My name is Elena Paunova and this is the virtual home of my work. I am a Bulgarian born, New York City based designer, graduate of Parsons The New School for Design, holding an MS degree in Data Visualization, and a BFA degree in Communication Design. 

The majority of my professional life has been concerned with the visualization, architecture, and interface design of proprietary data and the projects are mostly confidential. This site was set up mostly as a space where I can publish some of my side projects, experiments, learning experiences, and research work.

My focus is in Information Architecture + Data Visualization, research, data analysis, complex systems, taxonomies, and design process. I am specifically interested in working with large data sets and in the challenge of combining quantitative and qualitative information in cohesive interfaces and architectures. As part of this process, I have also developed strong interest in programming, interface design best practices and front-end/back-end engineering. Formally trained in design, I started programming five years ago and the process of combining both skills has been immensely gratifying. Three years ago, I started pursuing data science and learning statistics and machine learning which has solidified my ability to solve data problems three-dimensionally by comfortably intersecting design, engineering, and data science.

In my free time and in my work I am fascinated by science, religion and history. I find that the knowledge obtained from these subjects, somehow unexpectedly, is very relevant to design and it has been my constant inspiration studying these connections. 

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Between 2011 and 2015, I worked as a Senior Information Designer at [acquired by Spotify] – a data consultancy, which was previously known as a publisher of a science magazine. At Seed, I was in charge of leading data visualization, user interface and experience design for various Fortune 500 companies, NGOs, UNICEF, and the United Nations. My work also involved programming various aspects of these projects and implementing the visualizations and interfaces I designed.

Between 2015 and 2018 I was pursuing a Master in Science in Data Visualization degree at Parsons School of Design with focus on data science and research work. In addition, I did consulting for clients. I successfully graduated in May 2018 with a 4.00 GPA.

During the past year, I have been dedicated to realizing a longstanding vision of mine – creating a data visualization lab in which I can apply my experience and skills in data visualization to promote a data-driven approach to problem solving of some of the worlds most pressing challenges – from the climate of political and inter-group division that is aggressively taking over countries around the world, to environmental policy, and economic uncertainty. This space is called “Nice to Meet You” and it aims to challenge us to restart our way of thinking and approach familiar issues with a new perspective.

The project is currently in beta and has a fairly robust infrastructure, pipeline, and an update mechanism behind it, which would enable me to push new content at relatively constant intervals with minimal time investment after this initial year of building it out. This would enable me to not only support the project needs, continuously develop it, and keep it independent, but also focus on going back to working full-time.

More than that, I am already in conversations with other designers and domain experts that are excited to collaborate on future visualizations that will carry out Nice to Meet You’s mission and I believe that their invaluable support will sustain the project long-term.

Learn more about Nice To Meet You