Hello! I'm Abby Golfo.

I'm a service designer and researcher working in public transit!

Work Experience

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA)
Senior Service Designer · 2022 — Present
→ Service Designer working on a variety of projects, including operations-facing tools to improve train times on the Green Line, making Green Line trains more accessible, and more.
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→ UX Designer & Researcher working on digitizing Reduced Fares applications for Senior Pass, Blind Access, and Transportation Access Pass (TAP) — Reduced Fares
America on Tech (AOT)
UX Design Instructor · 2021 — Present
→ Instructor for introductory UX design courses (covering topics like information architecture, prototyping, and usability testing) for high school and college students interested in technology
M&T Bank
Designer / Researcher · 2018 — 2021
→ Service Designer working on imagining a North Star Experience Vision for financial advice and planning for one’s financial future.
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→ Researcher for a new product focused on young families thinking about and managing money together.

→ Designer & researcher for a money management integration into M&T’s online banking, focused on how people view and interact with their full financial picture.
Cortina Productions
Interactive Design Intern · 2017
→ Designer working on interactive experiences in museums and other cultural institutions across the U.S. and Canada

Education

Georgia Institute of Technology
Master of Science in Digital Media (Civic Media) · 2018
SUNY Geneseo
Bachelor of Arts in Sociology & Communication · 2016

SELECTED Speaking & Workshops

Interaction 21 (IxDA)
Workshop Co-Facilitator · Feb 2021
→ Co-faciliated with Brooke Bosley
Service Design Network Atlanta
Speaker · Dec 2020
→ Shared my design journey at SDN Atlanta's Pecha Kucha (watch here)
RIT's Thought At Work
Workshop Co-Facilitator · Oct 2019
→ Co-facilitated “Encouraging Diverse Perspectives in Group Brainstorming” at RIT's Thought At Work — a design conference made for students by students

About

My goal is to positively impact people’s lives by meeting people where they are.

I'm a research-focused designer dedicated to building impactful products and services. I'm interested in understanding how people move through their worlds and I love working within multidisciplinary teams so we can ask, learn, and iterate together.

I'm a Service Designer in the Technology Innovation Department (TID) at the MBTA. I get to work on interesting public transit problems, like digitizing applications for our reduced fares programs, improving internal communications on our light rail (Green Line), and more.

I've worked in a variety of industries as a designer and researcher (museums, finance, and, now, civic technology). Previously, I was a UX Designer at M&T Bank focusing on service design and research. I have a master’s degree in Digital Media from Georgia Tech and bachelor’s degrees in Sociology and Communication from SUNY Geneseo.

My pronouns are she/her.

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Contact me→

abbygolfo [at] gmail.com
linkedin.com/in/abbygolfo

Abby Golfo close up headshot in foreground with painted red brick in background.

WHAT'S NEW — June 2024 DISPATCH

→ Ran a pickleball tournament in Cambridge, MA on June 1:The Reset Classic
‍→ Building Queer Pickleball Boston.Queer Pickleball Boston Instagram‍
‍→ Writing a screenplay.
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→ Keeping up with and watching women's sports (NWSL, WNBA, PWHL).

→ Celebrating Pride and my birthday.