(209) 684 - 3384
cubicle drawing from a college summer in telemarketing
BofA 2018 - 2022
Hi! I'm Kristina, a Principal Product Designer at Amazon from Stockton, CA, now based in New York. Originally I studied studio art at Sonoma State with a focus on film photography and oil painting, before moving to the east coast for an MFA in experimental & documentary art at Duke. Alongside studio work, I did academic research in clinical personality assessment and completed an artist residency in Český Krumlov, Southern Bohemia.
After graduating, I taught film studies at the Art Institute, did some little freelance things in graphic design, and eventually found myself in digital design at Lowe's. I became the design lead for the company’s largest team of designers (Production & Marketing) and headed seasonal campaigns like Black Friday and redesigns of the web eCommerce experience, during which the Lowe’s was awarded Web Redesign of the Year from Internet Retailer Excellence Awards.
After Lowe's, I moved to Bank of America to work on enterprise tools, accessibility standards, and eventually Digital + Physical experiences. That included the bank's first ATM redesign in over a decade, connecting its oldest, slowest-moving technology to its fastest-moving one, mobile.
Since joining Amazon, I've worked on AI initiatives across Alexa and Ring, including leading design for Alexa+ on web, Ring's first facial recognition technology, the foundational generative AI work behind Ring, and products like the lost-dog finder Search Party and the fire alert system Fire Watch, to name a few.
oil on vellum
copper etching of hands and spoons
Smithsonian print work
Lowe's 2016 - 2018
Ring @ Amazon 2024 - now
Alexa @ Amazon 2022 - 2024
Blue, Derek Jarman
100 miler race
Judel-Vrolijk 66
My design process is shaped by a background in experimental art, synthesizing abstract data from clinical psychology, and the fast-moving, experimental world of AI. I'm drawn to doing things in new ways, designing for the holistic experience, and finding non-linear forms of storytelling for users. Working to be an AI native designer has changed, sped, and blurred the lines for every aspect of this process. The slow parts I still protect though are the diving deep on a hard problem, tinkering with ideas outside the box, and observing to build empathy and understanding for the space I’m working in.
Thematic Apperception Test
4’33”, John Cage
Outside of work, I've sailed my whole life, starting on dinghies on the Delta, learning keelboats on the San Francisco Bay, and most recently racing long-distance out of Chicago for the couple of years I lived there before settling in New York. I also love shooting on medium format with my “Texas Leica”, a good game of pool, classical piano, experimental lit & narrative non-fiction, a big museum and long walks with my husband Dmitriy and our son Nikolay.
