What up! My name is Kathryne Sakata and I am a San Francisco-based designer focused on UI/UX and the digital-centric world.
Last year, I left my cozy home in Honolulu to fulfill my dream of working in the big city. More than the aroma of fresh-baked sourdough bread and the clang-clang of the trolley, it was the creative culture; it’s location to Silicon Valley; and the boundless learning opportunities that drew me to San Francisco.
As the youngest of seven, I looked up to my siblings and copied everything they did. If they listened to rap, then so did I. Let me tell you, I was quite the gifted 10-year-old who could throw down the lyrics to "No Diggity" by Blackstreet. My eldest sister was always drawing, crafting and playing on our Mac. I would watch her with hopes of joining in on the fun. She would sometimes throw me scraps to play with, branding it as "helping her." It was in these moments that I fell in love with design, not knowing that years later, I would make this my career.
For the past few years, I've immersed myself in understanding user-focused design, and the process to create effective solutions that meet the end user’s needs. It has allowed me to see the way people interact with each other and their devices in a whole new way.
Since graduating from Kapiolani Community College in Interface Design, I became an active community member. I attended events and joined various groups such as AIGA HNL, where I served as the Education Chair; Startup Weekend HNL as a past participant and Marketing Chair; and HI Capacity, a maker space group. While staying active, I also worked at Undefeated Games, a mobile social startup company and Design Asylum, a Honolulu-based design firm.
On my downtime, I enjoy dabbling into projects centered on lettering and iconography.
My Process
Discover
Understand the goals of the client and user's needs while defining current issues. Establish the look and feel associated with the organization. To me, this is the most important step in finding out how I may assist them. I also educate the client on the web to ensure both parties are on agreeable terms.
Design
Before I begin designing, I indicate the basic information architecture — creating a informed system that concentrates on the user's experience. Once approved, I deliver concepts and designs. At this time, it's important (to me) to solidify a content strategy so that we may deliver useful and useable information to the user.
Build
Develop the site and site's features. Test on a variety of platforms to ensure the optimal quality and functionality. From the discovery phase till now, all the pieces begin to fall into place. As we reach the final stages, I like to ask any questions or concerns that the client may have. This is the final call.
Launch
After rounds of testing and revisions, we can now launch the site, yay! Exciting isn't it? But before we leave, I like to educate the client on how to utilize the site and what to look out for — it's important to see the results and monitor the project growth. Lastly, discuss and define a road map for sustainability.
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