Meet Sayra

Designing Beyond Screens

Sayra Kurtoglu is a UX/UI Designer & Creative Technologist based in New York. She merges spatial thinking, AR/VR and interface design to create experiences that live not only on screens, but also in rooms, streets, headsets and glasses.

New York, USA, 11215 • sayrakurtoglu@gmail.com • 646-796-7354

Sayra Kurtoglu

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

Spatial Computing Designer and Creative Technologist with 3+ years of experience in UI/UX fundamentals, wearable interfaces, and AR/VR spatial UI. Expert in immersive product design across Unity, Unreal Engine, Meta XR, and Snapchat Lens Studio platforms. Proven track record designing AR wayfinding systems, VR game experiences, and generative AI video installations, combining architectural thinking with hands-on XR development to create intuitive spatial interfaces.

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

GRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT, SPATIAL AI & XR

New York Institute of Technology Sep 2025 - Present

Lead cross-disciplinary research on AI, spatial computing and AR/VR developing novel interaction paradigms for immersive

environments for devices such Snap Spectacles, Meta Quest, and Apple Vision Pro.

Design image & video AI generation workflows for two Italian Embassy (London) generative video installations, ensuring cohesive

art direction and style consistency across immersive displays.

Co-organize workshops and UI/UX design sprints bridging creative technology, spatial experience design, and visual innovation.

CREATIVE TECHNOLOGIST

Femme Fatale Studio, Sismopolis Jun 2024 - Sep 2025

Led digital product concept development, contributing to visual direction and asset creation for immersive experiences.
Developed custom 3D assets in Blender and AI workflows to create immersive visuals and spatial interaction cues.
Translated storytelling, UI inspiration, and spatial design into functional prototypes through rapid, cross-disciplinary iteration.

3D ENVIRONMENT ARTIST

Leartes Studios Oct 2023 - Jun 2024

Optimized Unreal Engine 5 assets for Unity HDRP/URP engine with performance-focused optimization for real-time XR rendering.
Self-led two environment packages from scene build to polish (shaders, lighting, VFX, optimization), publishing on Unity Asset Store.
Built shader graphs, lighting/post-processing setups, and produced animations and renders for product showcases.

EDITOR, ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN

Arkitera Architecture Center & RAF Aug 2022 - Oct 2023

Produced and edited 30+ pieces of content monthly for website and social media platforms.
Managed all editorial stages of RAF Product Magazine Issues 95 & 96.

EDUCATION

MASTER OF ARTS, UX/UI DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT / Sep 2025 - Jan 2027

New York Institute of Technology / New York, USA

BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE, HONORS / Aug 2018 - Jun 2022

Istanbul Technical University / Istanbul, Turkey

LINKS

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com, Portfolio: sayrakurtoglu.com.

SKILLS

Snapchat Lens Studio (Experienced), Meta XR SDK (Experienced), Unity HDRP/URP (Experienced), Unreal Engine (Experienced), Blender (Expert), Figma (Expert), Wearable Interfaces (Experienced), C# (Unity) (Experienced), JavaScript (Lens Studio) (Experienced), Adobe Photoshop (Experienced), Adobe Premiere Pro (Experienced), Framer (Experienced), 3D Environment Art (Experienced), Shader Development (Experienced) User Research (Experienced), UI Design Fundamentals (Experienced).

WORKSHOPS & ACTIVITIES