I'm a Ljubljana-based Motion and UI/UX designer and digital tinkerer crafting fluid motion, experimental visuals, and restless type. I work across UI/UX, web, and 3D, turning ideas into dynamic digital experiences and real-time interactivity. With a mix of code and creativity, I build designs that resonate, blending the digital buzz with the practical feel of physical things.
Context:
Wckd Nation blends jazz and pop into modern neo-soul. Calm vocals echo r'n'b patterns, layered over an instrumental mix drawing from jazz, pop, hip hop, and funk, creating a fresh yet familiar sound that bridges genres naturally.
Objective:
Enhance audience engagement for a genre-fluid music project through adaptive visual storytelling.
Approach:
Developed an audio-reactive visualization system using Touch Designer, dynamically mapping to song structure. This system generated album art, lyric videos, and social assets, ensuring visual consistency across platforms and amplifying the project's unique sound.
Context:
The Danfoss ICAD-B actuator is an IoT-enabled device transforming industrial automation with precision and connectivity. As a new Danfoss product, it needed a launch video to showcase its advanced features to a global audience, blending technical clarity with compelling visuals.
Objective:
Communicate technical IoT product features to a global, non-specialist audience.
Approach:
Collaborated with engineering teams to identify key user pain points, addressing the challenge of understanding complex connectivity. A narrative-driven explainer video was produced using 3D modeling and motion design, effectively visualizing abstract concepts like precision and scalability for a broader understanding.
SkillsMotion DesignCampaign Art DirectionTexturing3D Modeling + RenderingStoryboarding
DeliverablesVideosStillsSocial Media Exports
KD Business Card
Katarina Dekleva Web Business Card
Context:
Reimagining a simple business card as a interactive single-page website, pushing boundaries with minimal design, over-engineering, and immersive 3D elements for maximum impact.
Objective:
Refine digital networking through tactile interaction.
Approach:
Designed a Three.js-based spatial interface simulating physical manipulation, allowing users to control rotation through scrolling or swiping. This approach minimized cognitive load while maximizing memorability through intuitive micro-interactions, delivering a tangible experience in a digital format.
Context:
Kersnikova Institute, a non-profit cultural hub, supports three unique venues: Kapelica Gallery, a global name in investigative arts; Rampa, a hackerspace rethinking society, science, and tech; and BioTehna, a lab for artistic living-system research. It's a space where art, science, and tech collide, driven by diverse, unconventional minds.
Objective:
Create a navigational system reflecting a multidisciplinary institution's ethos.
Approach:
Interviews and UX research to map content relationships, resulting in a node-based information architecture with fluid transitions. This design reduced cognitive friction during cross-disciplinary exploration, effectively reflecting the institution's diverse and interconnected nature.
Objective: To explore the potential of biological algorithms in user interface design by simulating the emergent behaviors of Physarum polycephalum.
Approach: Developed an interactive canvas utilizing the Gray-Scott reaction-diffusion model, allowing users to directly influence and observe the growth patterns, mirroring biological diffusion. This approach aimed to create a visually engaging experience that highlights the principles of adaptive systems.
Interaction: Draw on the canvas to inoculate the substrate and watch the simulation evolve. (Double-click to reset.)
Objective: To reinterpret and modernize the iconic 1970s Iskra HA8 analog clock, focusing on the intersection of heritage design and interactive fidelity.
Approach: Recreated the clock in Blender using detailed blueprints, then implemented it in Three.js with accurate textures, mechanical logic, and Web Audio API integration. This process aimed to explore how digital reconstruction can enhance user engagement through nostalgia and realistic simulation.
Interaction: Double-click to alter the clock's material and experience its dynamic transformation.
Skills3dThree.jsWebAudio APIClock logic
Refraction
Experiments with refraction
Objective: To investigate and refine advanced refraction and transparency effects, aiming to produce realistic glass-like visual illusions for enhanced digital interfaces.
Approach: Developed a custom Three.js shader utilizing multiple primitives and manipulating geometry, textures, and lighting to simulate physical refraction. Interactive sliders were implemented to allow users to dynamically adjust parameters, exploring the nuanced visual outcomes.
Interaction: Adjust the sliders in the upper left corner to see how varying parameters affect the refraction effect.
Objective: To simulate an interactive, stylized solar system, exploring orbital mechanics and procedural animation to create an engaging and informative user experience.
Approach: Engineered elliptical orbital paths using Three.js and sine/cosine functions, with a dynamic camera system to track a selected planet. Custom shaders and visual effects were employed to create a high-contrast, immersive space environment.
Interaction: Pan around to follow the planet's journey through the solar system.
