The community garden workshop was an amazing experience to learn and design with Basak. I live in an apartment and always dreamed of having a garden. Finally my dreams became true. Thank you for making this a reality for so many of us.

Retired teacher, Garden Volunteer, Izmir

We couldn’t believe what an amazing project this turned out to be. The co-design workshop was impressive. Together with the local volunteers Basak’s team turned a vacant lot, into a thriving oasis. We are very proud to have this as an example to other municipalities to use as a reference. What a great collaboration.

Ali Ihsan Ulker, Mayor of Balcova, Izmir

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. 

-John Paul Leimone, Creative Development Director +Innovation Strategy +Industrial Design +Educator

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.

-Alex Nah, Adjunct Professor at California College of the Arts

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. She's a strategy thinking and planner, a great designer, and an efficient implementor—all while never losing sight of people's needs.

-Nathan Shedroff, Executive Director at Foodicons.org

“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. “

-Nicholas Steigman, Product Designer EPAM Continuum

“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. “

-Suki Leung, Industrial Designer

“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 Incorporated aspects of sustainable design learned in the studio, Referenced ties to Turkish culture and 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. “

-Hugo Waldern, Industrial Designer

“I had the pleasure of taking a Sponsored Studio course with Basak in Spring 2018. Not only did she do an excellent job of maintaining a strong relationship with our sponsors, but she also showed a great amount of empathy towards each student and helped to bring out each’s strengths. Throughout the class, her knowledge in research and design thinking helped us to refine our approach and deliver excellent projects. The course was so successful that our sponsor flew us out to their headquarters to present to executives in person.”

- Jon Simmons, Industrial Designer

“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.”

- Sajan Saini- Industrial Designer

“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.”

- Cameron Putnam, Industrial Designer at ACTON

Before becoming a student of Basak’s, I wasn’t too keen to the research aspect of design. I’ve found it at the time as less interesting to the conceptual process. However, I wasn’t aware to how important it was to design. As a junior student, it was time to step out of my comfort zone and improve on areas of my process where I was lacking interest and will. I was aware of Basak’s credentials and decided it was the best section for me. Eventually I took Basak’s senior research course the following year, which became the backbone to my design career. Through my courses under Basak, I’ve transformed from disliking the research process to becoming fond of it. I was introduced to a plethora of processes that provided methods of collecting qualitative information. This data led the class to a copious amount of solutions which were all unique yet informative ideas. In addition to learning how to achieve such data, I learned to work alongside others in a professional manner, which was a vital experience to us aspiring designers at the time. I’ve became collaborative and learned to efficiently managed project time between my team. Being a student under Basak was a valuable experience. Not only did I grow keen to design research, but I acknowledged how important data is to achieving great solutions and efficient workflows. Her credentials and values were apparent in the research methods she provided and in the in classroom environment she held. For students who are looking to sharpen their research abilities and streamline their workflows, I’d recommend taking a course through Basak. Knowing how to achieve the right data is the catalyst to creating great designs.

-Adrian Karaan, Industrial Designer at Western Digital.

“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.”

Irem Radzik- Parent at BTS & Head of Product Marketing at Striim

”I’ve had the pleasure of working with Basak for the last 3 years in founding, developing and running The Berkeley Turkish School. Basak is a true visionary and is highly skilled in and passionate about thinking outside the box, maintaining integrity both personally and for the school while taking steps to develop the school further and push things to its limits to see what can be achieved and how. She’s very hard-working, and goes above beyond all expectations to stretch the boundaries of what is possible, while also holding her team responsible and accountable for their expected contributions. So, things are never idle and the energy always remains strong. Basak has great critical thinking capacity – she constantly evaluates the state of things, cause and effect of decisions made, how improvements can be made, who we can bring in for expertise, how we can better address the needs of our community and continue developing our programs. And finally, I think Basak is an excellent leader and has the crucial traits necessary to run a developing and strong organization: the ability to hold her ground for what she’s passionate about, being a good listener, being a strong researcher and synthesizer, encouraging collaboration and contribution, energizing others, appreciating and acknowledging deserving efforts, and always thinking big.”

Basak Cakici- Co Founder of BTS, Architect & Realtor