Who is Zach Shorufi?
UX Designer.
Anthropologist.
Human.
Designing for people. Designing for good.
A unique way of thinking.
As a UX designer, I’m designing solutions for products that cater to users for a more holistic experience. Coming from a background in business anthropology, my focus is on studying people in order to find ways that businesses can solve everyday problems and conducting the research necessary to get deeper insights. Having worked with TechTown Detroit as a consultant, I helped people take their business ideas through the research and design process to develop an MVP for an investment pitch. With this, I aim to take insights from research and use them to help me design not only a good product, but a truly human centered product.
I grew up in a multi-cultural home. I knew of two worlds and knew they were different from one another. I had to translate not just language, but actions, meanings, thoughts—culture. This shaped me into someone who has been driven to understand “the other,” the person whose story I don’t understand just yet. In order to do this empathy has been my greatest tool.
Through CareerFoundry, I developed the skills and toolsets necessary to become an effective UX designer—uncovering user needs, turning insights into a design, testing and iterating with each round of feedback, and creating a truly human centered product. I don’t want to just research people and I don’t want to just design—I want to have an impact on peoples lives.
I completed my M.A. in Business and Organizational Anthropology at Wayne State University where I became an expert in conducting ethnographic research, which, as it turns out, is an extremely great skill for conducting market and UX research. I shifted my career to become a UX designer in order to truly help people and bring business goals more in line with the needs of the users. By asking the right questions, conducting high quality research, and designing with the user in mind, I’m not only able to design apps or website, but know that it’s validated with thorough research, developing them alongside others in order to bring the highest quality product to market.
I’m passionate about understanding people on an empathetic level, speaking to them and their needs. The work I do interests me to not only further my career but first and foremost to help me paint a bigger and better picture of the world around me. I want to understand people, understand their problems, empathize with them, and uncover ways in which I can help or guide them. I’ve done this as an ALA with Delta Air Lines where I led a team to safely and efficiently handle aircraft procedures, a Customer Discovery Specialist consulting entrepreneurs on their businesses and conducting the necessary research to develop MVP’s, and simply in my daily interactions with people.
This is some great information about my work and academic experience, but it doesn’t tell you who I am and what I enjoy. As a violinist, I play to escape my daily routine and any problems I have seem to disappear the moment I begin. As someone who speaks four languages, I simply love learning them as well as finding the similarities and differences between them. Observing art as well as creating art is one of my favorite pastimes. The Detroit Institute of Art is a magnificent establishment for the city and has been a refuge for me when I need a place to breath. I can’t get away from the outdoors and absolutely love northern Michigan—the Great Lakes region offers some of the best natural wonders I’ve ever seen and is one of my favorite places globally. What I enjoy most is meeting new people and working with them to bring skills together and solve problems. As a social person, being in anthropology and UX design is natural for me, as it’s a place where I can thrive by getting to learn about people and their stories for my personal understanding of the world.
Zach’s ability to analyze both primary and secondary data sources has greatly benefited our team combined with his capacity for synthesizing complex information into actionable insights. From the start, Zach demonstrated to be proactive team-oriented person with an open attitude, he was able to quickly adapt to a new environment, learn new tools, and deliver quality work with tight deadlines.
I have been impressed with the way Zach communicates with our team and how he was able to provide fact-based information to our clients including main sources for additional research, key to foster trust and credibility for market research projects.
— Natasha Pongonis, Nativa Marketing