Mir Ahad Mahmood

From Cell to Fork is a speculative cookbook that tries to frame cultivated meat as food first, technology second. With the conversation being driven by scientists, technologists and venture capitalists, Chefs have been routinely excluded from the discourse on cultivated meat despite being the primary interface between science and customer. In order to try to bridge this gap, this project employs the DLX Design Lab’s Treasure Hunting methodology by working with researchers and different stakeholders to bring cutting edge science to life through design.

This cookbook was developed as a near future exploration that engaged both chefs and researchers to co-design dishes that are only possible through cultivating meat. I worked with various chefs to understand what some of the culinary limitations of conventional meat are, and then to envision a dish that goes beyond the currently possible. Following this, researchers were then consulted to advise how the piece of meat could be cultivated. The results of these explorations were codified as recipes in order to translate the science to the language of the kitchen. The objective was not only to make it easier for chefs to take part in the conversation, but to encourage them to drive the development of cultivated meat and prioritize culinary possibilities.

Our minds are relentless. They think constantly, even when we wish they would just stop for a moment. Mind wandering, sometimes referred to as Task-Unrelated-Thought is a cognitive process that we are all intimately familiar with. However, until recently, only its disruptive or negative attributes have been formally studied. Recent science has unveiled the positive role mind wandering has in our lives; it can boost mood, creativity and help us with non-routine problem solving. Despite this growing body of research, little work has been done to understand how we might facilitate this state.

Osa is an interaction design study that explores how our minds wander. Instead of 'attention hacking' and focusing a user's cognitive process, this project looked at how we may free it. Through a series of surveys and experiments, I tried to unpack some of the factors that enable and structure mind wandering. With the results of each experiment informing the design of the next, the tasks in the experiments became prototypes and aided in the construction of a design framework.

Clear Card is a design probe and a case study on decolonizing oppression by design, with design. It is a toolkit for asylum applicants to improve their perceived credibility in the eyes of the UK Home Office and evidence their personal testimony.

At the end of 2020, there were upwards of 70,000 people navigating the UK’s asylum system. The UK has constructed an application system that is characterised by its hostility towards each individual. Many applications are rejected on the basis of a ‘lack of credibility’, a metric that relies on subjective case-worker’s perception of an applicant.

We designed two tools to tackle two key moments in the application process. The first is a digital platform that allows applicants to construct and narrate their story, and automatize the third party evidence collection. This sources data to support the testimony from credible sources.

The second tool is a storytelling aid to help applicants navigate the substantive interview, which is where the decision to grant or deny the asylum is often made. We designed a low-cost, standarized printable document that the asylum seeker can physically bring to the interview to visually cross-references their testimony and all the evidence collected on a timeline of events.

Clear Card was developed in collaboration with Arnau Donate Duch and Aura Murillo.