Mohamed Samir Lajmi
Creative director for brand and content strategy, F&B and hospitality concepts and multimedia production. Vinyl DJ. Based in Dubai.
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1Portal 1
From Tunis film sets to Dubai brand rooms, studios and dance floors.
Field notesBroadcast, NGO media, medical tech, real estate, hospitality and music. The thread through all of it is research first, then a story people recognise.
I'm a Dubai-based, trilingual creative director (Arabic, English, French) with 12+ years in brand building, commercial video production and content strategy. I build F&B and hospitality brands end to end, from identity and 3D spatial concept to launch campaigns and paid ads, for names like La Mama, Dough & Fire and Bun Spot. My grounding is international media: five years with BBC Media Action, plus DW Akademie, Al Jazeera English and the Goethe-Institut. I've led teams of designers, writers and art directors, and my background as a producer and selector brings rhythm, atmosphere and timing to every space and campaign.
Selected organisations, brands and stages I've worked with.
BBC Media ActionDirector & Video Editor · Tunis, 2015–2020
DW AkademieTrainer · Tunis, 2020
Al Jazeera EnglishInterview Producer, The Stream · 2015
Goethe-InstitutPhotographer / Video Editor · Tunis, 2014
Trate AG · ROOTTHead of Content · Dubai, 2023–2024
Honeycomb Hi-FiResident vinyl DJ · Dubai
Digital RenaissanceTeaching Fellow · Dubai, 2025–2026
Abu Dhabi ArtDJ performer · Abu Dhabi, 2024 Back to the map
2Portal 2
Brand platforms, guidelines and calendars that keep a brand consistent everywhere it shows up.
Field notesEvery identity here started with the same questions: who it's for, how it should sound, and what it should never do. The guideline books are where those answers live.
Six identities, each with its own strategy. Pick a brand.
Hospitality · bar & lounge · 2025 – 2026
“The Sanctuary of Sound & Spectacle.” A bar and lounge with a different mood every night.
I took the venue from the first stone to soft opening as its sole creative lead: brand, 3D architectural design, décor, sound and light mapping, and the soft-opening marketing.
Habit-forming nightlife: one sound and one mood per night, so guests know exactly what they are walking into.
#173325#8E3114#DEAA7D#190603Programme & content
Partnership proposal
Scratch & Win co-branded activation
A promotion built to lift the average check: spend AED 150 on African + Eastern brands, scratch a card, and win a free drink or the AED 500 grand prize. The deck covers the mechanics, card design, prizes and a six-week rollout.
Quick-service restaurant · brand guidelines · Alfa Creative Plus
“Where bold flavours meet bold branding.” A desi kitchen built to feel like the friend you trust for a good time and a great meal.
The guideline book turns a fast-growing paratha franchise into one consistent voice: what it stands for, how it talks, and the exact colours, type and photography that carry it from menu board to delivery bag.
Vibrant, friendly and a little daring. Confident, casual and full of energy.
Photography rulesTypeTillana display · Eczar body
#F68C35#8E0E0B#1B120B#F9F0E1#FFFFFFCreative agency · brand kit · partner since 2024
“To be the premier catalyst for digital transformation and brand success in the MENA region.”
The brand kit for the agency I co-run: a bilingual mark, a strict logo system, a monochrome palette with one orange accent, and merch that carries the identity off-screen.
60–30–10: a dominant neutral, a secondary grey and a single orange accent, never more than three main colours.
TypeRaleway in black, bold, regular and light
#000000#4D4D4D#E6E6E6#E85002#F6B99AF&B brand · Tunisian heritage packaging system
One heritage language on every touchpoint: Tunisian doors, zellige tilework and medina scenes in navy and white, around the El Bay portrait mark.
The system runs from the gift box to the carry box, the shopping bag, a round keepsake box, a drinks can and a street-food fries cone, each modelled and animated in 3D.
F&B brand · identity and brand guidelines
A bilingual identity: an ornamental mark over a wordmark that reads in both Arabic and Latin script.
Two colourways do the work, deep red for presence and a warm cream for menus and packaging, both documented in the brand guidelines I presented.
Restaurant · identity, packaging and social
From logo to the box at the door: one restaurant identity carried through packaging and a steady stream of menu content.
Pizza boxes specced to production with dimensioned lids and bases, pouches in two sizes, and menu posts like the Loubia lamb stew, all produced through Alfa Creative Plus.
Positioning and content strategy, by client.
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3Portal 3
Brand books, packaging, marks and print, from the first sketch to the box on the shelf.
Field notesMost of this was built at Alfa Creative Plus for F&B and hospitality brands: full guidelines, packaging systems and the menus, posts and print that carry them.
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4Portal 4
Directing, cutting and animating since 2014.
Field notesFive years directing short films, PSAs and animation series at BBC Media Action, training editors for DW Akademie, broadcast design and 3D animation for ANYA Production. Today the same craft goes into reels, product animation and event films.
