Helena Jaramillo ’14

Describing herself as a “designer who builds software for makers,” Helena Jaramillo ’14 is a product design lead at Coda by day and a zine maker, artist, and app builder in her spare time.

Drawn to the computer culture and science aspects of the New Media program, she took a variety of courses and interned in New York City, which shaped her journey from user experience design to product design for software companies.

Born in Ecuador and raised in upstate New York, Jaramillo transferred here from a community college.

Q+A

The Journey

“I transferred to SUNY Purchase’s New Media program for my sophomore year, and was particularly interested in the computer culture and science aspects of the program. During my time at Purchase I enrolled in a variety of classes from Video to Web, and interned in New York City.

I had been interested in design since high school so I applied for paid design internships and landed my first one at a tech startup. From there, my experience slowly evolved to more User Experience Design and eventually Product Design for software companies. After college, I moved to Switzerland to design for Google.”

Current Projects

“I am currently designing software that allows people to build light tools, applications and share them with the world. In my spare time, I collage, make zines and continue to take art classes. This past year I participated in the San Francisco Zine Fest where I shared and sold a zine about our relationship to our homes through Google Maps. I am also designing and building an app for observational walks.”

Advice to Students

“My main piece of advice would be to do things that are just much harder to do outside of college (although not impossible!): collaborate with other artists, learn a variety of subjects and apply to jobs where they will help you grow. Use your proximity to New York City as an advantage for internships but try and find a paid internship.”

—Q+A written by Susan Kouguell, Lecturer in Screenwriting