Hello, World!
I'm Yafira, a design engineer and creative technologist who builds at the intersection of code, design, and human-computer interaction. I create digital and physical experiences that are thoughtful, functional, and a little bit magical.
I recently completed my master's degree at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP), where I explored physical computing, hardware design & development, creative coding, fabrication, and interaction design. My work lives at the expressive overlap of technology and art, spanning web/front-end, UX/UI/product design, and playful, tactile computing.
With a background in computer science and a lifelong passion for design, I approach every project with intention and care. My focus is on building intuitive, meaningful interfaces and experiences that empower users, challenge norms, and embrace simplicity. Dieter Rams is a huge inspiration to me—his whole body of work, not just one idea, though I especially love his belief that less is often more. That same spirit shows up in John Maeda's Laws of Simplicity and Susan Kare's belief that an icon can hold as much warmth as a paragraph.
$ whoami
I'm a visual learner, creative thinker, and detail-oriented developer who thrives in imaginative environments. Whether designing interfaces or soldering circuits, I care deeply about clarity, craft, and user experience. I'm passionate about creating tools, artifacts, and systems that translate digital ideas into interactive, often physical, inventions.
whyicompute://
Programming is my paintbrush: a way to solve puzzles, express ideas, and build things that matter. I see code as craft, a practice of shaping the world around me in practical, poetic ways. I code because it challenges me, and because it gives form to imagination. I'm drawn to Olia Lialina's net art—her insistence that the internet still has room for the handmade, the amateur, the strange—as a reminder that code doesn't have to be polished to be alive.
feelingthroughform://
Design is where I feel most at home. It's where logic and emotion meet, the art of interface at its most meaningful. I've always been drawn to the quiet power of arrangement, detail, and color, and how good design can turn the ordinary into something magical.
myjourney://
My path to tech wasn't linear. As a kid I filled notebooks with poems, stories, and mood boards before I knew what a mood board was. A high school writing contest sent me to London, and I started dreaming of running an international print magazine—writing, design, and storytelling, connecting people across borders.
That dream led me to study business and journalism, but something was missing. I wanted to understand the technology underneath the stories—how circuits carried information, how ideas became physical objects—so I went back to school for electrical engineering. Then I took my first programming class, fell in love with the logic and problem-solving of code, and switched to computer science.
Looking back, the signs were always there: hours spent customizing MySpace pages, taking electronics apart just to see how they worked. I just never thought it could be a career. I'm especially drawn to the hidden history of women in computing— the ENIAC programmers who did the invisible labor of programming the first electronic general-purpose computer, and the Jacquard loom weavers whose punch cards became the literal ancestor of computer code. That lineage feels close to home in my own work with textiles and circuits. At ITP, it all finally clicked—creativity, design, engineering, and computation speaking the same language, no longer a choice between being creative and being technical.
tea&terminal://
These days, you'll find me coding interfaces, designing playful experiences, learning new tools, and always making something. In my orbit: tinkering with arts and crafts, taking photos, sketching ideas, experimenting in the kitchen, reviewing snacks at snax, playing chess, building odd prototypes, or tending to my side project: @electrocutelab.
let's build something together!
I'm seeking opportunities in ux engineering, design engineering, product design, interaction design, creative technology, especially projects that merge design and code across software and/or hardware. I'm also drawn to work involving e-textiles, physical computing, and tactile interaction - anywhere technology meets texture, gesture, or form.
get in touch
want to collaborate, chat about creative tech, say hi or play chess? ツ
reach me by email or any of the links below. thanks for stopping by! ♡ ꣑ৎ
