Helios + Partners and Designlab Experience Announce Global Partnership to Deliver a New Generation of Experiential Design

Helios + Partners and Designlab Experience (DLE) have entered into a strategic partnership that brings together expertise in communications, audience engagement, and global brand strategy with experiential architecture, design, and destination-making. 

The collaboration reflects a shared belief that the most impactful experiences are those that connect people, places, and ideas in meaningful ways. By combining their respective strengths, the two firms will work across the Middle East, North America, and Asia to create experiences that resonate far beyond the moment itself. 

Founded in Dubai, Riyadh, and Beirut, Designlab Experience has established a reputation for shaping immersive environments where architecture, narrative, and artistry converge. Its work spans destination experiences, public activations, exhibitions, installations, and large-scale live environments for governments, institutions, and global brands. 

Helios + Partners brings a global perspective to communications, marketing, and audience engagement, helping organisations build relevance, influence, and lasting connections through integrated strategies spanning media, digital, social, and public relations. 

Together, the partnership creates a new proposition within the market: one that unites audience understanding with experience creation, ensuring that what is imagined, communicated, and ultimately experienced forms part of a coherent and compelling whole. 

“Too often, communications and experience design are developed in parallel when they should be informing one another from the outset,” said Hibah Albakree, Co-founder of Designlab Experience. 

“Helios + Partners and Designlab Experience approach the world from different disciplines, but with a shared understanding that meaningful engagement is built through both what people experience and how they connect with it. Bringing those perspectives together creates opportunities that neither  organisation could unlock alone.” 

Humphrey Ho, President of Helios + Partners, added: 

“The way organisations engage audiences continues to evolve. This partnership allows us to combine strategic communications, marketing, and audience insight with exceptional experiential design,  creating a more integrated approach to how brands, institutions, and destinations connect with people.  We believe the result will be stronger experiences, stronger engagement, and ultimately greater  impact.” 

The partnership is already exploring opportunities across destination development, public realm activations, major events, brand experiences, and strategic communications programmes, with several initiatives currently under discussion.