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Hey, I'm SamangiWadinambiarachchi

I trained as a designer and grew into a researcher. Along the way, I’ve found I love sharing what I learn and inspiring others to explore. I’m endlessly curious about how AI and technology are changing the way we think and create.

My PhD in Human-Computer Interaction taught me to be critical, identify pressing problems and reflect throughout the process, whether in the highs or the lows. It also taught me to arrive at evidence-backed solutions and to treat every decision as something to question and test. I bring that rigour to my design process. Interviews, experiments and usability testing help me gather evidence, and quantitative and qualitative analysis turn it into insight. I design products backed by that insight, then use the same methods to find their flaws and improve them creatively.

Explore my work

Latest from my repertoire

Illustration of a designer sketching in a notebook while a friendly AI robot looks on with a lightbulb above its head, surrounded by small barriers and puzzle pieces

Paper · C&C '26 ·

Reviving Reflection-in-Action

Does sketching as a way to prompt AI bring back reflection in design ideation? A study with design students.

Illustration of an AI robot offering a glowing idea to a calm designer on one side while dropping a heavy block on a tangled, struggling designer on the other

Paper · IJHCS

Asymmetric encounters with AI

How professional designers across the Global North and South perceive and integrate generative AI tools.

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