Design Making Teaching
I make things
people can use.
I design software, build physical objects, and teach.
I’m Mustafa Bagdatli, based in Nyack, New York. I spent nine years at Google leading UX for Cloud AI products, from developer tools to Gemini Enterprise. These days I’m building independent projects, from design tools to experiments with cameras and live data.
Selected work
2009–202623 projects
Tangeez
Circular, individually powered, lit from inside: a toy and a design object you stack to mix colour.
Google Cloud AI
From Generative AI App Builder and Vertex AI Search to Agentspace, now Gemini Enterprise.
JukeBox Social
DJ together, vibe together.
RapidFTR
An open source app that helps aid workers reunite children with their families after disasters.
Animal Vision
See the real world through different animals’ eyes, using your phone camera. Made for fun.
Poker Face
My ITP thesis: a wearable that tracks changes in your mood and gives you feedback in real time.
Hermès: A Man’s World
Interactive mirrors for Hermès’ A Man’s World, with Second Story and SapientNitro.
Emergence
Sean Montgomery’s heartbeat sculpture. Diego Rioja and I made its sound.
BedData
A smart bed that captures how you move in your sleep, and what in the room keeps you up.
Little Box
Marie Sester’s Little Box senses the room around it and answers with light, sound and movement.
Conversational commerce
Retail search, then conversational shopping, then a design guide other retailers could build from.
Digital Love
A Kinect projection for a silent rooftop party, where every guest wore headphones.
BMW Electronaut
A tablet app that helps BMW dealers explain, show and sell the electric ActiveE.
Cloud Build
UX for Cloud Build, including the GitHub app that reports build results inside pull requests.
Google Cloud Retail AI
Tools for retailers to connect their catalog, configure search and recommendations, and check the results.
Wisebanyan
An investment app organized around long-term goals, deposits, and progress.
Verizon
Three years of Verizon work at SapientNitro, from the Gadgets & Gear store to the Fios mobile site.
BMW Activate the Future
A site that shows your own driving habits, so you can tell if an electric BMW fits your life.
IBM Industries Portal
One interface system for IBM’s midsize-business portal, across 80 country sites.
American Dream
Digital strategy for a mall visit at American Dream, planned as the largest mall in the US.
Microsoft Cloud Services
Research and a redesign for the Microsoft Cloud marketing landing page.
Hormuz Open
People live here.
CrateBridge
A plugin I’m building to work with music samples: separate songs into instrument tracks, pick sections and use them in Serato Studio or Ableton Live.
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Experiments
In progressAI / Research
Working with agents
Research on how people work with AI agents.
Four ideas: Story, Gate, Ladder and Ledger.
Read the research
Audio / Windows VST3
CrateBridge
A plugin I’m building to work with music samples.
Separate a song into instrument tracks, pick sections, and bring them into Serato Studio or Ableton Live.
Inside the experimentCooper Union Continuing Education · Arduino 101
Nine weeks of Arduino for adults, most of whom had never worked with electronics. Week one: start a blog, look through the Arduino projects on Instructables, pick a favorite and write about why. By the end we were calibrating sensors and sending their data to Processing.
A student’s perspective: Mafe Izaguirre’s Arduino ChroniclesSapientNitro, New York
A physical computing workshop for my colleagues: components, sensors, a first Arduino program, and work by Camille Utterback, Zach Lieberman, Golan Levin and Rafael Lozano-Hemmer.
Sabanci University, Istanbul
On January 3rd, 2011, I gave a lecture on human centric design at Sabanci University. This was really important for me, because I am a Sabanci graduate, and going back to my school to teach is a big honor. I talked about how the world is changing and why we need human centric design, how we can work with people who really need personal design products, and how to observe their needs.
About
Nyack, New YorkI’m a New York based designer.
My background is engineering. I studied manufacturing systems engineering at Sabanci University, then did my master’s at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program and stayed on as a resident researcher.
I have developed physical and digital experiences, products and cross-platform experiences for start-ups, artists, brands and NGOs, from one-night event activations and creative marketing apps to large corporate digital experiences and mass-manufactured interactive products.
My work has been shown at the Istanbul Biennial, Maker Faire New York and San Francisco, and ISEA, and covered by GQ, Blouin Artinfo, the New York Times, NPR, Cool Hunting, Gizmodo, AOL, Make and German public television.
After nine years at Google working on Cloud AI and developer products, I left in April 2026 and now work independently through AIConsultant. My recent projects include experiments with animal vision and tools for working with AI agents.
- MPS, Interactive Telecommunications
- NYU ITP, Tisch School of the Arts · 2008–2010
- BS, Manufacturing Systems Engineering
- Sabanci University, Istanbul · 2003–2008
Talks & writing
AI as a UX Problem
Future of NYC Design · NYCxDESIGN & NYC AI Week, Brooklyn
How to design conversational AI agents
Google Cloud · Led the work behind the guide and component library
UX patterns for generative AI
Google Cloud · Contributed the concept for giving users control over generated responses
Emergence — Uncontainable
ISEA2011 Istanbul · Exhibition catalog, Leonardo Electronic Almanac · With Sean Montgomery and Diego Rioja