Traci Sym is an artist based in Portland, OR. She is an award-winning designer and creative director and currently leads the Experience Design and Media Practice at Skylab Architecture. Before joining Skylab, Traci served as the experience design director at Second Story Interactive Studios.
She began her academic and professional career in the performing arts, where her theater experience shaped the foundation of her design practice. Traci’s approach centers on exploring the emotion and intent of design — examining the perspectives, experiences, emotions, and interactions of audiences to enable designed environments and systems that feel both familiar yet provocative.
She has directed the development of significant permanent exhibitions at major institutions in North America including the Natural History Museum at LA County and at the Denver Botanic Garden. She has directed large-scale interactive design projects for the various global brands and institutions such as Occidental College, Adidas, The Center for Civil and Human Rights, New York Public Library, and spent over five years designing and producing multimedia installations, exhibits, and productions for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC.
In addition to being an award-winning designer at Skylab Architecture, Traci Sym has lectured across North America and in Europe, and has published on the web and in print.
