Designer · Researcher · Educator

Bio

Silvia Alberti is an Italian designer, researcher, and educator working between Italy and the United States. She holds a BFA from Northwest Missouri State University and is completing a dual graduate degree at Iowa State University: an MFA in Graphic Design and an MS in Human–Computer Interaction.

Her work operates at the intersection of graphic design, interaction design, and social inquiry, positioning design as a structured method for shaping perception and experience.

Research

Silvia’s research investigates how aesthetic framing and interaction structures influence social perception across contexts. Working through a concept-driven research-through-design methodology, she develops structured interventions that examine how visual decisions mediate meaning, participation, and interpretation.

This platform serves as the primary site for her ongoing research program, documenting implementations, findings, and future trajectories.

Teaching

Silvia teaches design as structured inquiry. Her studio courses emphasize conceptual clarity, intentional decision-making, and critical reflection. Students are guided to move beyond stylistic choices toward understanding how visual systems influence perception, access, and social experience.

Her teaching and research inform one another: classroom environments often function as sites of testing, iteration, and applied investigation.

Approach

Across contexts, Silvia remains concept-driven rather than tool-driven. Projects begin with clearly articulated inquiries and evolve through prototyping, critique, and refinement. Emerging technologies are integrated only when they meaningfully expand the research question.

Her work positions design as a cultural and ethical practice—one that carries responsibility in shaping how people interpret and engage with the world.