Who are you, and what do you do?
My name is Bahareh and I'm an Interaction Designer. Basically my job is to make sure, that you will be able to use the technology at its best potentials through design. I've done good when you want to use a device/website/app again and again, and I've failed when you avoid using them again :) (well of course, I'm not saying everything depends on interaction designers!)
I studied Interaction Design -master degree- at Siena University and graduated in September 2010. Since June 2011 I've been working for Razorfish Healthware (a health communication agency), having the opportunity to design digital products (sites and apps) for HCP & Consumers. In 2012, as a member of a design team led by Leandro Agrò, with Videum.com we've been selected for the 2012 edition of the ADI Design Index publication, becoming a candidate of Compasso D’Oro (2012).
I like Drones (in the real world) and Gundams (coming soon!!! :D) and I simply like traveling, whenever I can.
What books have influenced you the most?
The Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams First because it's FUN! (something not to underestimate!) and second because this book is a fountain of inspiration to me. The story contains loads of incredibly ridiculous situations and circumstances, in a context full of spaceships and robots and some aliens, topped with great British humor and a touch of sarcasm toward serious things like: "the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything"!: I love this book. It always makes you come out of your "believes" frame and while laughing, in the background of your mind, it actually made you think about it! :)
by D. Adams (1979)
Imperium by Robert Harris It's about the life of Cicero and a historical era and characters I'm fond of. It's written in a literary style so fluent and interesting that you can hardly put it away. The descriptions are detailed and attractive. It's about politics, society, relations and the games between the pillars of power. But what interested most to me is how the young Cicero stepped into the politics -although he was neither a noble man nor a glorious Roman soldier- and went through all obstacles by using only words, purely counting on his oratorical power, and how he became one of the greatest. An incredible story which I find amazing and that influenced me a lot... Somehow I see myself in him, considering that I'm just at the beginning of my career :)
by R. Harris , R. Pera (2008)
Don't Make me Think by Steve Krug Although it's an "old" book (2009 edition), the content is still fully valid. Considering it speaks about the design of digital products, which is changing everyday, it contains some usability principles that almost never expire! I learned a lot from the many case studies and great examples it presents: they can help anyone, not necessarily designers, to follow those principles and save users some serious headaches! :)
by S. Krug (2006)
What book would you like to write?
Since I was a child (and I'm trying hard to stay in that mode) I was very fascinated by mythological stories and I used to daydream about gods, goddesses, kings, warriors, magic and what goes beyond science and "logic explanation". I found them amazing. Inside the story I'd like to write will be also characters who alternate between being honorable and loyal (like soldiers or samurais) and being free and without any boundaries (like pirates). How these two things sometime get along and how sometimes they're in conflict; the struggle between these two noble beliefs; how it's hard to distinguish who is good or bad. That's simply fascinating... I would love to read (or write!) about these things.