Atiyeh Samani

Atiyeh Hanifeh Samani is an interdisciplinary designer who arrived at human-computer interaction by way of acting and fashion design… a path that makes perfect sense once one accepts that people, clothing, and digital interfaces are all engaged in some form of performance.

Her background in theater taught her to observe behavior, emotion, movement, and the stories people construct around themselves. Fashion design introduced another set of questions: how identity takes shape through the body, how materials communicate, and why something can be technically functional yet still feel completely wrong. These experiences now inform her approach to designing technology for people, who remain considerably more complicated than most systems anticipate.

Atiyeh is currently pursuing an MDes in Human-Computer Interaction and Emerging Technology at Washington University in St. Louis. Her interests include human-centered artificial intelligence, interaction design, and emerging interfaces that are intuitive, expressive, and respectful of human agency. She is especially interested in how AI might support creativity and decision-making without quietly turning every ordinary activity into a negotiation with an algorithm.

Her work brings together storytelling, visual thinking, and human-centered research to examine how technology shapes identity, relationships, and everyday behavior. Rather than asking people to adapt themselves to machines, she is interested in creating systems that acknowledge the ambiguity, emotion, and occasional irrationality of being human.

At WashU, Atiyeh is developing the research and technical foundation to translate her interdisciplinary perspective into responsible and meaningful digital experiences. Her goal is to design technologies that function clearly, behave thoughtfully, and leave people feeling slightly less confused than they did before…which, in both design and life, seems like a reasonable measure of success.