Designer Profiles: Sandra Atakora
Meet Sandra Atakora. She is the UX Director at Perch and is also on Adobe’s list of designers to watch in 2020.
Briefly describe your career path, including the reasons behind job changes and shifts.
My background is in Industrial Design, and although one of my first design jobs was in a digital agency, I was very intent on driving my career towards designing in three dimensions. At the time I thought of this meaning primarily physical products, but throughout my graduate studies (also in Industrial Design) I became increasingly interested in augmented reality. The ability to create digital experiences that go beyond the screen and merge with our physical surroundings represented to me a new, exciting frontier for design. A path of unlimited potential – and a cause for obvious reservations. My motivation shifted to finding meaningful ways in which this digital-physical blend could happen.
Currently, as UX Director at Perch, I lead the design of interactive retail experiences. By activating physical products with digital content, we deliver directly relevant experiences to shoppers at the point of product touch, creating value for clients such as Macy’s, Barnes & Noble, and Johnson & Johnson.
What excites you about being a designer?
I love the design process and the potential it holds. No matter how large or small the project, our job involves giving shape to the future — at least a humble sliver of it.
What are the challenges that the field of design faces today?
Especially for emerging technologies, but perhaps on a broader scale as well, I think there’s a tendency to conflate what’s possible (and economically feasible) with what’s desirable. I think we need to give a lot of thought to what desirable means, and to whom. Evaluating our processes for how we uncover these desires is going to be crucial for design to continue to live up to what I see as its inherent – and perhaps increasingly implicit – promise of making the world a better place.
What’s one thing every designer should know?
Nothing exists in a vacuum. In order to problem-solve, we often section the world off into small, digestible bits. While this is a powerful and valuable tool allowing us to reach actionable insights and make design decisions, I think it’s equally important to sometimes take a step back and look at the broader cultural context in which we’re operating.
What do you think design will be focused on in ten years?
I see a huge potential in the continued development of digital-physical design. With the evolvement of AR and new frontiers for human-computer interaction within reach, I think we will see increasingly organic ways to interact with digital information and content. I just really hope we manage to do it in ways that take into account serious considerations for privacy, community, and public discourse.
What’s the most inspirational thing you've seen recently?
I’m inspired by the aerial community coming together in the face of the pandemic, creating new platforms for training and performing together online. With *weekly* virtual live shows produced by Brenna Bradbury and Ina Du, Let Them Eat Cake NYC has been an especially reliable source of joy and inspiration in this challenging time.
What’s your favorite place to escape in NYC?
Any place with water and/or an aerial rig.
What’s the most ridiculous or obscure fact you know?
A panther is actually a black leopard. Sometimes.
