sensical is my blog on user experience, social media & grad school adventures.

Coursework
Contextual Inquiry
CSCW
E-Communities
Evaluation of Systems and Services
Fundamentals of Human Behavior
Graphic Design
Information Architecture
Information Visualization
Interface and Interaction Design

Experience
I graduated in 2010 from the University of Michigan School of Information's Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Master's program, and I'm now working as an Interaction Designer at R/GA in NYC.

During the summer of 2009, I was an Interaction Design Intern at VMware's San Francisco office. I designed, prototyped and tested an iPhone application that enables IT administrators to manage their virtual machine deployment. My project created excitement about mobile administration within VMware, and I was one of four interns to win a trip to the VMworld conference - where my mockups were shown during the keynote address. More on my project.

Before returning to school, a life-changing experience helping lead an enterprise wiki implementation project fueled my passion for user-centered design, information architecture, interaction design, and online communities. For more on my experience, see my portfolio and resume.

Community Engagement
While studying at the University of Michigan's School of Information, where I specialized in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), I was a leader and active member of SOCHI, our HCI student group. I organized and participated in corporate-sponsored design challenges with Mozilla and Yahoo!, and I planned social events like happy hours and a ski trip to Northern Michigan. Learning from and connecting with the talented community of students in our program was one of my top priorities, and I helped enable this connection for other students as well.

I also attended at least one professional conference each semester (IDEA 2008, IA Summit '09, Design Research Conference '09, Interaction10, and CHI 2010). These experiences allowed me to more completely understand my field and get to know User Experience professionals from all over the world. In fall 2009, I gave an ignite talk on my experience at the Design Research Conference:

Recreation
When I'm not working you can find me telemark & nordic skiing, hiking, running, playing ultimate frisbee, attending farmer's markets, and watching true crime television.

Contact me: kathryn.mccurdy at gmail dot com