Biography
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Spring 2021
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Shirin Raban is a designer, filmmaker and educator. Shirin is lecturer of visual communication at California State University Northridge and UCLA Extension, where she teaches courses in the practice and history of graphic design. Her teaching has contributed to the personal, academic and professional growth of over 1500 students from across the globe. In 2010 and 2017 she received the UCLA Extension Outstanding Instructor Award.
Shirin's films address the immigrant experience. In 2014 She received her Masters in Visual Anthropology from USC where she studied under the mentorship of Andrei Simic, leading authority in anthropology of immigrant communities. Shirin's Masters Thesis film, “The Fifth Question: Why is this Passover different?” won the Hollywood International Independent Documentary Award and was selected as Semi-Finalist at the San Francisco Iranian Film Festival. The film was screened at the USC Cinema School, USC Casden Institute and UCLA Near Eastern Studies. Her illustrations and feature article, “My Exodus: A Very Persian Passover” was published in the 2017 Special Passover Issue of the Jewish Journal. Her film, “Between the Shells”, about the life and art of Jalil Harooni Iranian-American-Jewish master shell artist, began broadcasting on Jewish Life Television May 2020. It was recognized as official selection at the Lift Off, Film Girl, YoFifest and CineTornado Film Festivals. Both films are distributed by Film Media Group and IndiePix.
Shirin's Branding and Packaging experience spans over fifteen years in collaboration with the marketing and technology teams of Mattel, Saban Entertainment, Herbalife and Korbel including the Presidential and Inaugural Champagne labels. Her designs for Sadaf Halva won the American Graphic Design Award for Branding and Packaging. Her designs for Okami Japanese Seafood were published in the Big Book of Packaging.
Shirin is a member of the UCLAx Design Communication Arts Advisory Board. She has been a board member of Adat Shalom and LA Youth Orchestra, and has served as UCLAx/AIGA Faculty Adviser. Her Design History students at UCLA Extension and Cal State University Northridge contributed to Louise Sandhaus’s crowd sourced The People's Graphic Design Archive initiative.