Hi, I’m Shar Simpson. Welcome to my site!
I'm a NYC-based narrative designer who builds interactive, immersive, and branching worlds where audiences don’t just follow a story but help shape it.
My work has taken many forms: conspiratorial thrill-rides on Miro, generative fairy tales about climate change, extreme haunts at Blackout Haunted House, an interactive séance experience with Alexa (the Amazon assistant), AR history adventures for middle school students, and immersive healing journeys for pediatrics. Whatever the platform, my goal is the same: to create experiences that support, transport, and empower the people exploring them.
I'm the author of Eighth Grade Witch, the first Choose Your Own Adventure book ever adapted into a graphic novel, and I now lead narrative design at playgeni, crafting interactive story worlds for kids ages 3 to 8+.
My studio, Thing Lab, has been presented work at Tribeca, CPH:DOX, Slamdance, Sitges, Mozilla Festival, and more, with collaborators including Red Bull and Yale University. I also taught and led narrative design at Columbia University’s Digital Storytelling Lab, turning experimental ideas into playable prototypes and helping students push and test their ideas.
As an educator as well as a maker, I've taught interactive storytelling, worldbuilding, and critical game design at Columbia University, the School of Visual Arts, and the City College of New York. I'm also a POV Spark Lab Fellow and a Sundance Storytelling Lab Fellow.
Selected Talks and Panels
Columbia University Digital Storytelling Lab at Lincoln Center — Choreographies of Collective Presence: Ritual, Movement, and Shared Control
Keynote Facilitator (2026)
SVA Visual Narrative presents: Unearthing the Thing— Thing Lab Workshop
Keynote Speaker (2025)
MANA Contemporary: Jersey Arts Book Fair (JAB)— Democracy in Flux Workshop
Keynote Facilitator (2025)
Columbia Digital Storytelling Lab — Breakthroughs in Storytelling Awards
Featured Artist — Live Participatory Poem Commission (2024)
IndieWire Presents Human After All: AI, Art, and the Motion Picture
Panelist (2023)
Crowdcast — A Halloween Choose Your Own Adventure Workshop
Host & Performer (2020)
IDFA DocLab — Forum (Alexa, Call Mom!)
Presenter (2020)
Cannes XR — Adapting Your Work for an At-Home Audience
Keynote Speaker (2020)
Sundance Institute — Storytelling Lab (Alexa, Call Mom!)
Keynote Speaker (2019)