Department Blog
Department news, events, and snapshots of student life at SVA in New York City.
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Dear Financial Future: Designs for the Younger Generation's Better Financial Decisions
Shin Young Park's thesis, Dear Financial Future: Designs for the Younger Generation's Better Financial Decisions, innovates tools to help the younger generation make rational financial decisions to better prepare for their futures. Throughout this project, Shin Young spoke with experts across the fields of economics, cognitive psychology, banking, and education to envision a range of design interventions, from tools to help with smarter spending to a platform that assists young people to better plan for their retirement.
Fighting Fatigue: Decision-Making In the Era of Big Data
Elvis Yang describes herself as a fundamentally indecisive person. Online, algorithms can optimize and streamline the decision-making process to help her make the best choices. But offline, she often finds herself stagnating, paralyzed with self-doubt even for the most trivial of decisions. “After twenty years, these decisions should not be a big deal for me,” she shared. “How could such a tiny, daily chore cause so much stress and require that much effort?” She was willing to bet she wasn’t alone. In her thesis, Fighting Fatigue: Decision-Making In the Era of Big Data, Elvis utilized design to address the root problems of indecision to help people make daily decisions more comfortably.
AUTOMADA: Privacy and Propriety in the Age of Surveillance Capitalism
In his thesis, AUTOMADA: Privacy and Propriety in the Age of Surveillance Capitalism, Weston Rivell sets out to address the universal problem of internet surveillance. This is part of a more significant issue we are now identifying as 'surveillance capitalism' thanks to author Shoshana Zuboff who states, "Users are not customers, nor are they 'the product.' They are merely free sources of raw material." This raw material is processed into behavioral information used to shape our worldview and manipulate our actions through targeted content and choice architectures.
Plant Blindness: Communicating with Plants Through the BioSense
In their daily lives, many people tend to invest time, energy, and attention towards caring for animals, yet overlook the emotional importance of plants. Although plants provide raw materials for food, clothing, shelter, and medicine, people often do not lavish the same affection that they do on animals. As a recent example, in 2019, when forest fires tore through Australia, and rainforest fires engulfed the Brazilian Amazon, many people were more concerned with how many animals were dying, rather than considering the destruction of plants. If people continue to overlook the crucial role that plants play in their lives and in their societies, many plants will go extinct—and humans, unable to obtain the species that they need, will eventually pay a terrible price. To counteract this, Yue Leng’s thesis aims to help urban millennial dwellers connect to nature before it’s too late. By exploring how design can help people to recognize and understand plant blindness in their daily lives, Yue proposes new biological pathways of communication between humans and nature.
Antya Waegemann's Redesigned Rape Kit Wins Fast Company's Worldchanging Awards
We’ve shared a lot of great news about alumnus Antya Waegemann’s success with her thesis project, WHEN NO ONE BELIEVES YOU: Redesigning the Rape Kit and Responses to Sexual Assault. But just this morning, it was announced that her RN Advocate Kit has won the Student Category of this year’s annual Fast Company’s 2020 World Changing Ideas Awards!
2 New Student-Designed Products Debut in the Spring 2020 MoMA Catalog!
We are so proud to share that the two latest products from our partnership with MoMA have debuted in Museum of Modern Art Catalog—and are now for sale in their museum store as well as gift and museum shops around the world! Congratulations to Julia and Micah!
Hyphae: a Non-alcoholic Beverage that Harnesses the Power of Mushrooms
Hyphae is a line of premium non-alcoholic nightlife beverages that harness the invigorating power of functional mushrooms in combination with nootropics and adaptogens to help consumers stay relaxed and engaged. Designed by second-year students Helen Chen, Bart Haney, Yuko Kanai, and Wes Rivell, the product responds to the growing ‘Sober Curious’ movement, where people are reevaluating their relationship with alcohol and exploring sobriety.
The NYC Connection Initiative: A Resource Guide for the NYC Homeless
The NYC Connection Initiative is an organization that consolidates all of the resources that are available in New York City for the homeless, homeless struggling with mental illness, or for those that are housing unstable. First-year students Baoqi Ding, Virginia Gordon, and Yiming Xu spent 15 weeks researching the complex issue of homelessness in NYC. They designed a handbook, a smartphone app, and an awareness campaign for disseminating resources.
EatThisToo: Eliminate Food Waste Through the Power of Design
EatThisToo is a campaign and series of design interventions that tackle the topic of food waste. Designed by Danica Dou, Danna Krouham, and Joey Hang, the project aims to reeducate the public about edible "food waste"—scraps surprisingly loaded with health benefits. The team chose to focus on behavior change and designed a suite of EatThisToo recipe cards, compost bags, and bands for distribution at farmers' markets and grocery stores.