria who has spent most of her life in the Gulf. Al Masri is in her third year of design management studies at CAAD.

The Design Management Institute (DMI) is an international membership organization that connects design to business, to culture, to customers—and to the changing world. Founded in 1975 in Boston, USA, DMI brings together design innovators, educators, researchers and leaders from every design discipline, every industry and every corner of the planet to facilitate transformational organizational change and design-driven innovation. 

The winning submission to the DMI Student Essay Competition was a short analytical piece about the field of design management, focusing on the confusion and difficulty she has faced when asked to define the relatively new discipline and explain its importance in the design process.

According to DMI: “Design management encompasses the ongoing processes, business decisions and strategies that enable innovation and create effectively designed products, services, communications, environments and brands that enhance our quality of life and provide organizational success. On a deeper level, design management seeks to link design, innovation, technology, management and customers to provide competitive advantage across the triple bottom line: economic, social/cultural and environmental factors. It is the art and science of empowering design to enhance collaboration and synergy between ‘design’ and ‘business’ to improve design effectiveness.”

To prove her thesis that design management is not well understood, Al Masri created an online survey that was answered by 100 respondents of all age groups and educational backgrounds, finding correlations and evidence for where the confusion exists. 

Supported by Associate Professor of Art and Design Kathryn Best, Al Masri has made an impressive start to her career in design management as the first student from AUS and the Gulf region to win the DMI Student Essay Competition.

“Winning this student essay competition gives Bayan an opportunity to differentiate herself as a rising star in the world of design management, and for AUS, it asserts the university's position as a prominent educator in design and business thinking,” said Best.

While Al Masri was not able to attend the award ceremony in Boston, this recognition has confirmed her passion and talent for design management.

"Design management, as alien and ambiguous as it was at first to pursue, now fits my personality and my goals like a glove. No one should give something up before they truly try," said Al Masri.

The College of Architecture, Art and Design offers a four-year Bachelor of Science in Design Management program, which is enhanced by the AUS liberal arts university model. For more information, visit www.aus.edu/caad.

ENDS