Hi, I’m Frank Elavsky

I design and build systems for human interaction. My current work is situated on toolmaking at the intersection of data visualization and accessibility. I’m interested in building better tools that enable us to build interactive systems that make data more accessible to everyone, starting with those historically excluded by poor system design: people with disabilities.

I create systems because I love them. I firmly believe that systems designed for rich human interactivity help us not only perform tasks but also enjoy what we are doing. And I have been creating systems for over two decades, starting with designing rpg game systems in middle school. Systems have been a way for me to playfully abstract difficult and complex problems as well as ground me concretely in real, tangible issues.

My Ph.D. dissertation, titled “Toolmaking as an intervention on the accessibility of interactive data experiences” (in progress) explores intellectual gaps at the intersection of data interaction and accessibility: “how can the design of tools (defined as a subtype of interactive system applied to a context), enable us to do entirely new things previously impossible, gain more confidence overcoming difficulty, reduce tedium in our work, and help people to actually enjoy interaction?”

I’m presently a PhD Candidate (ABD) at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. I am advised by Dominik Moritz and Patrick Carrington and a member of the Data Interaction Group and AXLE Lab.

In the past, I have had collaborations with wonderful folks at Highsoft’s Highcharts 📊, Apple , Adobe, Fizz Studio, SRI, UW-Madison’s WGNHS, Northwestern University’s MLDS, Quansight Labs, FiveThirtyEight, tldraw, and Microsoft.