Zachra Pradipta defines UX design
Born in Jakarta, Indonesia, her mother a graphic designer, Zachra Pradipta (B.F.A., user experience design) was determined to pursue a creative career from a young age. When she applied to SCAD, her parents encouraged her to travel across hemispheres and achieve her dreams in Georgia.
As a SCAD student, Pradipta won an Indigo Award in 2020 for Lupa, a device based on a magnifying glass that uses AR technology to provide unique learning opportunities for children at the Savannah History Museum.
Today, she is poised to turn her tassel on May 29, 2021 with her fellow SCAD Bees before beginning her career as a UX designer at Amazon.
“Zachra is a wonderful designer and leader,” says chair of user experience design BC Hwang. “As the president of FLUX, our UX design student club, she propelled our program forward and continued to further her own talents as a designer.”
Zachra Pradipta:
When I left home for SCAD, I thought I was going to study to become a painter and fine artist. That all changed with a conversation with Chris Feliciano (B.F.A., user experience design, 2020) my first week in Savannah.
We had just met and he told me how much he loved the program, the work he was doing, and the professors. At that time, I knew nothing about UX design, and his enthusiasm prompted me to look into UX and reconsider my career path.
UX design became more than my major. It became my family. Professor Yee Eun Yoon was always challenging me and helping refine my process and design techniques. I credit a large part of my success today to our text exchanges, often well after office hours.
With professor Yoon’s help I understood the power of user experience and began to fully explore my professional and personal interests. That led me to a SCADpro project with Lenovo where we designed a program to promote STEM education among elementary school students. The Lenovo team gave us significant creative freedom and they had faith in us as designers.
The project turned out to be a huge professional opportunity for me. I learned a lot in terms of being a designer, working for a large company, and making crucial decisions.
As a result of that SCADpro project, professor BC Hwang helped me obtain an internship with Amazon. That internship ultimately led to a job offer. Going to work for Amazon will be an opportunity to learn from some of the best designers in the world. I am excited about the limitless possibilities ahead of me.
My time at SCAD has been incredible. From my classmates to my professors, everyone has helped me focus my creative talents and given me a career path I am excited about, one that I never imagined growing up 10,577 miles from the beautiful squares of Savannah.
Congratulations Zachra and the SCAD Class of 2021!
Written by Robert Almand.
