M. Silvia Serra

Silvia combines a Master in Human-centered Product Innovation (Institute of Design, IIT, Chicago), a BA in Architect (PUCC-Brazil) and a diverse professional experience ranging from advanced research for space planning and new product opportunities, furniture and interior design, architectural projects, packaging and graphic strategy. She has been involved and coordinated all phases of the project, from clients prospecting to concept and production, delivering the final product, for clients such as Steelcase, Johnson Wax, Lucent and Compac.

Her focus is the development of projects that involve users’ interaction with artifacts and space considering its cultural and social contexts. Her work include the use of a framework of human factors that supports design as it address not only the users' physical capabilities and cognitive functions, but also the cultural background and social situation of the user at the time of using the product or service.

Silvia is fluent in Portuguese and English, and holds good communication in Italian and Spanish. Silvia comes from Brazil, has lived four years in Chicago, USA, and is now based in Rome, Italy. Her cultural background added to her experience on living and working in three continents allows her to understand and bridge cross-cultural differences.

At her free time she enjoys cooking, biking around with her husband and being at the ocean whenever possible.