About
My name is Sarah Fathallah, pronounced sārah fatḥ allāh, and also written ⵚⴰⵕⴰ ⴼⵜⵃⵍⵍⴰⵀ and سارة فتح الله.
I am a candidate in the MSt in AI Ethics and Society at the University of Cambridge, where I study and research the carceral impacts of surveillance technologies on colonial subjects, criminalized communities, and migrants, especially along racialized lines.
In my career as a designer, I have worked on social sector design projects in 20 countries, aiming to advance issues such as reproductive justice and labor rights. I also serve as design faculty at UC Berkeley and the California College of the Arts.
Outside of my formal work and studies, I am actively engaged in anti-surveillance, abolitionist, and anti-imperialist community organizing and campaigning.
I was born and raised in Morocco, and now live in Oakland, CA, which sits in the territory of xučyun (Huchiun) of the Lisjan Ohlone people.
Media features
I was featured in the following articles:
“Design for Good: Tackling Social Issues,” UX Design Institute, 2021
“Every Space is Political,” People Nerds, 2020
“Alumni Spotlight: Sarah Fathallah,” SUGAR Network, 2020
“Designing for Social Impact,” Communication Arts Magazine, 2019
“Interview with Sarah Fathallah,” AIGA EMERGE, 2018
“The New Movement Recruiting Designers for Social Good,” Coding It Forward, 2017
“Témoignages d'alumni ME310 Paris : Sarah Fathallah,” Paris Est d.school, 2015
"Interview with our Design Challenge Grand Prize winner, "GSMA, 2013
"Sahel Shakes Up Mobile Design," in SmartChimps, 2013
My work received the following media coverage:
“Oakland Committee Rejects $2.25M Surveillance Contract with Flock Safety,” The People’s Vanguard of Davis, 2025
“The State Took Children From Their Parents — Then Failed to Give Them a ‘Real’ Education,” NBC News, 2022
“Placing More Foster Kids in Institutional Settings Is Not an Acceptable Solution,” The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 2022
“We Need to Train Child Welfare Workers to Help Heal Trauma from Foster Care,” The Imprint, 2022
“Five Myths About the Child Welfare System,” The Washington Post, 2022
“The Child Welfare System Already Hurts Trans Kids. Texas Made it a Nightmare.” The Washington Post, 2022
“I Will Never Forget That I Could Have Lived With People Who Loved Me,” The New York Times, 2021
“Diversifying the Police Force Won’t End Police Violence,” Truthout, 2021
“New Study Suggests Ending Group Care for Foster Youth,” The Imprint, 2021
“فعالية هي مصممة في منصة زين للابداع,” Al Ordon Alyoom, 2018
“Local innovation lab to develop solutions to refugee crises,” The Jordan Times, 2017
I was invited on the following podcasts:
“Away From Home - Sharing the Impacts of Institutional Care,” Child Welfare Information Gateway Podcast Series, 2022 [Transcript]
“Trauma-Informed Design + Participatory Design Perils + Research with Vulnerable Populations,” Design Thinking 101 Podcast, 2021
“Posters for the People,” Dignidad Rebelde, 2021
“Design Research,” Design Thinking Roundtable Podcast, 2020
“Design for Good,” Designer & Designer Podcast, 2020
Languages
Arabic (native fluency), English (advanced fluency), French (advanced fluency), Spanish (working proficiency), Tamazight (elementary proficiency).
Country work experience
I have had professional and public speaking engagements in the following countries: Australia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Guinea, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Italy, Jamaica, Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, the Netherlands, Niger, Nigeria, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
⬤ Countries where I’ve lived
⬤ Countries where I’ve worked or studied
⬤ Countries that I’ve visited
Accolades
My work was recognized by the Core77 Design Awards, the International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA), ONE Prize, iF Social Impact Prize, and the GSMA mWomen Design Challenge.
I served as a juror for the 2022 IxDA Interaction Awards and the 2021 Core77 Design Awards.
My article for the Stanford Social Innovation Review was its top story of 2023, less than a month after its publication.
I was named one of 2022’s essential voices in user research and design by the User Interviews, one of 2021’s UX leaders who are making a difference in the world by the UX Design Institute, one of 2019’s Women of Design by IxDA San Francisco, and one of the 20 UX and Digital Design Twitter Accounts to Follow in 2022 (which, alas, I have since deleted).