NAME: Naz Hamid
LATIN NAME: socialus designerae
AGE: 28

“I spent most of my early 20s focusing on me, trying to be introspective and self-important,” says Nazarin Hamid. Studying Information Systems at DePaul University, however, led Hamid to the web, where he became enamored of its potential for information sharing. “I found that I’m much, much happier sharing information and knowledge and trying to spread that around.” Coming to that realization has motivated Hamid to create a series of self-initiated projects, all of which are based on building communities and interacting with them.

Many of Hamid’s ideas on design come from a term borrowed from a song title by a former band of his. “The idea of ‘weightshift’ is based on the simplest visual representation I can think of: a person shifting their weight from one foot to another while they’re standing at a gig, so that one leg or the other carries the burden,” he explains. “Design is also a weight—a vessel to carry communication —that gets shifted from the designer to the intended audience. That design first lives in your mind and workspace, but then the weight gets moved to the audience once it’s ‘finished’ in your hands.” With a project like GapersBlock.com, a weekly web magazine Hamid cofounded, the weight—or information in this case—gets shifted back and forth between editors and readers. “The aim is that our readers look to us for what’s going on in Chicago, enjoy the original content we produce, but also submit their own work to the site and generally interact and become a part of the community.”

The framework for social exchange is built into all of Hamid’s work. Out of 5.com is a weekly downloadable mixtape, which began privately among a group of friends and is now being publicized in an effort to acquaint a larger community of people with the music. ChiFG.com is an online meeting place and message board for Chicago’s fixed-gear cycling community. El Boton.com, one of Hamid’s “tangible” efforts, sells limited edition sets of buttons designed by up-and-coming artists and designers. In the works are +Plus Chicago, a consultancy he is setting up with Andrew Huff, his partner from Gapers Block, focusing on the development of community-based interactive projects, and The Busy Life, a “freeform photographic excursion” with his girlfriend Jen Schuetz.

Khoi Vinh, Design director at NYTimes.com, says, “If the internet age has given us a new breed of designer, then Nazarin Hamid is the archetype: prolific, self-motivated, entrepreneurial and plainly gifted.” While being self-employed is what allows Hamid the flexible hours to do all of these projects, it’s really opportunities for social interaction that drive them. “Because of some of these projects,” Hamid explains, “I’ve gotten to meet a lot of interesting people that I probably would never have met, let alone be friends with.” Isaac Gertman

(TOP) RIGHT: Much of Hamid's free time is spent riding bikes. “I’ve long been a fan of documentation, and photography is a huge habit. I take photos daily. I bring the camera out whenever I'm riding with people and try to capture what exactly about it makes so many people opt to ride bikes rather than drive cars or take public transport. It's such an old form of transportation. A lot of my work is inspired by cycling—whether it puts me in the right frame of mind or is something in the culture itself. It's manifested in the Chicago fixed gear forum [CHIFG.COM]. I want to foster community within this part of my life that takes up much of my time.” BELOW: GAPERS BLOCK is a labor of love. “The site is quite popular and we're continuing to refine and define the content and tone daily,” says Hamid, “As we get more and more feedback from loyal readers. It's quite a nice feeling to know that the community supports it: after all, we're doing it for them.”