Testimonials
2023-Present | PRINCIPAL DESIGN STRATEGIST, INNOVATION | Enterprise Strategy, Blue Shield of California, CA
I have had the great fortune of working with Basak on an innovation project. Basak possesses three remarkable skills that make her an outstanding facilitator and innovator:
1-Masterful Workshop Organization: Basak excels at organizing large-scale workshops that bring together stakeholders from various departments. She skillfully incorporates their voices and insights into the project, ensuring a collaborative and inclusive environment.
2-Creative Problem-Solving: Basak provides creative solutions to complex problems with a high level of clarity. Her guidance helps the team navigate challenges effectively and achieve project goals.
3-Stakeholder and Consumer Engagement: Basak listens attentively to both stakeholders and consumers, helping Blue Shield craft concepts that enhance products and services. Her ability to understand and integrate diverse perspectives is invaluable.
Basak is a tremendous asset to Blue Shield, and we truly value her expertise and positive energy. Her contributions have made a significant impact on our project.
I worked with Basak to develop and facilitate roadmapping sessions for a large project that started out as ambiguous. Basak, being engaged in a consulting capacity as she was on a different team, took ownership of planning these events nonetheless, and stuck with it even when the pace picked up and things got hard. I appreciated her design knowledge and the way she guided us in making sure we got what we needed from our sessions. She was a true partner and contributed heavily to making our project a success.
2008-Present | DESIGN STRATEGIST, OWNER | Başak Altan, Berkeley, CA
Working with Başak was such a delight for me and my team at Indigo Slate. We worked together on human-centered design strategy for a project with Microsoft, and Başak brought so much thoughtfulness, insight, and clarity to our work. I particularly remember when she first joined the project how she immediately asked all the right questions - challenging the whole team to think carefully to ensure we had clarity on the vision and purpose behind the project. I was so grateful to have a teammate who was not only great at delivering the work, but also excellent at engaging with our clients and a pleasure to collaborate with as well. I would be thrilled to collaborate with Başak again in the future.
2020-2022| WEST DISTRICT CHAPTER REPRESENTATIVE | Industrial Designers Society of America, San Francisco, CA
2018-2020 | CHAIR | Industrial Designers Society of America, San Francisco, CA
Chris LivaudaisChris Livaudais
Basak showed exceptional leadership and dedication in her role as Chair of IDSA's San Francisco Chapter. It can be a challenge to dedicate the time and energy to such a position, but she performed with poise and ease. Over the course of her volunteer term, she successfully lead and collaborated with Chapter team members (and outside organizations) to produce events and programming that built community and created a platform for open knowledge exchange. All this helps IDSA maintain its foothold in the Bay Area design community and advances our mission to deliver meaningful content and provide a rich membership experience.
2015-Present | FOUNDER, PRESIDENT | Berkeley Turkish School, Berkeley, CA
Senior Director of Product Marketing at Reltio December 4, 2016, Irem was Başak’s client
This is our second year at Berkeley Turkish School and I am really impressed how fast the school came to its current stage in less than 2 years since its inception. Basak is not only a visionary who designed a much-needed creative and modern environment to introduce our kids to Turkish language and culture, but also a great manager that executes with super quality paying attention to all details. Basak is a true leader in my opinion, as she did not hesitate to fill a big gap we had for the Turkish community by taking charge and starting BTS with the help of a couple of close friends. She is very resourceful in finding great tools and programs that improve the experience for the kids and the parents. Last year, I was very impressed how her students in Industrial Design got involved with the BTS and brought great educational activities into the classrooms in a short time. You can see that everything she does, she does with great passion, stemming from her deep love for the Turkish community in the Bay Area and her cultural heritage.
While she understands that the parents are all busy, she is eager to grow the community and what the school can offer by welcoming everyone to get involved as much as they can. I am truly impressed with how much she was able to accomplish with very little resources and support in a such short time. I believe her creative mind, strong interpersonal skills, resourcefulness, and perseverance have been a gift to the Turkish community in the Bay Area.
2015-2020 | ADJUNCT PROFESSOR | Industrial Design Department, CCA, San Francisco, CA
I taught several semesters of Senior Thesis Research with Basak. One of the first things I noticed was that teaching at CCA was not just a job but an expression of the love of the field and the deep desire to pass on her knowledge and experiences to the next generation of designers. Through the semesters that we taught together, I was able to see her expertise and passion for the field, her energy for engaging and true compassion for the growth and ultimate success of her students. What she taught in the class went beyond just teaching methods, tools, and techniques in the field of design and design research. She really helped the students develop into young professionals with solid design thinkers. She was always professional and courteous and was a real pleasure to teach together. I look forward to the opportunity to work with her in the future.
