Alumni Reflections

"One of the main reasons I decided to attend Products of Design is the impressive faculty list of top industry leaders within the business and design world. I was able to absorb meaningful skills and knowledge from each—positioning me to where I wanted to be as a designer. I came away with a strong professional network that led to my position at frog design and next to Lyft (Motivate/Citi Bike)."

­—Damon Ahola
Product Designer, Lyft (Citi Bike)

"PoD is a place of discovery that was essential to our growth. It's a meeting ground for new friends, colleagues, and mentors. It's a safe space for experimenting, failing, and succeeding in our own ideas. And it's where we found the confidence in ourselves and in our work to start a studio. PoD helped us find the courage to pave a future for ourselves and on our own terms."

—Josh Corn and Eden Lew
Co-founders, Double Take Labs

“PoD was my home (very far) away from home, where I was constantly encouraged to push the limits of my thinking and making. What I loved the most was the curation of the coursework and how, many times, New York City was the classroom. I learned how to 'subway' like a local, enjoyed the most delicious honey-pepperoni pizza in Brooklyn, experienced Indigenous People's Day at Randall's Island, and witnessed the breathtaking views of New York from the offices of frog Design, Johnson & Johnson, and Material Connexion. I was also blown away by the involvement and support of the alumni, as well as the richness of the PoD community (students, faculty, guest speakers, friends of PoD), spanning continents, cultures, and areas of expertise. This experience was quite literally a dream come true!”

—Kgothatso Lephoko
Senior UX Designer, SpotOn Consulting

"I did not feel like a designer before joining PoD (despite having an undergraduate degree in design). The program gave me the confidence and experience to take on big challenges, clients, and projects as a designer. Imagine the most talented makers, experts, and designers in the world teaching you about their favorite topic every day for two years. If that does not promote credibility, confidence, and motivation, then I don't know what does."

—Gustav Ole Dyrhauge
Interactive Designer, Apple

“My biggest takeaway from the program is around confidence: I know myself better and understand my strengths. I can jump into conversations easily. I can take on leadership roles and be seen as someone who can be trusted."

"I would definitely not be where I am without the education I received at PoD. I learned invaluable design, strategy, and tech skills that helped shape how I work—both individually, with other designers and non-tech stakeholders. I have the knowledge and confidence to approach problems from a systems-level perspective, not just the problem level. This is what truly makes a difference in the industry."

—Victoria Ayo
Product Designer, Spotify

“My biggest takeaway from the program is around confidence: I know myself better and understand my strengths. I can jump into conversations easily. I can take on leadership roles and be seen as someone who can be trusted. I am highly organized. In the end, the program has allowed me to create ambitious goals for myself, and then to achieve them.”

—Kathryn McElroy
Creative Director, Argodesign

“I have taken into my professional career the soft skills that I learned in the program: How to write a generous email, how to talk about design with a contemporary vocabulary, how to visualize information and systems, and the acknowledgment that prototyping can equal a thousand words.”

—Rona Binay
Senior Brand Designer, Medium

"Home to a host of diverse backgrounds and talents, Products of Design was the bridge between my past experience as a biology student to my future on the creative team at VICE Media. Rigorous and nimble, the program engaged and taught a wealth of skills: from creative concepting, graphic design and art direction, to brand strategy and pitching; from user experience and interaction design, to video editing and storytelling––all of which I’ve employed and further developed both personally and professionally.”

—Isioma Iyamah
Creative Director, VICE Media

One of the main reasons I decided to attend Products of Design is the impressive faculty list of top industry leaders within the business and design world. I was able to absorb meaningful skills and knowledge from each—positioning me to where I wanted to be as a designer.

"Making the transition from Wall Street to design wasn't easy, but the Products of Design program—the faculty, the demanding workload, the maker space, the network—provided me with the skills and confidence necessary to excel. Make no mistake, the program will push you to work harder than you've ever worked before in your life, but there is always time afterwards to catch up on sleep."

—Souvik Paul
CEO and Founder, Aurie

“What am I most proud of from my time at Products of Design? Well, I was unemployed for less than a week after graduating!”

—Charlotta Hellichius
Design Strategist, Redscout

"Besides all that makes me a qualified design professional, PoD has cultivated my love for design. I always seek beyond the obvious; when challenges come, I'm always ready to think outside of the box. At PoD, I enjoyed learning and exploring, connected with a diverse range of people in the creative industry, and presented projects at the intersection between what's valuable for others and meaningful for myself."

—Xumeng Mou
Product Designer, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

“What am I most proud of from my time at Products of Design?
Well, I was unemployed for less than a week after graduating!”

”The most valuable piece of my education at Products of Design was learning to attentively critique, question, and confidently articulate a perspective on systems, trends, and problems as well as on the design process itself. It is a tribute to the wonderful combination of powerhouse faculty and staff, contextualized and adaptive pedagogy, a multifaceted student body, and the freedom to experiment and self-direct."

—Jenna Witzleben
Design Strategist, Arup

"In the Products of Design department, I learned how to approach difficult design challenges from very diverse perspectives. By expanding my vernacular, I was able to understand how I can personally contribute my skills and knowledge as a strategic design thinker and continue to grow in the real world."

—Elisa Werbler
Senior Art Director, the Martin Agency

"I came in with nothing and I left with everything. It was an extraordinary experience where I explored a wide array of design lenses with a star-studded faculty and an extremely talented, rare, diverse group of individuals. Every week brought wonder and serendipitous, magical opportunities. Examples include meeting Neri Oxman and Michael Beirut, participating in a Hackathon for the Cooper Hewitt around their digital pen, and of course the unique opportunity to design products for the Museum of Modern Art."

—Oscar de la Hera Gomez
Founder, delasign

"I would definitely not be where I am without the education I received at PoD…I have the knowledge and confidence to approach problems from a systems-level perspective, not just the problem level. This is what truly makes a difference in the industry."

"Learning a skill takes time. Learning many skills simultaneously takes a team of talented faculty. Learning the courage to apply those skills takes an environment that celebrates risk, challenges preconceptions and empowers the student. I now run my own design studio in New York and work with an amazing range of clients from GE to Miley Cyrus. I wouldn't have been able to do any of it without the skills, network and courage I gained during my studies at Products of Design."

—Richard Clarkson
Founder and Senior Designer, Richard Clarkson Studio

“What do you do when faced with a new frontier, a problem without precedent? How do you know what questions to ask, what to try first? Increasingly it is we as designers that are turned to for leadership to navigate these complexities, and Products of Design prepared me for that reality. And while I learned a wide range of frameworks, processes, and technical skills that I still use in my work, it is the confidence I've gained in the face of ambiguity that has proven most valuable in my work and life."

—Joseph Weissgold
Creative Director, Pardon Inc.