🌟 We’ve had a year filled with innovation, impact, and collaboration. As we look back on our journey, we’re excited to share the highlights that shaped our mission to designing a more equitable world. Let’s take a trip down memory lane! 

🔎 Our Work, Recapped:

• 🥗 Fighting Malnutrition with Smarter Tools: We teamed up with the IRC to design a web-based tool that helps stakeholders plan and evaluate the cost-efficiency of malnutrition treatment programs. Turning data into action, we’re driving better outcomes!

• 🌱 💳 Launching Pakistan’s First Digital Islamic Bank: With Raqami, we crafted user-centric journeys and identified cultural preferences, setting a new standard for branchless, Shariah-compliant banking in Pakistan.

• 👩🏻 Empowering Women with Digital Inclusion: We partnered with Mobilink Microfinance Bank to enhance adoption of their digital financial product, Dost, among women micro-entrepreneurs. Through user research, community insights, and design sprints, we crafted tailored incentives and messaging to drive engagement and empower women in managing digital financial tools.

• 🧵 Bringing Tali Karachi into the Digital World: We partnered with Tali to launch their first website, blending seamless e-commerce with storytelling to spotlight Pakistani crafts and artisans. From branding workshops to Shopify design and development, we crafted a platform that celebrates tradition while reaching a global audience.

• 📱 Device Financing for Impact: In collaboration with the GSMA, we helped Dialog leverage mobile money through device financing—making tech and financial services more accessible and affordable in Sri Lanka, which was also our first international field of 2024!

• 🚗 Designing Smarter Public Parking Systems: This partnership with HUED focused on designing the end-to-end service experience through future state blueprinting for the new parking experience in Riyadh. This service design was produced after months of benchmarking, expert interviews, and user workshops.

• 🚀 Redesigning Disrupt a New Chapter: We partnered with DisruptLabs to design & deliver future-ready AI products to market. We're currently working at the nexus of AI, professional development, and search engine optimization.

  In 2025, we’re excited to continue our work on projects exploring themes like climate equity, financial empowerment through savings and discounts, advancing gender inclusivity in the digital landscape, and developing innovative AI products and tools.

🗓️ Events Roundup:

This year, we shared our expertise through impactful talks, workshops, and collaborations. At UX Pakistan, we explored storytelling in design. The Lahore Design Summit saw us exhibit ‘jugaar’ innovation with artisans from Bahawalpur, and we celebrated World Storytelling Day by launching a Playbook on Crafting Impactful Narratives.

Workshops ranged from designing fintech solutions for women’s autonomy at IVS's Interaction Design Symposium, to a climate-awareness session for World Environment Day, and exploring Biofutures in Peshawar for World Interaction Design Day. Our Dissecting Design series brought guest speakers to discuss accessibility, impact, and financial inclusion in South Asia, while virtual ‘Designgois’ storytelling sessions highlighted themes like mental health and urban design. Ideate also had the honor of hosting some brilliant fellows at Ideate for our summer Sandbox Fellowship program.

We joined key conferences like the Dubai Inclusive Tech Conference and the 14th International Public Health Conference, participated in university design juries across the country, and redesigned our website in Q1 and Q2. On the writing front, we co-authored blogs on payment experiences with Nuance Behavior, researcher-participant dynamics with Anagram Research, and the role of translators in field, blending behavioral science with human-centered design insights.

Through these initiatives, we connected, learned, and shared—ready for more collaborations and innovations in 2025! 🌍

🔄 Ideate 2024 Wrap

As a small team of 12 people strong, we’re very proud of everything we’ve managed to achieve this year, and look forward to going above and beyond to learn from each other and to help others grow in 2025 ✨

🥠 Bite-sized Insights from 2024

1. 💵 Islamic Banking: Myth vs. Reality! While many people say they prefer Islamic banking, our deep dive revealed a plot twist—this preference is often driven by social cues rather than solid knowledge. The kicker? Most users can’t actually tell the difference between Islamic and conventional banking! 

2. ⚡ AI Reality Check: Despite AI’s potential, it is not always the hero of the story. Solutions shouldn’t chase the AI label for buzz—real value lies in thoughtful, sustainable design. With climate crises mounting, we must weigh the hidden costs of AI’s environmental toll, ensuring innovation doesn’t outpace responsibility. 

3. 🎯 Bridging Gaps in Malnutrition Programs: In rural Sindh, daily wage earners can't afford to miss work, and women often require male escorts to travel, making access to healthcare a logistical and financial challenge. Ignoring these realities leaves many families unable to seek treatment. Could incentives like wage compensation to ensure no one is excluded from critical care be part of the solution?

📣 Shoutouts to Our Partners

We’re grateful to have worked alongside some brilliant clients and partners this year, who inspired us and pushed us to deliver meaningful, high-impact solutions. Here’s what they had to say about working with us:

We’re looking forward to building more meaningful relationships across industries with new and old partners alike in 2025!

💌 A Note from Us

As we wrap up another transformative year, we want to extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has been part of our journey. From our partners and collaborators, to our dedicated readers, your support, trust, and shared vision have been the cornerstone of our success in 2024.

Going into a new year, we are excited to continue our mission of building a more equitable world by designing solutions that resonate globally while staying rooted in local needs. Together, let’s create an even more impactful 2025.

📮 Let’s Start 2025 Together

Have a bold idea or a challenge to solve? Let’s partner to create impactful, human-centered solutions that drive innovation and growth. Reach out to us at [email protected]—we can’t wait to hear from you!