About

I used to work in the future. Fashion forecasting required me to research product and market trends two years out. It made me look at the world I walked in with a discerning eye, analyzing the zeitgeist for clues of what’s to come. I enjoyed that aspect of fashion. I found its hybrid nature of art, function, sociology and psychology alluring––I still do, but nine years into my career I was ready for something new.

When I left the fashion industry, I felt like I’d stepped back in time. It was the first time in almost a decade that I saw the world as it was. Taking time to observe people as they were, in the moment, renewed my sense of purpose, pivoting me towards interaction design with its refreshing user-centered approach. 

While interaction design is often tied with human-computer interaction, I’ve found myself most drawn to human-to-human interactions while studying for my MFA. Fashion taught me to love design, but interaction design showed me how to inject the truly human element I knew was missing from my creative career.

I can’t help but roll my eyes at the buzzy “human-centered” design descriptor. That’s what happens when designers read data, not humans. (Or when “human” means “stakeholder”…) I am a humanities designer. I create for the nuances, the emotions, and the foibles. For the collective, and the individual. For real, unfiltered, imperfect humans and greater humanity.

“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. Medicine, law, business, engineering—these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love; these are what we stay alive for.”

—John Keating, Dead Poet’s Society