about me
nice to meet you! my name is sav olivas, a meteorologist, risk communicator, designer and artist all rolled into one. welcome to my portfolio site! here are the places i've been, and the places i'm going!
my research interests
Whether it's my research or my professional projects, What matters to me most is crafting designs that are clean, understandable, cognitively easing, and tested with their target audience.
| Icons and Symbols in Risk Communication | How do we use best design principles to create the most effective warning icons? |
| Dashboards and UX Design | How can we utilize dashboards to improve hazard communciation? How can we build them so that they're effective and intuitive for the user? What are current pitfalls and how can we fix them? |
| Visual Design in Meteorology | The intersection of graphic design principles in the weather space. How are graphics colored? Do hierarchies make sense? How are things structured? |
| Jargon-free Communication Approaches | I love taking huge chunks of information and distilling them into what's as easy to understand as possible. How can we in the meteorology space translate ourselves for the general public? |
design portfolio
I use a mix of traditional art with graphic design.
my toolbox
| Data Visualization | |||
| Adobe Suite | Affinity Pro | Canva | Figma |
my cv
Whether it's my research or my professional projects, What matters to me most is crafting designs that are clean, understandable, cognitively easing, and tested with their target audience.
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| Unlocking Potential | Communicating about Extreme Heat from Cardsorting and Think-Aloud |
| Unlocking Potential | Communicating about Extreme Heat from Cardsorting and Think-Aloud |
Click this dropdown to see my full list of publications and research projects here.
Publications
Olivas, S., Sutton, J., Olson, M., & Walpole, H. (under review). When Showing isn’t Telling: Examining the Comprehension of Hazard & Protective Action Symbols and Icons.
Sutton, J., Walpole, H., Olson, M., Cain, L.B., Olivas, S., Pollock, B., Waugh, B. (under review). The Post-Alert Lexicon: A multiphased study to develop content for post-alert messages. Natural Hazards Review.
Sutton, J., Olson, M., Walpole, H., Cain, L.B., Stanford, Z., Olivas, S., & Pollock, B. (2026). Effective Alerts and Warnings: An Assessment of Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Among Public Safety Communicators. Journal of Emergency Management.
Michaud, M. S., Sutton, J., Berry, K. L., Obermeier, H. B., Sheridan, H., Cox, G. E., Rafizadeh, C. M., Olivas, S., Johnson, N., Krocak, M. J., Trujillo-Facón, J. E., & Sun, L. L. (2025). NextGen TV and Advanced Emergency Alerting: The Future of TV Warnings and Alerts. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (published online ahead of print 2025), BAMS-D-24-0162.1. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-24-0162.1
Olivas, S., Sutton, J., & Olson, M. (2024). Unlocking Potential: Analyzing the Content, Style, Structure, and Interactivity of Mesonets as Operational Dashboards. Weather, Climate, and Society, 16(4), 681-690.
Sutton, J., Waugh, N., & Olivas, S. (2023). Communicating about Extreme Heat: Results from Card Sorting and Think-Aloud Interviews with Experts from Differing Domains. Weather, Climate, and Society, 15(3), 453-466.
Presentations
Olivas, S. & Sutton, J. (2025). Living Through the Freeze: Insights of Erie County Residents About Extreme Cold. Presented at the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society, New Orleans, LA.
Olivas, S. & Sutton, J. (2024). Snowed Under by Jargon: Erie County Residents' Views on Cold Weather Terms. Presented at the 25th Northeast Regional Operational Workshop, Albany NY.
Olivas, S., Olson, M. & Sutton, J. (2024) A Symbol Speaks 1000 Words. Presented at the 51st Conference on Broadcast Meteorology and Seventh Conference on Weather Warnings and Communication. Myrtle Beach, SC.
Olivas, S., Michaud, M. & Sutton, J. (2024) The Customer is Always Right: Applying User Feedback to Extreme Heat Dashboard Design. Presented at the Ben Ami Lipetz Conference: New Trends in Informatics Research (NTIR), Albany, NY.
Olivas, S., Sutton, J, & Michaud, M. (2024) Extreme Heat Decision-Making: Perspective on Data used by Emergency Managers. Presented at the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society, Baltimore Maryland, CO.
Olivas, S. & Sutton, J. (2023) Content Analysis of Mesonet Websites. Presented at the Annual NYS Mesonet Symposium. Albany, NY
Olivas, S. & Sutton, J. (2023) Using data dashboards to communicate extreme temperature risk: An assessment of visual display and design. Presented at the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society. Denver, CO.
Sutton, J & Olivas, S. (2022) Communicating about Extreme Heat: Results from Card Sorting and Think Aloud Interviews with Experts and Non-Experts. Presented at the 23rd Northeast Regional Operational Workshop, Albany, NY.
Contact me