Curriculum Vitae
Allison Crank
Paris, France
hi@allisoncrank.com · LinkedIn · crankstudio.io
Profile
Designer and researcher working across cultural institutions, therapeutic technology, and the human side of AI. Trained in architecture; now working at the edges of XR, spatial computing, and interaction design. Founder and Creative Director of Crank Studio, Paris.
Her work has been shown at the Venice Film Festival, Cannes, Tribeca, and SIGGRAPH, and recognised with a Venice Immersive Achievement Prize and an Emmy nomination. She has served as curator of Raumwelten — Germany's leading festival for scenography and media — and mentors creators at the Venice VR College at La Biennale di Venezia.
Clients include National Geographic, Meta, Google News Initiative, MIT, Dreamscape, Audemars Piguet, and Gallagher & Associates. Published in Leonardo (MIT Press).
Experience
Founder and Creative Director — Crank Studio
Paris, France · Independent practice 2020–2024; formally incorporated Fall 2024
Digital, spatial, and interactive experiences for cultural institutions, research teams, and organizations navigating emerging technology. Brought in when the stakes are high — when work needs to be intuitive for the public, credible for experts, and built to last.
Design Lead — Polaris (now Spatz)
Switzerland · Part-time contract
Design and product direction for a social news platform.
Head of Digital Experiences — wowl
Switzerland
Led XR projects for luxury brands including Omega, Rolex, Cartier, and Swiss Airlines — research, UX, prototyping, and experience delivery.
Design Researcher — EPFL+ECAL Lab
Switzerland
Research and UX design for digital heritage and public-facing installations. Key project: the UNESCO-recognized Montreux Jazz digital archive.
Design Consultant — Maarten Baas Studios
Netherlands
Graphic Designer & International Marketing — Engelbrechts A/S
Denmark
Selected Projects
Audemars Piguet
Research and strategic analysis for the innovation team. Delivered a video game industry exploration study and designed two interactive research databases: one mapping 100 timekeeping devices across history from antiquity to the present; one cataloguing 310 cultural works — film, games, music, art — exploring how culture has represented the concept of time.
My Magic Room
DiverSsiTy · Swiss healthtech startup
Full game designer and director. Mixed-reality therapeutic game for neurodiverse adolescents (ASD/ADHD, ages 13–20) on Meta Quest — fostering social, cognitive, emotional, and sensorimotor skills through adaptive gameplay. Clinical trials in progress.
LazyBrain
UX Designer and Product Lead. Community platform built around serendipity and discovery. In development.
Apple Vision Pro × National Geographic "HOME" (Factory 42)
Lead research and experience design for a spatial storytelling concept. Project cancelled pre-release.
Dreamscape Immersive — Multiplayer VR Classroom
UX designer and systems advisor — multiplayer VR classroom experience design. Via Albyon 2023–24; direct engagement 2025.
IMPULSE: Playing with Reality (Anagram × Meta)
Lead interaction designer on a 40-minute mixed reality experience narrated by Academy Award-winner Tilda Swinton — placing audiences inside the minds of four people living with ADHD, transforming their physical surroundings in real time. Winner, Venice Immersive Achievement Prize (81st Venice IFF, 2024); nominated for Emmy Award — Outstanding Emerging Media Program. Shown at Tribeca. Available on Meta Quest.
Gallagher & Associates — Gilcrease Museum
Head of UX for a landmark cultural project: the entirely new $83.6M Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma — home to the world's largest collection of art of the American West. Designed interactive gallery stations and mobile visitor experiences for the new SmithGroup-designed building, opening 2027.
Raumwelten – Platform for Scenography, Architecture & Media
Curator of the 11th edition of Germany's leading festival for scenography, architecture, and media. Directed the programme around the theme /imagine, focusing on immersion and online social experience. Co-created and built the Raumwelten VR Hub — a digital multi-user environment accessible across mobile, desktop, and virtual reality — with a companion pop-up exhibition at the Ludwigsburg Museum. November 16–18, 2022.
Glimpse (Electric Skies)
Interaction Design Lead and Line Production. Animated interactive VR experience starring Taron Egerton and Lucy Boynton, directed by Benjamin Cleary. Premiered Venice Biennale 2021. Won Best Interactive Experience at Cannes XR and VR Cristal at Annecy.
Pixt — Google News Initiative
Head of UX Design and Research. AI-driven trust and verification platform for digital media, funded by the Google News Initiative.
Education
MAS, Design for Digital Innovation — EPFL+ECAL
Switzerland · Focus: UX/UI, AR prototyping, digital interface systems
MDes + MA, Contextual Design — Design Academy Eindhoven
Netherlands · Graduated cum laude · Research in immersive retail and narrative environments
BA, Architecture — Wellesley College & MIT
USA · Graduated magna cum laude · Studio Design at MIT BArch program
Teaching
Lecturer — HSLU, Spatial Design
Lucerne, Switzerland
Spatial design and architectural theory, and thesis mentorship.
Expert Lecturer — MIT xPRO, Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality
Industry expert on the MIT xPRO online programme covering XR design, UX, and immersive experience development.
Visiting Faculty — Architectural Association Visiting School, Melbourne
Digital twins, procedural urbanism, speculative design, Unity + GAMA.
Mentor — Venice Biennale College Cinema (BCC)
Advising emerging VR and game designers on immersive storytelling and experience design.
Speaking
ArtTech Forum
Keynote
Raumwelten Festival
Curator & Speaker
SIGGRAPH
Paper presentation
Tate Exchange, London
Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute (GDI)
Publications
Urban and ecological simulations: bridging research and education through procedural modeling in GAMA
GAMA Days 2024 · IRD HAL Open Science
Digital Heritage: Bringing new life to the Montreux Jazz Festival's audio-visual archives with immersive installations
SIGGRAPH 2018 · History of SIGGRAPH
Leonardo Journal (MIT Press) — Digital Heritage: Montreux Jazz Festival Archives
EPFL Infoscience
Press
Recognition
Emmy Nomination — Outstanding Emerging Media Program · IMPULSE
As Interaction Design Lead
Venice Immersive Achievement Prize — La Biennale di Venezia · IMPULSE
As Interaction Design Lead
Best Interactive Experience — Cannes XR · Glimpse
As Interaction Design Lead
VR Cristal — Annecy International Film Festival · Glimpse
As Interaction Design Lead
Awards
Keep an Eye Grant — Keep an Eye Foundation
Gijs Bakker Research Award — Design Academy Eindhoven
Eliza Newkirk Rogers Prize for Architecture — Wellesley College
Jane Harris Schneider Prize for Sculpture — Wellesley College
References available upon request