Don’t let others put boundaries for you!

“Don’t let others put boundaries for you!” said Rayan Abdullah, the Iraqi designer who tightened his grip on the designs in Germany. He updated the slogan of Germany after the Unification of Eastern and Western Germany, designed the logo for Volkswagen, moderated the Audi logo, and designed the Bugatti logo.

Volkswagen logo evolution

Prof. Abdullah was born in 1957 in Ras al-Kor district in Mosul city. Studied in its schools, and then left Iraq, heading to Germany in 1980 where he continued his higher education. There, in the capital, Berlin, he completed his studies in art education at the University of Fine Arts. He also studied design and received a master's degree in computer-based visual understanding. Professor Rayan Abdullah is the dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Leipzig and the dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the German University in Cairo.

Prof. Rayan Abdullah

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“Let your design speak for you”

Rayan Abdullah 

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Prof. Abdullah reiterates in his press interviews that one of his most important experiences was the modification of the German State emblem. He says that in order to understand the details of this slogan, he bought an annual zoo ticket to visit and study different kinds of eagles.

Prof. Abdullah also says at a TEDx conference in Baghdad in 2013 that the design of the logo of the Italian car Bugatti is his biggest project after the design of the unified emblem of Germany, which is considered the most expensive cars in the world.

Also, prof. Abdullah published many books about design and Arabic calligraphy including Pictograms Icons and Signs, Corporate Design and Art calligraphique arabe and more.

TEDx Baghdad

AlGhad AlArbi interview

DW- interview - Samah altaweel

How a self taught programmer is trying to spread peace by coding

An interview with Brit Hemming| Erbil, Kurdistan

Her name is Brit. She is a front-end developer, educator, the founder of Programmers 4 Peace, and the creator and voice behind the popular travel and lifestyle blog Stay Curious Darling. She is passionate about women’s development and empowerment issues. A couple of cool projects she’s worked on in the past include helping to plan the trip, develop the curriculum and going on tour with The Code Mobile,  running coding summer camps with Girls Learning Code and spending a week in Gaza teaching workshops for women with Gaza Sky Geeks. She learned how to code at HackerYou in Toronto and has since made it her mission to fuse together her passions for international development and for programming. When she’s not traveling around the world teaching she’s hanging out with her rescued Bali Dog Ada (named after Ada Lovelace) or searching for a cool new cafe to fuel her coffee addiction.

Brit, working in the office at Re:Coded's co-working space

running kids coding camps in kurdistan

she carried her passion and love for programming all the way to Iraq to deliver her message of empowering women. Brit is currently working with Re:Coded for helping with the development of workshops and bootcamp curriculum. Running train the trainers sessions, helping to kick off the first web-development bootcamp in Erbil, Iraq and working to create a freelancers bootcamp curriculum.

I've been lucky enough to meet Britt in Erbil and made this lovely interview with her at Re:Coded co-working space:

- what have you studied britt? And Is your major related to programming.

(Brit) - I studied international development. I learned to code at a bootcamp called hackerYou in Toronto 3 years ago.

- tell me more about your initiative programmers4peace, what is it all about?

(Brit)- I started Programmers 4 Peace a year and a half ago when I started teaching programming workshops, and bootcamps all around the world. At Programmers 4 Peace, we believe that one of the major barriers to peace is economic instability and by teaching youth the skills they need to be competitive in today’s job market we are helping to remove that barrier.

- what's your opinion in the academic field in general? Do you like to work in the academic field?

(Brit)- I wouldn’t say I work in academia even though I teach people how to code. When I think of academia I think of stuffiness and bureaucracy. I think our education system is very broken. It doesn’t teach people problem-solving or how to think for themselves. I think bootcamps and other nontraditional forms of education are starting to address this. I love teaching because I love sharing my knowledge and I am constantly learning and growing. I never imagined that teaching would be something I would be good at, but I have surprised myself.

- Considering your freelancing and traveling around the world.. How do you manage your financial situation.. How do you choose accommodation, like a good place with good price.. Tell me more about your adventures.

(Brit)- Traveling doesn’t have to be expensive. I think this is a common misconception. I’ve structured my life so that I have very little expenses and often I am saving money when I’m traveling. I don’t buy souvenirs or go shopping a lot, I don’t have car payments, I don’t waste money on getting my nails done all of the time. I spend my money on travel and experiences. Plane tickets are my biggest expense but I minimize this cost by searching for flight deals and keeping a flexible schedule so that I can take advantage of deals. I also tend to travel slowly and stay in one place for a long period of time. I stay in hostels, or airbnbs mostly so my accomodation costs are not that high and I have access to a kitchen so that I don’t have to eat out all of the time.

- What's your advice for the junior developers, and for the ones that wants to learn how to code ?

(Brit)-My advice would be when you put your mind to something, follow through and do it. If you want to study software development then don’t let anything stop you. Apply for a bootcamp, learn online, start a study group, go to meetups. There are so many ways to learn things - find what's right for you and take advantage of it. Don’t give up. It’s not supposed to be easy.

-stay curious darling.. ! What's the story behind this name for your blog?

(Brit)-I’ve always been extremely curious about the world. I’ve always wanted to visit far away places and travel and explore. My blog is my attempt to share my travel and my lifestyle with the world. I want to inspire other people to live a life that makes sense for them, even if it’s not what society expects them to do.

-What's your favorite book, or novel.. I read alot.you can say  I'm a voracious reader :)

(Brit)- I read the alchemist once a year, I also loved the blue sweater by Jacquline Novogatz. But, I’m always looking for new books to read. I mostly read non-fiction and I always try to read at least one book that takes place in the country I’m visiting.