Hi! I’m Yara Samad, a designer learning at Carnegie Mellon and Central Saint Martins. Studying industrial design allows me to craft tools that reflect our history while solving present-day challenges, creating artifacts for future generations to learn from. I am curious about understanding how things work from mechanical and electrical understandings, and innovating to create forms that create ritualistic and intuitive interactions between humans and objects.

I view the world and my practice by looking at systems and power, human psychology, physiology, and neuroscience - how our physical traits relate to our emotional responses, and through cultural and historical lenses.  I strive to create products that maximize positive impact while minimizing harm to the ecosystems involved in their production. As not only a designer but also an actor, my biggest asset is understanding how people work. Humans are driven by love (our selflessness) and power (our self-interest), whether it is the search for these things or the exchange of them. I take the time to really listen to people and understand the lens in which they see the world. When I create, I see things through the perspective of the humans I design for, removing my ego and judgment, relating their lives to my own experiences. I love the process because it represents the best part of being human; going beyond empathy into compassion.

As designers, it is our life’s work to understand humans and I apply those same concepts I learn in my personal life to my practice. To me, I do not believe in that separation - what I learn in my personal life, I apply to my design practice, and my acting practice, and vice versa.