{"id":49,"date":"2025-08-14T09:21:53","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T07:21:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandrad29d6ca628-natdy.wpcomstaging.com\/about-me\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T13:34:55","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T13:34:55","slug":"about-me","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/smartux.digital\/en\/about-me\/","title":{"rendered":"About me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">I&#8217;m a researcher, not a designer.<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile\"><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>But I love working with design, product, marketing and development teams!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/smartux.digital\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Sandra-2-1024x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-167 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/smartux.digital\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Sandra-2-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/smartux.digital\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Sandra-2-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/smartux.digital\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Sandra-2-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/smartux.digital\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Sandra-2-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/smartux.digital\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Sandra-2.png 1250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>I discovered my passion for user research in the early 2000s &#8211; at a time when most people still talked about &#8220;usability&#8221; and not &#8220;user experience&#8221; \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since then, <strong>I leverage my qualifications in psychological research, applied computer science and human-centred design to help companies around the globe<\/strong> to develop successful products and services through expert user research, consultancy and training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My career as a researcher, team lead, general manager and freelancer has given me <strong>extensive insight into a wide range of organizations and industries <\/strong>&#8211; particularly in the automotive, e-commerce, healthcare and medical technology sectors. This enables me to provide my clients with professional advice on specific design and implementation decisions as well as product strategy, UX management and digital accessibility.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>With the founding of smartUX in 2020, I realized my personal ambition &#8211; a<\/strong>&nbsp;<strong>research and consulting agency that takes a holistic approach of user experience research:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>One that does not simply stop at producing results, but one that ensures that findings are meaningful, actionable, understood, and usable &#8211; even beyond the duration of a single project.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>One who masters all methods of user research at a scientific level, whether qualitative or quantitative, but uses them flexibly, hands-on and tailor-made for each client and project in order to achieve the best possible outcome for everyone involved.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>One who is vigilant and embraces new methods and technologies &#8211; but at the same time challenges them so as not to blindly follow every new hype.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>One that fosters partnerships and long-term collaborations by cultivating a working atmosphere that is both professional and fun!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>One that&#8217;s happy to share knowledge and to enable others to be part of the human-centered design process.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>To this day, I carry my good humour as well as my enthusiasm for human-centered and inclusive design into each and every one of my projects. <\/strong>I share it with clients, project members and stakeholders. And I pass it on to the next generation of UX professionals in my trainings and lectures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">VITA<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">SINCE 2020<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Founder and Lead UX Researcher &amp; Trainer @smartux.digital<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Google Mobile Labs Lead DACH region<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Freelance Senior UX Researcher<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2017 &#8211; 2019<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>General Manager @Facit Digital (Serviceplan)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2014 &#8211; 2017<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Director of UX Research &amp; Consulting @Facit Digital (Serviceplan)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Since 2013<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Lecturer @ISM (International School of Management) &amp; DHBW (Duale Hochschule Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg) for Consumer Research &amp; Applied UX Methods&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2010 &#8211; 2014<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Senior UX Researcher @Facit Digital (Serviceplan)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2009 &#8211; 2010<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Project Manager and Research Lead @medicaltex<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2005 &#8211; 2009<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Researcher @up2date&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2003 &#8211; 2008<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Master&#8217;s degree in sociology<\/strong>&nbsp;@LMU Munich<br>Study focus: Qualitative and quantitative methods of empirical research, statistics, organizational sociology, consumer behavior, market and advertising psychology<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2000 &#8211; 2002<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bachelor&#8217;s degree in applied computer science <\/strong>@it-akademie-bayern<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trainee @Allianz Technology (formerly AGIS)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">WANT <br>TO START <br>A PROJECT<br>TOGETHER?<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">GET IN TOUCH:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Email: <\/strong>sandra@smartux.digital<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Phone: <\/strong>+49 171 89 70 347<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>LinkedIN:<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/sandra-schuster-smartux\">www.linkedin.com\/in\/sandra-schuster-smartux<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m a researcher, not a designer. I discovered my passion for user research in the early 2000s &#8211; at a time when most people still talked about &#8220;usability&#8221; and not &#8220;user experience&#8221; \ud83d\ude09 Since then, I leverage my qualifications in psychological research, applied computer science and human-centred design to help companies around the globe to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-49","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartux.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/49","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartux.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartux.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartux.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartux.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/smartux.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/49\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":242,"href":"https:\/\/smartux.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/49\/revisions\/242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartux.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}