Department Blog
Department news, events, and snapshots of student life at SVA in New York City.
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BEFORE YOU CLICK: Design for Better Decision-Making in Online Shopping
In his thesis, Before you click: Design for Better Decision-Making in Online Shopping, Zihan Chen examines the problems of product design in online shopping, to provide online shoppers with tools of various kinds for making better purchasing decisions. His thesis explores interventions that make online shopping less impulsive, more mindful and more social.
FANTASIES OF OUR INDEPENDENCE: The Role of Civil Society in the Postmodern City
For his thesis, Fantasies of Our Independence: The Role of Civil Society in the Postmodern City, Ben Bartlett spent this year studying Western urbanism and the future of cities. After speaking with experts in urban planning, urban mobility, and counterterrorism, he determined that safety, and the feeling of safety, shape the policy and planning of urban systems. Throughout his research he uncovered two different approaches to creating safer public spaces that will determine how futures cities function and treat their citizens, and designed both speculative and pragmatic interventions to respond to each.
PoD Student Wins NYCxDESIGN AWARD!
PoD recent-grad Antya Waegemann just won one of the NYCxDESIGN Awards presented last week at the Brooklyn Army Terminal. Check out the link to all the award winners, and some photos of the award ceremony below. Congratulations Antya!
Guest Lecture: Ti Chang, Co-founder and Vice President of Design of CRAVE
On March 20th, Products of Design welcomed Ti Chang, the co-founder and VP of Design of CRAVE, a San Francisco-based company specializing in discreet and luxury sex toys. Ti is best known for the design of the vibrator necklace Vesper, one of the most celebrated and innovative sex toys disrupting the adult toy industry and changing the conversation around sex.
Students Win 3 Prizes in International Design Awards!
Products of Design graduates Manako Tamura and Alexia Cohen have just won three awards in this year’s International Design Awards! All three of these projects were created as part of their Masters Thesis, and we’ve pasted links below for you to check them out!
Announcing 6IXTH: MFA Products of Design Thesis Presentations are May 14th!
We invite you to attend the Masters Thesis showcase presentations of the 2019 graduating class of the MFA in Products of Design program on Tuesday, May 14th at the SVA Theatre from 11am - 5:30pm. Twenty graduating masters students will each present their year-long thesis work, comprised of research, artifacts, services, experiences, and platforms.
PAINT App Restores Agency to Women in the Doctor's Office
Paint is an app that allows patients to document and describe their symptoms in more than words. As part of her thesis, Hysterical, second-year student Rhea Bhandari designed Paint to help women advocate for themselves while navigating a healthcare system that often dismisses their symptoms, leaving them misdiagnosed and in avoidable pain.
SWIFT: An Arm-Free Crutch for Below-Knee Amputees
The idea for Swift came about while Smruti watched videos on the YouTube channel “AmputeeOT” by Christina Stephens, an occupational therapist and below-knee unilateral amputee. Smruti was especially struck by a video in which Stephens describes the annoyances of going to the bathroom or getting up for a glass of water in the middle of the night; Stephens mentions that she usually crawls on the floor to get to the bathroom or kitchen because putting on her prosthetic is so time-consuming.
HARK: An Over-the-Counter Rape Kit
Hark, a speculative project created by second year student Antya Waegemann, is proposed to be the first over-the-counter sexual assault forensic exam (or “rape kit”) available at any major pharmacy. Small and discreet, Hark is designed to be approachable and comforting for survivors of sexual assault.