Khatt Chronicles in Conversation with Ghazal Foroutan

Roshanak Keyghobadi interviews Iranian California-based graphic designer and illustrator Ghazal Foroutan. They discuss Ghazal's journey as a designer, her educational stages, and her impactful first professional experience at Studio Shizaru in Tehran. Ghazal discusses her interest in design research and design history that developed during her postgraduate studies in the US. She mentions that her design history education (both in Iran and the U.S.) was male-centric, and expresses her gratitude to contemporary platforms, such as Khatt Chronicles and Women Iranian Designers, for broadening her knowledge and providing information about women role models. As a woman growing up in Iran, she experienced challenges that made her want to work on projects that advocated for (Iranian) women's rights and equality. She discusses her cultural engagement and political activism through her personal design projects. Ghazal discusses her design process and her passion for the risography technique and how she employs it for her "passion projects"—personal prints, editorial work, and publications. She shares her challenges of balancing teaching, personal project, and paid design commissions. The conversation ends with a discussion about the future of design: AI and responsible innovation, and adaptability to the complex media and communications landscape. Ghazal believes that we need to see design not just as a service but rather as a way to shape culture and create a culture of solidarity. Ghazal Foroutan is one the designers featured in the book, Revealing Recording Reflecting: Graphic Women from Southwest Asia and North Africa (Amsterdam: Khatt Books, 2024).