Department Blog
Department news, events, and snapshots of student life at SVA in New York City.
Zoom Info Sessions on December 11th!
〰️
Zoom Info Sessions on December 11th! 〰️
Featured Posts
All Blog Posts
"Bud": A Smart Preganancy Companion that Tells You and Your Baby Where You're At
"Bud" is a smart pregnancy companion that acts as a support system for pregnant women. Designed by Vidhi Goel and Eliz Ayaydin, the device emerged from the design brief of "Reimagining home monitoring" in the Product, Brand & Experience course of the MFA Products of Design Program. The project celebrates pregnancy for parent and child—a precious time that deserves care and attention, and a product category not yet addressed in the from a technology standpoint that is user-centric and humanistic.
#SLIDEFREE: Michael Bierut Delivers His First-Ever "No-Slides" Lecture at MFA Products of Design
Last month, Michael Bierut, partner at Pentagram and one of the most captivating design thinkers and speakers in the world, delivered his "first-ever talk without slides" at the MFA Products of Design Department. In a lecture that is candid and humble, incredibly personal, reflective, and inspiring, Michael examines his "first 10 years and his next 10 years"—sharing his history and dreams from childhood to present day, looking toward the future, and punctuating the talk with side trips to humble ambitions and lessons learned.
Social Solitude: From Product to Platform In a Nutshell, by Eden Lew
Students were asked to "redesign the next thing they threw out," and in seven weeks Eden Lew took a discarded sandwich wrapper on a journey through prototyping and branding, ending with Nutshell—a pod-inspired platform for productive break-taking.
I Don't Vote: Design & Politics Workshop in Washington Square Park
The graduate students from SVA’s MFA Products of Design program wanted to find out why young people don’t vote by creating a campaign and design intervention called “I Don’t Vote”—addressing apathy and framing the discussion around both the predicted and unseen reasons for opting out. The campaign was grounded in an I Don’t Vote Manifesto, and in an online website and mobile webapp, an in-person booth, sticker, and button campaign.
Masters Thesis: COEXIST: Mixing With Urban Wildlife, by Rona Binay
Turkish designer Rona Binay’s MFA Products of Design thesis entitled, ‘COEXIST, Mixing with Urban Wildlife’ studies the relationship between city and nature through the lens of urban wildlife. A seeming contradiction, Rona’s embrace of urban/natural was triggered when she discovered footage of a coyote playing with a bottle on a frozen pond in Central Park. (Another fascinating example of urban wildlife is the peregrine falcon, which nests on high-rise buildings and bridges within the city.) Rona acknowledges that cities not only serve as living landscapes for humans, but also provision as habitats for many different species.
Masters Thesis: Whateverest: Exploring the Landscape of Apathy and Agency, by Charlotta Hellichius
Charlotta Hellichius’ thesis, “Whateverest,” investigates the landscape of apathy and agency. She positioned it as an exploration into her own shortcomings, and an attempt to understand why she “can’t care about everything.” Charlotta set out to understand and explain why certain behaviors are integral, while others fail to become equally as important. Whateverest is about how to overcome the “whatevers” that we face in our everyday lives, and explores the landscape of apathy, harnessing personal agency, and designing for our cognitive limits of engagement.
Masters Thesis: Five+: An Exploration of Mindful Experience Through the Lens of Sense, by Cassandra Michel
Products of Design MFA student Cassandra Michel’s thesis titled “Five+: An Exploration of Mindful Experience Through the Lens of Sense,” started as a question of happiness and how happiness is achieved. She began by conducting research, discovering the philosophy of Mathieu Richard who proposes that happiness is a skill that is cultivated.
Masters Thesis: The End. By Matthew Barber
Products of Design MFA student Matthew Barber's thesis, entitled “The End.” looks at the shifting landscape of death and dying in today’s society, and the consequences of living an increasingly digital life. Matthew chose to tackle this subject after observing the effects of his grandmother’s passing from dementia. "I think this thesis really began back in 2011,” he reflects, “I saw my family struggling with my grandmother’s passing and thought that there must be a better way. I wanted to understand why this was so hard on us."
Instead of looking at traditional patient-driven solutions, Matt began by looking into design solutions based on the patient’s extended family and friends. He saw an opportunity to investigate the terminally ill, but more specifically, the things and the people that they leave behind.