sophia ooo

hi, i'm sophia.

i'm an artist and i make things with computers.

i use software as a means of inquiry, critique, and play. i believe in legible systems that extend agency and care.

currently, i am working independently in california.

previously, i worked at Google and The New York Times R&D Lab as both engineer and designer, creating prototypes and new vocabularies that shifted how organizations think.

before that, i created misfit software, including bodyfuck, a physically arduous programming language.

get in touch
github, bluesky, linkedin

projects

2025
knurl A declarative, event-driven graphical interface for monitoring and modifying JavaScript variables.
2020
Gorm the Zop A game designed to frustrate Googlers into building more empathetic products.
2019
Touch tooltips for new internet users Defensive publication for on-demand UI guidance that helps people unfamiliar with digital interfaces understand what they’re seeing.
Remote assistance for new internet users Defensive publication for screen and voice recording that lets users show remote helpers what they’re struggling with.
2018
Investigation Tool Enterprise security tool that lets Google Workspace admins investigate and remediate threats.
2013
streamtools Visual programming environment for processing real-time data streams.
Kepler Real-time visualization of New York Times taxonomy.
Delta Real-time visualization that transformed nytimes.com’s live traffic into an animated map of how the world reads the news.
2011
Cascade Interactive visualization of how New York Times stories propagate through social networks.
Waze Traffic Visualizations Traffic visualizations created for Waze, a community-sourced turn-by-turn navigation app.
OBSERVATIONS Generative geometry exploration.
2010
memsweeper An homage to the classic Windows game with the fun addition of EXC_BAD_ACCESS.
codescapes Software that visualizes its own source code.
bodyfuck Gestural programming interpreter for the esoteric programming langauge brainfuck.
2009
Failbase Analog store of failures, gathered via SMS and voicemail, saved by a thermal printer, archived in wooden drawers.
everydatum Daily visualizations of sensor data.
DESKTOP 0 An application that glitched the desktop.
braids Generative geometry exploration.
2007
Tomato Quintet Visualization and sonification of tomato respiration.
Black Cloud Climate-concious ARG with a network of real environmental sensors.
2006
The Return of Balance Physical game of balance and sorting.
blips and bleeps An early video experiment with Nanoloop and After Effects.