About

Danyal Sarfraz

HCI researcher and designer with an MSc in Engineering Design from UNIST, South Korea. My research designs and evaluates mixed-reality, AR and AI systems with the people who use them, including an award-winning Meta Quest 3 heritage application, a life-size AR application for iPhone and Apple Vision Pro, and studies of human perception of AI-generated video.

My background is in industrial design (BSc, NUST, Pakistan) and four years of professional 3D work for international clients. I favor low-burden study methods and research tools that transfer into design practice.

Danyal in red graduation robes, smiling and holding a bouquet of yellow flowers, with the UNIST campus lake behind

Conferences and exhibitions

  • Four people in conversation at a conference poster session
    IASDR 2025 · Taipei

    With Don Norman

  • Danyal presenting on stage at the heritage contest final
    2024

    Korea Heritage Digital Contents Contest, final round

  • Danyal and a colleague holding presentation certificates
    IASDR 2025 · Taipei

    Pictorial session

  • Danyal receiving a presenter certificate in front of a slide about component-based robot actions
    IASDR 2025 · Taipei

    Full paper presentation

  • Graduates gathering on a sports field with UNIST lettering
    February 2026 · Ulsan

    MSc graduation, UNIST

  • Visitors at the Lemmy exhibit, one wearing a VR headset
    2025 · Gwangju

    Lemmy at the Gwangju Design Biennale

Experience

  • Feb 2024 – present

    Researcher and Designer · IID Lab, UNIST

    Research in spatial computing, human-centered AI and human–robot interaction across funded projects with Shinsung Delta Tech, LG Electronics, the Republic of Korea Army, Intensive and Korea University.

    • Teaching Assistant DES232, 3D CAD and Prototyping

      Supported instruction in SolidWorks modeling and prototyping, and co-introduced a Blender and generative-AI visualization pipeline to the curriculum.

  • Feb 2020 – Jan 2024

    3D Artist & Designer · Freelance and studios

    Top Rated Plus on Upwork (top 3% of freelancers), with more than 70 contracts and 1,200 hours for international clients.

    • 3D Artist, full-time Metablaze

      Game-ready assets and cinematic trailers, with a distributed team in the USA and Turkey.

    • Advertisement design Jackbots.io

      Campaign visuals displayed in Times Square, New York.

    • AR projection artist and 3D generalist Symspace Labs (formerly Waveworld)

      Mobile AR artwork projected onto clothing.

  • Feb 2019 – Jan 2023

    Designer · NUST

    Industry projects, internships and leadership roles during the BSc.

    • Industrial Designer Arçelik Global, with NUST

      Refrigerator-freezer component design in a two-person team; first prize among 15 teams.

    • Vice-President, Media NUST Fine Arts Club

      Led three teams covering graphics, photography and videography.

    • Design Intern Adidas / Forward Sports

      Redesigned an assembly-line workflow to increase output and reduce errors.

Education

February 2026 · Ulsan, South Korea

MSc in Engineering Design

Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Department of Design. Research-based program in spatial computing, human–robot interaction and XR-enabled prototyping, funded by a master’s scholarship.

Courses: Spatial Computing, Advanced Human–Computer Interaction, Advanced Information Visualization, 3D CAD.

June 2023 · Islamabad, Pakistan

BSc in Industrial Design

National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), School of Art, Design and Architecture. Thesis, Waveform, received the highest score in the cohort (91%).

Courses: Industrial Design Studio, Design Research, Manufacturing Processes, Technical Drawing and Communication, Sustainable and Universal Design.

Skills and tools

Research

  • Participatory design
  • Interviews
  • Thematic analysis
  • Paired-comparison studies
  • Perception experiments
  • Logistic regression
  • Usability testing
  • Research writing

Design and 3D

  • Blender
  • Unreal Engine 5
  • SolidWorks
  • Figma
  • Substance Painter
  • Gaea
  • EmberGen / LiquiGen
  • Photoshop
  • DaVinci Resolve
  • Premiere Pro
  • Photogrammetry

Development and AI

  • Swift and SwiftUI
  • ARKit
  • RealityKit
  • visionOS
  • Python
  • ComfyUI
  • OpenUSD
  • Model training
  • Prompt engineering

Currently developing skills in Houdini, NVIDIA Omniverse, Isaac Sim and Unity. Further interests include 3D reconstruction, novel rendering techniques and advanced animation. Member of ACM SIGCHI and ACM SIGGRAPH.

Awards and recognition

  • Sep 2025

    True RoboAnimator published on Blender Extensions

    Accepted following review by the Blender Foundation; more than 7,000 downloads.

  • Jan 2025

    CES 2025 Innovation Award

    Awarded to Lemmy, an AI healthcare robot developed by the IID Lab team, UNIST.

  • Sep 2024

    First place, 3rd Korea Heritage Digital Contents Contest

    XR category.

  • Feb 2024

    Master’s scholarship, UNIST

  • Jun 2023

    Highest thesis score in cohort (91%)

    BSc thesis, NUST.

  • May 2021

    Arçelik Dawlance Excellence Certificate

    Best design, first among 15 teams.

  • 2014 – 2021

    Earlier

    Vice-President, Media, NUST Fine Arts Club (2021); IoT workshop, NUST SEECS, and stone carving workshop, Ivy Tech Community College, USA (2019); BURAQ Camp, top 40 O-level science students nationally (2014).

Contact

Open to HCI research positions, research collaborations and design roles. Based in Ulsan, South Korea; email is preferred.

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