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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Bursting Bubbles: Learning About Others Through Digital Play
Student Projects, Thesis Products of Design Student Projects, Thesis Products of Design

Bursting Bubbles: Learning About Others Through Digital Play

Guanghui Bi's thesis, Bursting Bubbles: Learning About Others Through Digital Play, focuses on sparking joyful interactions among individuals, creating opportunities for people to appreciate the diversity of others by sharing common interests. The designed products raise the question of how contemporary social media platforms can better facilitate intergroup contact.

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BIRTH REBORN: Using Design to Address Barriers to Equitable Maternal Care for Black Women
Student Projects, Thesis Products of Design Student Projects, Thesis Products of Design

BIRTH REBORN: Using Design to Address Barriers to Equitable Maternal Care for Black Women

At a time when the maternal mortality rate in the US is soaring, Victoria Ayo's thesis, Birth Reborn: Using Design to Address Barriers to Equitable Maternal Care for Black Women, aims to give voice and power back to black women and mothers. Her project explores how design can build more awareness, facilitate the integration of ancestral knowledge, leverage the community, and help eliminate barriers to equitable birth outcomes. Victoria proposes new realities for collective care, bringing the wellbeing of mothers out of isolation and into solidarity.

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Grandma’s Teeth: An Exploration of Feminine Voice, Power, and Reclamation
Student Projects, Thesis Products of Design Student Projects, Thesis Products of Design

Grandma’s Teeth: An Exploration of Feminine Voice, Power, and Reclamation

Stephanie Gamble’s thesis, Grandma’s Teeth: An Exploration of Feminine Voice, Power and Reclamation, is an in-depth examination of the physical, verbal, and emotional enforcement mechanisms of misogyny. Drawing from her own grandmother’s experience with the violence of misogyny, Stephanie designed a provocative body of work that interrogates and makes tangible how the enforcement mechanisms of misogyny are used to control and silence women. This thesis work proposes solutions that invert current power dynamics and challenge cultural values as a way to incite dialogue, ignite anger and impress upon men the substantial toll these experiences have on the daily lives of women.

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HOME IN PROGRESS:   Designing Systems of Collective Care for Migrant Communities through Food and Multi-Sensory Experiences
Student Projects, Thesis Products of Design Student Projects, Thesis Products of Design

HOME IN PROGRESS:  Designing Systems of Collective Care for Migrant Communities through Food and Multi-Sensory Experiences

Seona Joung, as a first-generation immigrant, has often dwelled in the in-between spaces of two geographies and cultures. Her thesis, Home in Progress: Designing Systems of Collective Care for Migrant Communities through Food and Multi-Sensory Experience, questions how design constructs and narrates a new relationship between people and multiple locations and thus serves as an ideal site to interrogate how immigrants relate themselves to the place of origin and the place of residence. Looking at the consequences of what migration does to the family relationship and social structure that influence our identity and health, her design work offers multilocal strategies that leverage sensory experiences, specifically triggered by food preparation and consuming.

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BY CHOICE: Designing the Abortion Journey
Thesis, Student Projects Products of Design Thesis, Student Projects Products of Design

BY CHOICE: Designing the Abortion Journey

Pantea Parsa grew up in Iran, where she encountered a confusing dichotomy: traditional Iranian society taught her that motherhood is the ultimate fulfillment for women, but, at home, she absorbed a different perspective. Her mother was an independent and successful woman who refused to be defined only as a mother and a wife. Pantea strived to be like her mother from a young age and ultimately decided that she doesn't want to become a mother in the future. However, should she become pregnant, she couldn't ignore the harsh reality that she would have to find an illegal back-alley abortion. For her thesis, By Choice: Designing the Abortion Journey, Pantea designed a suite of products that address the abortion journey from different lenses—including access, community, activism, and male accountability.

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Transcending Blue: Adolescent Interconnection & Empathy in the Age of Screens
Student Projects, Thesis Products of Design Student Projects, Thesis Products of Design

Transcending Blue: Adolescent Interconnection & Empathy in the Age of Screens

Through her thesis, Transcending Blue: Adolescent Interconnection & Empathy in the Age of Screens, Catherine Weislogel examines how digital technology usage impacts adolescent social and emotional well-being. While all humans are susceptible to the effects of the omnipresence of technology in their daily lives, children and adolescents, in the critical stages of brain development, are the most vulnerable.

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UNFILTER: Dating in the digital age
Student Projects, Thesis Products of Design Student Projects, Thesis Products of Design

UNFILTER: Dating in the digital age

Anna Chau began her journey into online dating when she first arrived in New York City. With the influx of choices of promising people to meet, she was excited to start searching for her perfect match. Soon after, however, she realized the experience was not meeting her expectations. Disappointed by the endless swiping, ghosting, and catfishing, Anna wondered if there was a way to hack the current online dating system and prompted her to begin research on her thesis, Unfilter: Dating in the Digital Age. The lenses that she explored in her thesis are choice, reflection, communication, and confidence to create a more positive dating experience through design.

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