My friends and family, over the years, have come to me for help when they encounter something that they cannot quite seem to figure out. “Give it to Mehrafza. She is a designer. She knows what to do with it...” Again and again, I explain to them that if the product is that difficult (or seemingly impossible) to use, then it is the consequence of terrible design. My typical “solution” for such cases: rummage through youtube and online forums to see how others have worked aroun

People have been asking me over the last few years why am I, as a designer, working on the human brain? I respond by saying that, as a design researcher, I am trying to better understand people. I am trying to know what their inner motivations are. I am trying to deconstruct their behaviors, feelings, thought processes, and biases in certain contexts. I am trying to understand what goes on in our brains and what it is that makes our emotional decisions stronger than our cogni