Annalisa Raho
Visiting Assistant Professor of Practice of Visual Communication and Design
Affiliation: Visiting
Education: MArch, University of Florence, Italy
Research Areas: Visual communication design; data visualization; design for social change; design for the nonprofit sector
Annalisa Raho is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Practice of Visual Communication and Design at NYU Abu Dhabi.
Raho is a designer, educator, and researcher whose work explores visual communication through the lenses of social change and sustainability. As CEO and Art Director of AR/Design, a visual communication practice operating in Italy and Canada, she has collaborated with publishers, museums, theaters, nonprofit organizations, private companies, and public institutions, creating visual identities, communication campaigns, editorial design, and digital platforms. Throughout her career, she has been committed to using design as a tool for ethical practice and positive social impact.
Raho's work has been exhibited in Italy, Canada, and internationally, including at the Saskatchewan Film Cooperative and DINA Gallery (UK), and has been featured in The New York Times. In 2020, she was selected as one of ten finalists for the IDA International Design Awards COVID-19 Design Innovation Grant.
Alongside her professional practice, Raho develops research on design for social change and the role of data visualization in communicating complex information across analog and digital environments. She regularly presents her work at international conferences and contributes to scholarly publications on visual communication and design.
Before joining NYU Abu Dhabi, Raho taught Visual Communication at the University of Regina (Canada). Her teaching encourages students to see design as both a creative discipline and a social responsibility, combining hands-on studio practice with critical dialogue, collaboration, and real-world engagement.