About Me

I’m Gracie Straznickas, a human-centered design PhD looking for work in the Chicago area. I’m trained both quantitative and qualitative methods, and excel at team management, presentation, design, research, and analysis.

Throughout my education, I’ve developed a strong foundation for analyzing the complexities of the human experience. Specializing in mixed methods approaches, I’ve honed both my qualitative insights and quantitative skills to not only seek answers, but to articulate them in clearcut ways that stay true to the user’s story. While I have always been an empathetic person, my journey has only grown that perspective as I see just how varied any one person’s story can be.   

My empathic side extends beyond just users, including collaboration with my teammates and clients too. For example, in my undergraduate game development work, I took initiative to learn coding alongside my assigned role in art, resulting in more effective communication and understanding with my programmers. My general understanding of the work that each team member must do in creating a game led me to take a more managerial role as I could effectively discuss what was possible without asking for something out of scope. I’ve since led over a dozen multidisciplinary teams all on tight schedules with dependencies on deliverables, developing ways to translate technical work clearcut, client ready outcomes.

I bring a human-centered lens to whatever I do, whether it be conducting interviews, running surveys, or analyzing data. I focus on translating complex findings into actionable insights, all with a deep commitment to understanding people—not just what they do, but what they value and need. My work has always begun with people, not assumptions, and that continues to ground my work in whether it be research, analysis, or design.