We recently connected with Jill Shah and have shared our conversation below.
Jill, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
Learning and honing skills in any design or creative industry is never a straightforward journey with fixed rules or a clear roadmap. If you talk to any creative professional, they’ll likely share a mix of diverse experiences, ranging from applied sciences and engineering to more personal passions like cooking or biking. I’m no different.
The finer, more abstract skills that I’ve developed—critical thinking, strategic design, attention to detail, and visual communication—were largely shaped by my time as a practicing architect. I started my career designing functional yet beautiful residences for clients, which naturally led me into the world of Interior Design. It’s a challenging field, to say the least, but it also imparts many of the soft skills that give me a unique edge as a design professional.
When I made the shift to the creative tech industry, I quickly realized that it would require more—a lot more—technical knowledge. I had to dive into programming, needed to understand it well enough to apply it in my projects and daily work. My master’s program was instrumental in this regard, introducing me to various programming languages and sparking a newfound interest in coding. I discovered that I enjoyed the rush it gave me. From there it was all about doing more of what I like.
Looking back, I think I could have benefited from focusing my energy on mastering certain specific skills instead of trying to do it all. Don’t get me wrong, being a generalist has been great for me—it keeps me motivated and confident to try new things. But that confidence is coupled with fear for the unknown. The industry I work in is constantly evolving, new technologies, new tools and new applications arise every single day; learning in this sense has become a part of the job and I am not complaining!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I started my Design journey with Architecture and eventually found my way into experiential and immersive design. To break it down, I work with technology (computers, AI, sensors, real time graphics, projections, you name it!) to bring alive spatial experiences that transport you into immersive realities. It’s about taking stories and letting you walk through those stories while they unravel around you, sparking intrigue and joy. Often, you can even alter the story being told or become an active character within it.
I like to call myself a “spatial storyteller.” With over five years of experience spanning a multi-disciplinary design universe, I’m a proud design generalist who loves flexing my versatile skill set across vastly different projects. I’ve had the pleasure of creating interactive games and rides in theme parks, designing interactive marketing activations for pharmaceutical companies, crafting tech-enabled play zones for kids, and developing hardware solutions that create magic in retail stores. While the application and industry might change, my goal remains singular—to use technology in a way that becomes invisible, allowing the magic it creates to help people absorb information in new and nuanced ways.
Being a generalist often sets me apart from others. Somedays I am fabricating arcade cabinets and doodling incomprehensible conceptual sketches and writing up concepts, other times I am 3D modeling or rigging a game character and, on some projects, I put on my web developer hat. From concepting and brainstorming to installing creative projects, I am involved in every stage of the project making my work experience as dynamic as it could be.
The problems I solve for my clients are multifaceted. Whether it’s generating brand awareness, creating buzz for a new product launch, or designing an entirely new experience for visitors, I’m there to ensure it’s timely, impactful, and offers something new. My personal favorites are the projects that allow me to build worlds for kids—there’s something incredibly rewarding and creatively liberating about designing immersive experiences that children can enjoy. Experiential and immersive technology has the power to solve a wide range of problems for clients. It can transform how brands connect with their audience, create unforgettable experiences that drive social media buzz, and offer unique, interactive ways for people to engage with content. Whether it’s through an interactive installation that draws visitors into a narrative or a tech-enabled environment that immerses them in a brand’s story, the possibilities are endless. The goal is to create experiences that leave a lasting impression, making the technology behind them feel almost like magic.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist or creative is seeing people interact with an activation, game, or space that I’ve worked on. There’s something incredibly special about witnessing the wonder and awe on their faces. It hits differently—especially after I’ve been deep in the trenches of a project for so long that the magic starts to fade for me. When you’re in the thick of it, the initial excitement can get buried under the layers of work, deadlines, and endless revisions. Sometimes, the reason why we did something becomes almost obscured by the grind.
But then, you see it. People rushing in for the first time, their eyes lighting up, completely immersed in the experience you’ve created. It’s in those moments that everything clicks back into place. That sense of wonder, that joy—it’s like a reset button, reminding me why I love what I do. It makes all the hard work, the late nights, and the countless challenges worth it. Seeing others enjoy and connect with something I’ve poured my heart into—that’s what keeps me going, project after project.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
It wasn’t easy switching from architecture to this field. I graduated in the middle of COVID from my Master’s program, and as you can imagine, there weren’t many jobs out there—especially for someone with little to no experience in the industry they were applying to. I remember looking at job postings and seeing that only about 1 out of every 10 design jobs was in the creative tech industry. It felt like finding a needle in a haystack.
Finally, Future Colossal gave me an opportunity. But I didn’t start as a designer. Instead, I began as a QA tech, testing software, hardware, UX—basically anything that came my way. It wasn’t exactly where I saw myself, but I took it as a challenge. I worked hard, contributed to projects with the diverse skills I had, and made sure to pitch in at every stage of the project. Whether it was brainstorming ideas, executing designs, or troubleshooting issues, I was all in.
That persistence paid off. Over the next two years, I was promoted twice, and now I’m in a role that’s tailored to my skillset. It’s been a journey, but one that’s taught me the value of resilience. Sometimes, the path to where you want to be isn’t a straight line—it’s about adapting, seizing opportunities, and showing what you can bring to the table, even if it’s not in the role you initially envisioned.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jillshahh.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jill_shhhh/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillnshah/
