Outlook is a weekly publication of the American University of Beirut (AUB). It is an independent, non-affiliated publication that favors no ethnic, religious or political group. Visit it here.
Over 10 months, I was the managing director, coordinating with 3 media teams: design, social media and multimedia.
Here are some of the projects and campaigns that I have strategized, designed, curated, coordinated, copywrited, etc… of course, at the forefront of every project are incredible creatives and designers.
arts and culture fest
After the success of Outlook’s Arts and Culture Festival online in early 2021, during the spring semester in 2022, we revived the festival to hold it on campus.
I coordinated with 12 AUB student clubs and societies to hold an array of booths and activities over 3 days, such as: a photography exhibition, book bazar, flash mob, food booths, live concert, group painting mural, DIY tote bag stand, calligraphy booth, fawazeer trivia game booth, and a panel discussion.
150+ students took part, the following is a reel compilation of the events
On the Lookout Podcast. Listen here.
On the Lookout is a student-centered podcast, where AUB students discuss a multitude of topics pertaining to campus life and beyond. This is the platform for finding fascinating happenings, sharing good advice, and enjoying great company. This podcast is a multimedia project for AUB Outlook, the university’s newspaper.
To promote AUB Outlook’s podcast episode, we set up a confession booth on campus, equipped with a private stall, a mic, and papers where students can confess/ vent their heart out/ release anything pent up in their chests. This activation was to collect content for the podcast and to promote it.
It was in collaboration with AUB Crushes, a platform on Instagram run for students by students, with 6.5k organic followers.
The confession booth was a safe space for people on campus, so it was a success, as we collected 50 written confessions, 5 of which were voice recordings.
The hosts of the podcast will read out the confessions and react to them, as some are heartfelt whereas others are scandalous. The ultimate purpose of this episode is to create a sense of collective relief, once the anonymous confessions are shared.
Examples of copywriting that I have done for the infographic carousels of podcast episodes:
Outlook recruitment
In September 2021, the student newspaper sent out a mass recruitment to the student body, and I devised the campaign with the media teams, resulting in over 86 applications within one week for English and Arabic editorial/writer teams, and 44 applications for Media and Operations teams.
I scripted the orientation video, which was segmented into several reels on Instagram, and I created the slogans, including “Independent, Diverse, Amplified.”
Outlook ARABIC CAMPAIGN
We noticed that Outlook’s Arabic section is not getting a high readership as much as the English section, so we created an awareness campaign on campus based on a particular insight: writers feel that the Arabic language is inaccessible to communicate in.
The whole campaign catered to the idea that our editors can take writers step by step, and get the best out of their ideas in Arabic, but we also wanted to revive the everyday use of Arabic expression.
The campaign was composed of a stand where passing students get to engage with Arabic editors from Outlook, by answering one of two questions: what is one Arabic saying that you hear often or love? Or how would you describe the person you love in Arabic?
Students participating received free stickers with beautiful designs and sayings, such as:
“
اللي بقلبي علساني
اكتب أفكارك بالخط العريض
الكل بغني على مواله
“
The stickers were designed by Batoul Chahine and Alaa Atwi, part of Outlook’s design team.
As well, a writing circle was hosted where editors and writers engaged in simple prompts. And on Instagram, we posted a reel asking students “what does vulnerability mean in Arabic?” Then we explored the editorial habits of the Arabic team at Outlook, via short interviews on stories.
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