About | Mortati Design

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I’m an Experience Designer and Educator who works with groups from healthcare and museum settings to create real-world, interactive experiences, and exhibits. These span immersive experiences to engage residents who struggle with Alzheimer’s, room-sized environments to introduce museum visitors to art, to engaging passers-by in London to the workings of the brain. I’m a frequent panelist on the subject of public interaction design and innovative exhibition design practices.

I’ve twice served as a panelist on the Innovation Lab at the Center for the Future of Museums, AAM Program Review Panel, and as a Program Advisor for the Presidio Parklands projects and the Institute at the Golden Gate. Prior to museums, I had a career in Interaction Design working with Xerox PARC, Salon.com, Speck Design, among others. I’m an adjunct professor in the graduate design program at California College of the Arts. I hold a BFA in Studio Art from the University of Colorado, and an MFA in Design from Stanford University.

Maria was the perfect partner for Daylight when we needed a professional to lead an exhibit design program. If you are looking for someone with strong design talent, deep exhibit expertise, who also happens to be a caring, enjoyable collaborator, work with Maria! – Sven Newman, Partner, Daylight Design

We hired Maria as a contractor to work on the visual design and interaction design for a high-profile research project. Maria was a delight to work with. Even though she was a contractor, we all soon regarded her as a member of the team. Her designs were clean, attractive, and creative; I still find myself going back to them for ideas. She always had a positive can-do attitude. I would love to work with Maria again in the future. It would be hard to imagine a more capable, personable, and productive designer. – Eric Bier, Principal Scientist at PARC

Clients & Collaborators:

Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum
Asian Art Museum
Baltimore Museum of Art
Children’s Creativity Museum (formerly Zeum)
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
Dallas Museum of Art
Exploratorium
frog Design
Golden Gate Parks Conservancy
Gyroscope Museum Exhibits
– Fort Collins Museum of Discovery
– The Leonardo
– The Bishop Museum
Hope Lab
Intervista VRML
Jaime Kopke
Kathy Mancall
Lauren Allen
Mark Allen
New Mexico Highlands University
Oakland Museum of California
Phil Ross
Post Typography
Pseudo Studio
Rucker Design Group
Sainsbury Wellcome Centre
Salon.com
Sarah Schultz
Sasha Harris-Cronin
Scott Minneman
Silicon Graphics
San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living
Speck Design
Stanford University
Walker Art Center
West Office Exhibition Design
– California Science Center
– Las Vegas Springs Preserve
Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)