Sherin Wafaai - UX Sweet-spot

An absolutely perfect mix of user experience (UX) research and design as a result of my Psychology and UX background. My eclectic cultural (FinnGyptian) and academic background make me a bit of a wild card for a design team.  I am looking to work on products designed with the intention to improve people's lives. For more info see: FAQ

WORK EXPERIENCE

December 2021 - Present | UX Research Consultant

SCHOLASTIC - United States of Readers: A worldwide leader in publishing and education for over 100 years.

GOAL: Extend the moment of JOY for teachers and students when they receive their free books.

Reference: Kristen Callioris

April 2020 - April 2021 | UX Research Consultant

MIDEASTSOFT - Envento: A new end-to-end event organizing platform. Both offline and virtual.

GOAL: Initially the goal was to evaluate the portal and guide them to better UX practices. Eventually, this turned into a weekly usability testing, designing and iterating collaboration. Currently, I am creating personas, testing and empathizing with users to create a platform that feels like an event organizers best friend :) PORTAL & APP

Reference: Amr Farouk CEO of MidEastSoft

June 2019 - April 2020 | UX Research Consultant - Lead Center of Empathy

MINDS POOL FOR INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS: Minds is an IT outsourcing company specialized in providing IT solutions to its clients in Egypt, the region, and globally. The client was the Ministry of Communications & IT (MCIT)

GOAL: Evaluate the current version of the governments E-GOV app. Create a research strategy to inform the empathetic redesign of an app that will cater to the needs of Egypt’s population of 100 million.

2018 - 2019 | UX Consultant

EG-GATE Booking platform & E-commerce marketplace. Cairo, Egypt.

GOAL: To create a clear digital channel to Egypt. EG-GATE promotes Egyptian tourism, industry, agriculture, technology and craft in order to support the national economy and increase foreign exchange flow of the country. My goal is to help them do this by creating a UX team and a UX research strategy.

Reference: Essam Hajjaj

2017-2018 | UX Sweet-Spot

EMESA NEDERLAND BV, VakantieVeilingen (VV), The Netherlands, Belgium & France 

GOAL: Personalize the experience of VV's users through a complete redesign of the checkout flow as well as the homepage. This, along with the daily agile improvements of the e-commerce platform overall.

*Being the sole UX researcher/designer/sweet-spot meant that I created the research plans, executed them, analyzed the results and designed wireframes. 

**My nickname was 'the champion of the user'.

Reference: Bart De Jong

2016-2020 | Co-founder & Product Owner

SKALEUP VENTURES INC, INCONSCIOUS Platform

GOAL: Help startups in emerging markets get discovered faster. Create a platform for #conscioustech startups to collaborate and get access to global resources. Highlight undiscovered talent in the MENA region (Middle East & North Africa).

CASE STUDY 

Reference: Salma El Hariry

2015-2016 | Corporate UX-Design Consultancy

PHILIPS DESIGN, Digital Innovation Group, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

GOAL: Streamline the digital design process in a gargantuan organization. Suggest alternative ways of working for international teams to speed up innovation. 

Reference: Reinoud Bosman

2010-2012 | International Baccalaureate (IB) Psychology Teacher

HAYAH ACADEMY, Private School KG-12, Cairo, Egypt

GOAL: Transfer a love of the human-mind to incredible students. Be one of their guides on their journey.

Reference: Omneya Hamdy

SKILLS

PUBLICATIONS

• Design and Evaluation of an End-User Friendly Tool for Robot Programming - 25th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication 2016

• Storytime with Hue: An Innovative Approach to Storytelling Where Storytellers Control a Dynamic Lighting Environment - Tangible Embedded and Embodied Interaction Conference 2016

EDUCATION

2014-2016 | Professional Doctorate in Engineering in User System Interaction (PDEng) Technical University in Eindhoven, Industrial Design Department, The Netherlands

A 2-year practical doctorate preparing trainees for a career in UX.
Courses include:  User Centered Design - Usability Testing - Tangible Prototyping - Sketching - User Research Methods - Game Design - HTML - Video Prototyping - Task Analysis - UML - Cognitive Psychology ++

2013-2014 | Masters in Human Learning and Performance - Psychology of Education (MSc)

Erasmus University Rotterdam, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, The Netherlands 

A 1-year research based masters taught using problem-based learning (PBL)

Courses include: Innovation in Education & Training - Practical Assessment in Education & Training - Teaching & Learning in Diverse Classrooms - Practical Evidence-Based Coaching - Applied Multivariate Analysis

THESIS @ Philips Research: The effectiveness of focus groups when compared to electronic focus groups 

2009-2010 | Diploma in Applied Psychology

Cairo University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Cairo, Egypt

2005-2009 | Bachelors of Arts in Psychology, Minor in Business

American University in Cairo (AUC), Faculty of Social Sciences, Egypt