Web and broadcast series for Libyan audiences, and live music films. Series open on YouTube.
2022 · Alwow Libya
Web series · 5 episodes and 4 teasers
A series about the Libyans nothing can stop: what makes a hero, Amazigh music, gaming as a career and rap as a message. I led it as creative director and headed the motion graphics and the edit.
2021 · DW Akademie
Youth culture programme · 7 episodes
A youth culture and awareness show made by the trainees of DW Akademie's EU-funded project Media in Libya: Stability through Reconciliation. Each episode takes on one question head first, from the coronavirus to whether art serves war or peace.
Live music film
Part 2 · 1 min 6 s
A short film of a live night at Habibi: neon, bougainvillea and a full band in the garden, shot in an ultra-wide frame and cut to the music.
Motion graphics, reels, 3D and event films.
3D product animation
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5Portal 5
Vinyl DJ, producer, label founder and teacher. On stage as Semir Lajmi, formerly Diego S.
Field notesProducing and selecting is where my sense of rhythm, atmosphere and timing comes from. It still shapes how I cut a reel or light a room.
Vinyl DJ resident at Honeycomb Hi-Fi, Dubai · resident on Radio Flouka
I play house, funk and jazz with progressive electronic edges, almost always on vinyl. I came up in Tunisia's deep house and underground scene, co-founded Logo Tunisia Records with my brother Khalil in 2008 and Dance Till Death in 2012, and put out 21 releases as Diego S on labels in the US, UK, Italy and Germany. Khalil and I still play back to back as The L Brothers. New music now comes out under my own name, starting with Guenreya from the Rakkez Project.
Every date with its flyer, newest first. Scroll through each year and tap a flyer to look closer.
Art fairs, festivals, public programmes and residencies in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
21 November 2024
16th edition · Manarat Al Saadiyat, Saadiyat Cultural District
Selected to perform inside the capital's international art fair, with a set built as a sonic landscape to sit alongside the visual art rather than over it. Accredited as a DJ performer through AFP Management.
17 November 2025
Opening reception · Fahid Island Beach Club by Barbossa, Abu Dhabi
A two-hour set at the opening reception of Manar Abu Dhabi, the capital's public light art exhibition, for its second edition, The Light Compass.
Weekly residency
Wednesdays · Monkey Bar, Dubai
My Wednesday night: strictly vinyl and soulful sounds from 8 pm to 1 am, behind the bar's wicker monkey booth with the skyline at my back.
25–26 October 2025
Shabab Laboratory · Warehouse 30, Dubai
A two-day programme at Shabab's lab, with sound by Bufari, Frezidante, Eyjey and me. A regular on Shabab line-ups, from the Open Buffet launch to Bazaar Vol. 3.
17 October 2025
Birthday weekend · Honeycomb Hi-Fi, Dubai
Opened the venue's third-birthday weekend back to back with Ken, on a two-night bill with BCM, Elo, Diamond Setter, Tarik Omar, Jayesh and Captain Planet.
17–20 April 2025
Dubai World Trade Centre
Four days inside the city's contemporary art fair, accredited as a participating artist.
8 April 2025
Public programme · Abu Dhabi Corniche
A key part of the biennial's public programme, bringing electronic music out of the club and into public cultural space along the Corniche.
25–26 January 2025
STR × The Flip · Al Quoz, Dubai
Live in-store recordings for The Shady Shadow Show. My set aired on Sandy Times Radio as The Flip Side (In-Store Mix) ↗.
2 November 2024
Final edition · Hudayriyat Beach, Abu Dhabi
Headlined the Chill Out stage at the 16-hour farewell that closed 15 years of Boogie Box, on a bill with DJ Boring, Young Marco, Adiel and Hunee.
Mixes, playlists and mentions you can open.
Records I released as Diego S, newest first. Sleeves marked ▶ play a clip right here as the record spins; the rest open on Beatport.
Ongoing · creative architect and producer.
“Rakkez” means focus, or ground yourself.
The project behind Guenreya, a vinyl release I lead from concept and branding to the audio rollout. It blends Tunisian and regional influences with contemporary soundscapes, recorded live in the Tunis Medina and a traditional hammam.
Residency artwork from Honeycomb Hi-Fi's Weekly Sounds and more, plus a few nights behind the decks.
Music production and vinyl craft at Digital Renaissance Music Institute, Dubai.
436teaching contact hours
My hands-on workshop for beginners, from setting up the turntables to a clean mix by ear.
“Mr. Semir Lajmi has consistently proven to be one of our most distinguished musical partners.”
Amin Farid Abdal, Founder, AFP Management & Mundo Events
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Contact
A brand to build, a room to open, a reel to cut or a night to play. Send it through.
Open for: creative direction, brand strategy and identity, F&B and hospitality concepts, content strategy and paid ads, video and motion, DJ bookings and workshops.
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