Information designer + visual communicator +
data storyteller
Maaria Assami is an information designer and visual communicator based in Chicago, working at the intersection of data and storytelling. She brings data out of abstraction, aiming to keep it alive rather than flattened into charts.
She earned an MFA in Information Design + Visualization at Northeastern University in Boston, sharpening her focus on the discipline that now defines her practice: transforming complex, often overlooked information into visuals that are clear and alive.
In 2018, she co-founded and ran kufic+grid Design Studio, an information design practice that produced annual reports, infographics, data visualizations, and app design. She also independently designed packaging for Sit Beit meal kits, sold across the Gulf region, as freelance work.
Today, Maaria is returning to design work more intentionally, drawn to projects where information design goes beyond presenting data to help audiences understand and connect with the story behind it: data storytelling, in whatever form the work takes.
Have a project in mind? Lets get in touch!
Before Information Design
Maaria earned her undergraduate degree in Media Communications from Northwestern University in Qatar, where she directed the short documentary Bader, recognized regionally and internationally, and interned with Al Jazeera English's New Media team. After graduating, she worked as a Marketing Specialist at ictQatar (Qatar's Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, now renamed MCIT).
Skills + Services
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Information Design
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Data Visualization
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Information Architecture
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Package Design
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Print Media (Books, business cards, brochures, ads in magazines or newspapers, ads on billboards, etc)
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Presentation Design
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Layout Design
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UI/UX Design
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Figma
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Adobe Creative Suite
Languages
English
Arabic
Awards
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Otto Neurath Award for Outstanding Social Relevance — Humanizing Syrian Refugee Information Visualizations, Northeastern University
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Winner, Jury Award — Bader, Emirates Film Competition's Short Documentary Competition
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Special Mention — Bader, Gulf Film Festival's Student Short Film Competition
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Winner, Best Documentary — Bader, Doha Tribeca Film Festival's Made in Qatar Competition
Selected Work + Speaking
Exhibit — Humanizing Syrian Refugees Sculpture, 2017, Northeastern University. Nearly 10,000 cards, each symbolizing a life lost, arranged to let viewers physically engage with a crisis's data as it evolved.
Publications — Visualizing the Forgotten and Outsider, Everywhere, 2017. Interactive, narrative-driven visualizations centering individual refugee stories over detached statistics.
Speaking — Humanizing Information Visualizations, a2ru Conference, 2017, Northeastern University