About | Rayouf

I'm a product design senior at Stanford who cares about meaningful design, that is made with intention and care for the final adoptee. I also write about the history of design with @OriginalShift.

I grew up between Saudi Arabia, Germany, and Austria and was lucky to have been exposed to several ways of seeing. My interests over the years have shifted from policy to finance to product design. These eclectic experiences have given me the chance to wear several different hats and accordingly, learn from them. Whether it be as a researcher at Netflix or a co-founder at a fashion startup, I'm driven by an intense curiosity.

For my work on the hijab emoji project, I have been named a Forbes 30 under 30 at 17 and nominated as one of Time's Most Influential Teens in 2017. I have been in a documentary that premiered at Tribeca Film Festiva - The Emoji Story. Creating the hijab emoji was my first step into leaning into thoughtful design, asking questions what's the difference between a purple and beige headscarf, and how does it impact the visuals of such a small icon? And on a bigger scale, it taught me how to deal with intense opposition which ranged from Austrian politicians to internet trolls.

On the side, I also shamelessly binge-watch hours of fashion history docs and run @rayouf.jpeg on Instagram.