About the practice
A small practice for serious products.
One Big Elephant is the boutique practice of Charbel Jamous — twenty years designing enterprise software, bilingual banking products, government platforms, and cultural institutions across the MENA region.
- 20 Years of practice
- 2016 NN/g UX Certified
- Top 3% Standing on Toptal
- AR · EN · FR Languages worked in
The work
Built for a small number of clients at a time.
The practice exists because the work that matters most — products built for serious institutions, in two languages, for users whose context shapes everything — is rarely treated with the care it deserves.
One Big Elephant is an attempt to do that work properly, for a small number of clients at a time. Based in Toronto, working primarily with clients across the Gulf and the Levant.
The name
The name came from a book.
Sary, my younger son, was two when he found it on the shelf and decided it was the only book that mattered. One Big Elephant. We read it most nights for a stretch of months. He'd point at the elephant on every page and say its name like it was a friend.
When I started this practice, I wanted a name that didn't sound like an agency — something steady, a little stubborn, easy to remember. The book was sitting on the table while I was thinking about it. The name was already there.
I kept it because it reminds me of the quietest part of the day. Most of the work in this practice is done after my children are asleep.
The person
Charbel Jamous
A senior UX designer based in Toronto, originally from Lebanon. Co-founded Lebtivity in 2012, holds NN/g UX Certification (2016), and has worked with institutions across the MENA region and North America for more than twenty years. Lives in Toronto with his wife and two sons.
If you have a product worth getting right, we'd like to hear about it.