Once upon a time there was a smart girl who started studying Social Psychology of Internet and Communication. And every day she went to the university she was learning about how our brains work, especially in social context. It fascinated her. But, she was also learning how to code, make a website, how viruses spread, what is entropy and how to make sense of chaos. She had to take classes in drawing and art history, too. All this seemed interesting, after all she was into technology, but she couldn’t quite understand why would her university put together a program with such different courses. And for psychologists?
Until one day she took a non obligatory class on Interaction Design. That day she understood that psychology and technology need to be married in order for the latter to serve humanity. It became clear that it is designers who are responsible for understanding people and their needs, and it is also designers who are responsible for making technology meet those needs. Interaction Designers.
She decided she wanted to become one. It was a perfect combination of working with people and working with technology. She studied hard and went for a post master degree in User System Interaction to deepen her knowledge. She went far from her loved ones to work closely with some of the best minds in the field and learn from them, learn with them and finally also work with them. It was a time full of pure joy and child-like enthusiasm. It was a perfect playground full of research opportunities, sensors, 3D printers and design challenges. She completed a project after project, feeling that she is almost ready to tackle a real design challenge.
Until finally it came - together with her team she was assigned to design an interactive board game to be used during physiotherapy of children with cerebral palsy. It took them just three months to go from having just a dull, plastic, RDIF filled board to having five fully functional, tested and fine tuned games. And those smiles on kids faces while they played them, even though it hurt them to, were the best possible reward. And since that day she knew for sure that her eduction choice had become the best one she made in life.
Hi, I am Agata. Interaction Designer.
My story continues. Let me tell you more in person.