Department Blog

Department news, events, and snapshots of student life at SVA in New York City.

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Inter-Generate: A Set of Design Offerings for Chinese Empty Nesters
Thesis, Student Projects Products of Design Thesis, Student Projects Products of Design

Inter-Generate: A Set of Design Offerings for Chinese Empty Nesters

In his thesis, Inter-Generate: A Set of Design Offerings for Chinese Empty Nesters, Hang “Joey” Yuan deconstructs the "empty-nest syndrome" from three perspectives: medicine, interpersonal relationships, and philosophy. He argues that this is more than a syndrome —it's also a state of mind. Through his research, he discovered that sharing is an effective way to help the elderly change their negative mindset towards living apart from their adult children.

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"Yawnie": The Smart Alarm Clock Makes You Yawn (and get to bed)!
Student work Allan Chochinov Student work Allan Chochinov

"Yawnie": The Smart Alarm Clock Makes You Yawn (and get to bed)!

Yawnie is a smart product that helps people develop good sleeping habits. Designed by Products of Design students Roya Ramezani and Ziyun Qi and Interaction Design student Nic Barajas, Yawnie tracks users' sleeping conditions and reminds them to go to bed on time by triggering them to yawn. Yawnie capitalizes on the notion that yawning is contagious, and uses it to help improve the sleeping habits of its user.

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