Welcome, Guest Sign In | Sign Up | Help

About Me

Let me create an aura of greatness by talking about my self in third person...

Faz was born. Then he grew up rather fast. In fact, he often wishes he was 5 again and could say dumb things which adults would pass up as cute and mildly funny.

At the ripe age of 12ish, he switched countries and language and a few other things including his shorts. Because puberty alone is not enough of a culture shock, he took on the name Faz — his real name being Farzad, which you shouldn't try with out a pronunciation guide. Neither did his 7th grade classmates who enjoyed watching re-runs of Happy Days after school. Slightly shorter then the Fonz at the time, it seemed fitting to subtract a letter and call him Faz... and so it was.

A few milestones later, Faz found himself in college where he learned he was not really interested in mechanical engineering after all. With much consideration, and against his initial distaste for trendy black-rimmed eye-wear, he joined the creative class and got himself a degree in graphic/advertising design. The slash advertising part remains somewhat of a mystery to this day.

He began his career in less-then-common design arrangements. Working in newspaper production, preparing research presentations or designing something called the Wallboard™. He eventually gave in to the black t-shirt wearing crowd and worked for a more traditional design shop. — the attempt at humor in this write up is beginning to get a little less funny... but stay with me...

After starting his career designing for print, Faz began designing for the function driven online medium. Today, he enjoys the challenge of blending form and function to build an engaging experience and designing user interfaces. Throughout his design career he has worked for AOL, US Airways, Terrapin Systems, USWeb/CKS, Low + Associates Inc., Snyder Communication Inc. and Maryland Media Inc. Although he has returned to his roots, away from the design clichés, he still does drop names here and there.

Always keepin’ it real, he stays in touch with the current trends through vigilant observation of what everybody else is doing. This is almost a freakish obsession with him. Hearing him geek-out about the interaction of some random gadget is not uncommon.

To keep up with the youths, he instructs classes about subjects others seem to think he knows something about. Although the validity of this has not yet been fully proven.

Faz’s journey thru life takes him beyond the confines of the District. From diving out of a perfectly functional airplane (which happened), to a Futaleufu River whitewater adventure (not yet happened), to drunken political conversations with the locals in Galway (happened) or a 6 month tour of the pacific rim (only in his dreams!) ... adventures seem easy to find when he finally pulls away from the computer. Faz hopes to find himself on exotic trips, and away from the screen, more often.

Above was inspired by true events. No animals were injured during the testing of the humor. This however does not guarantee your satisfaction. And for that, we apologize.
faz the persian's Past Events (Upcoming Events...)
Date Event Name Status Comments People
Sep 19 Refresh DC September Meetup Watch 7 26
Oct 19 Refresh DC October Meetup Attend 3 32
Oct 19+ Agnes of God Watch 0 2
Nov 08 Washington DC Future Salon - Second Life Metaverse... Watch 0 12
Mar 03+ Adventures in Travel Expo Watch 0 2
Apr 19 Refresh DC April meetup Attend 1 53
Jun 22 OpenCoffee Club - DC Watch 0 20
Jun 28 Social Media Club Watch 3 19
Jul 19 MOO's Hot and Sticky Summer Party Watch 41 363
Jul 19 Refresh DC July meetup Watch 1 34
Jul 20 Hirshhorn After Hours Watch 1 8
Aug 11 BarCamp DC Watch 12 86
Aug 11 BarCampDC After Party Watch 5 49
Aug 13+ UX Week 2007 Watch 2 55
Aug 16 UX Week After Party Watch 2 25
Aug 20 Adobe AIR Bus Tour - DC Watch 1 23
Aug 23 Brew at the Zoo Watch 0 8
Aug 29 Delicious 2.0: Building Candy-like App with Adobe ... Watch 5 87
Sep 17+ TechCrunch20 Watch 8 382
Sep 19+ Flash Forward 2007 Watch 3 39
Sep 19 Walking With Dinosaurs in Washington DC Watch 0 5
Sep 21+ Design Research Conference, IIT Institute of Desig... Watch 2 24
Oct 03+ Future of Web Apps Expo Watch 10 339
Nov 05+ DUX2007: Changing roles & shifting landscapes Watch 2 128
Nov 07+ Future of Web Design Watch 11 201
Nov 15 Refresh DC November meetup Watch 14 76
Dec 06 The Technoliday Party Watch 1 22
Jan 17 Refresh DC January meetup Attend 21 102
Jan 23 Web Content Mavens Event Watch 0 12
Feb 08+ IxDA Interaction 08 | Savannah Watch 5 134
Feb 28+ FOWA (Future of Web Apps) Miami Attend 0 87
Mar 07+ SXSW Interactive (South by Southwest) Watch 46 1425
Mar 27 Refresh DC March Happy Hour Watch 17 84
Apr 10+ IA Summit 2008 Watch 0 133
Apr 24+ An Event Apart Watch 0 34
May 15 Refresh DC May Meetup: Prototyping Attend 8 121
May 22+ @media 2008 (San Francisco) Watch 3 168
May 29+ @media 2008 (London) Watch 5 379
Jun 16+ Usability Professionals' Association (UPA) Confere... Watch 1 30
Jun 18 Book Launch Party: Handbook of Usability Testing, ... Watch 3 54
Jun 19 Refresh DC June Meetup: The Experience Layer Attend 18 147
Jun 23+ An Event Apart Watch 2 76
Jun 26 DCDesignBabes Watch 21 92
Jul 24 Refresh DC July Meetup: Ellen Lupton Watch 14 150


faz the persian's Public Groups

Group Members Discussions
AIGA DC100
An Event Apart560
experience design79711
Flickr230752
Refresh DC920
Web Conference Junkies186219


Tools
Upcoming Badges for Your Blog/Website | Invite Friends | Groups | Developers API
Help
News Blog | Community Guidelines | FAQ | Contact Us | Suggestion Board