I'm Saskia Van't Hof.

Born and raised in Japan as a Dutch-American, I have always been interested in the way language and culture affect how things look – especially interface design.

At the University of Pittsburgh, I am a Frederick Honors scholar studying Digital Narrative and Interactive Design (with minors in Spanish and Global Studies). By majoring in DNID, a joint program between the Computer Science and English departments, I am able to pursue advanced coding projects while also having the space to research how liberal arts shape human-computer interaction.

In my free time, I love to go on hikes and try out new recipes. As proud as I am of the work on this website, I'm pretty sure my food Instagram account (@saskia.makes) is my magnum opus.

Photo of Saskia

Experiences at a Glance

NIIT →

AI Intern January 2024 - Present

Forbes & Fifth →

Designer September 2022 - Present

involveMINT →

UX/UI Design Intern May 2023 - August 2023

University of Pittsburgh SCI →

UX/UI Designer April 2023 - August 2023

My career so far...

I first fell in love with design during my two years as the Editor-in-Chief of my high school newspaper. As I transitioned the newspaper's focus from print to digital, I became fascinated with the possibilities that website design offered. As I began my studies as a Frederick Honors Scholar at the University of Pittsburgh, I decided to major in Digital Narrative and Interactive Design with concentrations in UX/UI and web development.

In 2022, I became the Designer of Forbes & Fifth, an interdisciplinary research journal at the University of Pittsburgh. Beyond designing the layout, I also created dozens of graphics for each each, designed a new logo for the office, and updated the website.

Wanting to pivot from editorial design to UX/UI design, I began researching at the University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information that school year. With researchers in Pittsburgh and Ecuador, I spent the summer of 2023 designing an open-source interface for preserving Indigenous folklore and traditional ecological knowledge. Along with research, I also interned as a UX/UI designer at InvolveMINT, a nonprofit economic development agency in Pittsburgh that aims to award credits to volunteers for environmental work.

I am currently looking for internships for the summer of 2024 and fall of 2024. Thank you so much for checking out my page!