Elif Gurbuz

Biography

Elif Gürbüz is a digital design director, artist, and PhD researcher at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. Her practice spans digital products, design systems, and rule-based art, bringing together design, computation, and visual research.

With 15 years of professional experience across London, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Istanbul, Elif has collaborated with leading agencies and global brands, such as Pentagram, YouTube and Wieden+Kennedy, working end-to-end with multidisciplinary teams. Her work bridges design and technology, helping to establish shared languages between creatives and technologists.


Alongside her industry practice, Elif has taught no-code generative design workshops at the Pratt Institute and Central Saint Martins, integrating pedagogical experimentation into her artistic research. For ten years, she co-ran Muk, a mother-daughter stationery brand that now exists as an online archive of artist books, The Creative Minds Project.

Elif currently leads Design Machine, an independent digital agency, alongside her doctoral research that investigates the language of code through algorithmic drawing. Her PhD explores how ambiguity can challenge deterministic paradigms in digital art, invite creativity and diversity into computational systems, positioning drawing as a site of human–machine collaboration and critical inquiry.