Full ProfessorFull Professor January 27, 2020, Nathan worked with Başak on the same team
Başak is a knowledgeable, insightful, caring, and effective instructor. She taught adjacent sections of the same course I did and did a fantastic job of both engaging students with the material as well as evolving her courses based on her students' needs and interests. Sh's a strategy thinking and planner, a great designer, and an efficient implementor—all while never losing sight of people's needs.
Basak as a rich understanding of the nuances of design research and strategy. I had the opportunity to co-teach with Basak and saw her effectively share out methods for students to grow their own understanding of the core principles of design thinking. She is a very active and engaged teacher who flexed with the needs of the students to create the most effective environment for learning. Basak also is a pleasure to work with, she is courteous, fun, and adept at the give and take needed in a co-leadership role.
Basak provides an invaluable and unique resource to designers looking to solve real problems. She helps her students re-frame their thinking and test their assumptions through the validation of their ideas with real people. As an educator, she is generous not only in sharing ideas and techniques, but also in making herself available when students most need her council. Basak makes design research an engaging and worthwhile endeavor for her students and helps them realize the incredible value that it delivers to the design process
Industrial Designer at Lifestyledesign (LSD)January 11, 2019, Cameron reported directly to Başak
I have been fortunate enough to attend multiple classes taught by Başak. She teaches her students many invaluable and engaging lessons on how to approach design research and real world problem solving. Her approach to teaching gets her students out of their comfort zone and pushes them to think critically about the problem at hand. Although her schedule is jam packed, she always finds a way to make time to meet with students outside of class for additional guidance and help. Başak was by far one of the most influential professors I had at California College of the Arts.
I had the wonderful opportunity to take Basak’s Industrial Design Studio class during my junior year. In it we worked with the Berkeley Turkish School to design educational games. It was a wonderful experience to actually go to the school, conduct research and test the prototypes of games we made with the students all in a semester. She does a fantastic job at pushing her students to improve their weaknesses and polish their strengths. Basak has always been a joy to talk to in and out of the classroom, she really helped me see the empathetic side of design.
I had the pleasure of having Basak as my thesis instructor during my senior year at California College of the Arts. I have always been impressed with Basask’s enthusiasm and passion for the craft of teaching. What I found to be Basak’s best asset is her ability to connect with her students and care for them on a personal and academic level.
I attended Basak's Industrial Design studio during the Spring 2017 at California College of the Arts . The studio focused on sustainable product design, practiced by myself and fellow classmates while working to create a series of toys for the Berkeley Turkish School. Basak challenged each of her students to expand unique designs while focusing on product outcomes. She made sure the studio worked with teachers at BTS, conducting interviews and testing mockups to perfect our designs and achieve a desired outcome that
A. Incorporated aspects of sustainable design learned in the studio
B. Referenced ties to Turkish culture
C. Worked seamlessly into the curriculum and real life limitations at BTS
I would recommend the studio to industrial design students serious about pushing their projects through a subjective lens of honest feedback and criticism. The course teaches students to not only listen and work with clients, but to also be unafraid and brave while testing a variety of designs with a target market. Basak's ID4: Sustainability class represents a rare opportunity for students to deliver a unique product concept shaped by research and real time critical feedback.
2005-2008 | DESIGN DIRECTOR | American Pacific Enterprises Inc., San Francisco, CA
Basak is wonderfully creative and knowledgeable. She always delivers above and beyond what is requested of her and in a timely manner. She is very professional and always has a smile on her face, even during tight and stressful time-lines. She is a great team member and team leader. I would recommend her highly for any position she might seek.
Owner/ Designer at Maison Nola®®June 18, 2008, Stephanie worked with Başak but on different teams
Basak was really great to work with. She works with great focus and has great attention to detail. I would love to work with her again...anytime!
1997-2005 | PRODUCT DESIGNER |
Basak and I worked together at Pottery Barn. Basak is professional, talented, and a pleasure to work with. She can adapt to a new environment quickly, and works well in teams. She is a lovely person, and I would happily recommend her to work with any organization.Basak and I worked together at Pottery Barn. Basak is professional, talented, and a pleasure to work with. She can adapt to a new environment quickly, and works well in teams. She is a lovely person, and I would happily recommend her to work with any organization.
Basak is a very talented designer, and is able to design unique product for multiple categories. Basak is very results-oriented and pro-active, mindful of meeting deadlines and cost parameters, without sacrificing the quality of her product developments.
Basak also exudes a great warm, humor, positive attitude, sets high but achievable goals, and is a great team builder. She is calm under pressure, which enables her team and herself to produce quality results.