Resume

You can download my resume here.
Work Experience
Senior UX Researcher
Practices in Enabling Technologies (PiET) Lab, York University
JUL 2020 - PRESENT
AcTinSite Interactive Resource for Accessible Practicum Placement
  • Directing a group of junior researchers on designing an interactive resource for accommodation in work-integrated learning.
  • Applied the concept to a case study of a writing system for people with deaf-blindness and motor impairments.


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MSc Thesis - Inclusive Open-Source Assistive Technologies
  • Developed an empirically derived group persona technique for increasing inclusion in the design of Open-Source Assistive Technologies,
  • Applied the concept to a case study of a writing system for people with deaf-blindness and motor impairments.
UX Researcher
Practices in Enabling Technologies (PiET) Lab, York University
SEP 2018 - JUL 2020
SmART Toolbox Study
  • Designed a usability evaluation framework for the SmART Toolbox.
  • Conducted usability testing in stages of pretest, test, and post-test.
  • Conducted data analysis over 151 entries.
  • Designed and directed Think Aloud sessions as part of the test stage.
Treasure Box Braille
  • Collaborated on research projects aimed at creating accessible learning and DIY tools for visually impaired children.
  • Contributed to the design of 3D assembly guidelines for DIY circuits and developed accessible tutorials for assembling the Treasure Box Braille.
Director of Design Courses
York University
MAY 2020 - PRESENT
  • Taught over 750  students in 11 classes of the courses.
  • Outlined core concepts, methodologies, processes, tools and techniques in design.
  • Held workshops on prototyping tools like Figma.
  • Held workshops on how to apply design and accessibility guidelines to design.Managed the teaching assistant teams of 4 people.
  • Collaborated with YorkU Project Commons, integrated their real-world projects as deliverables in my courses.
Product Designer
Adanic Banking Informatics
DEC 2016 - JUL 2018,  Tehran
  • Redesigned and enhanced the interfaces of several banking applications and corresponding web dashboards.
  • Conducted iterative contextual inquiries and usability testings.
  • Localized design guidelines to be used in Persian culture and language setting.
  • Designed different variants of the products for different banks.
UI/UX Designer
Torob Online Markets Search Engine
JUN 2016 - SEP 2016,  Tehran
  • Evaluated and restructured product categorization using card sorting.
  • Redesigned flows and interfaces of Torob’s website and mobile app.
  • Improved Torob’s Alexa rank to be among the top 1000 in Iran.
Skills
UX Design

Contextual Inquiry • Personas & Scenarios • Wireframing • Prototyping • Usability Testing • Cognitive Walkthrough • Heuristic Evaluation • Designing for Accessibility

Tools

Sketch • Figma • Adobe XD • InVision • Illustrator • Adee • Procreate • Treejack

Development

HTML • CSS • JS • Django with Python • XML • AJAX • C++ • Python • C • Java

Heading

WEKA • Rapidminer • Scikit-Learn • Pandas • Matplotlib • Numpy

Volunteer Experience
VP Organization
Graduate Students Association, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, York University
SEP 2019 - SEP 2020
  • Planned, co-ordinated publicity of, and hosted monthly EECS-GSA social events.
  • Planned and held EECS-GSA elections.
  • Argued students’ issues on their behalf in EECS-GSA meetings.
Education
York University
SEP 2018 - JUL 2022
MSc Human Computer Interaction

Focus: Accessibility and Assistive Technologies

Amirkabir University of Technology
SEP 2013 - AUG 2018, Tehran
BSc Software Engineering
Honors & Awards
Lassonde School of Engineering, York University
FALL 2018
Graduate Entrance Scholarship
Local ACM Contest, Amirkabir University of Technology
2014
2nd Place
Regional ACM Contest, Sharif University of Technology
2013 & 2014
First All Girls Team
National University Entrance Exam, Iran
2013
99.5 Percentile

You can download the pdf version here.

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Sarah Akhavan  •  UX Designer |  Accessibility Advocate  
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