Department Blog
Department news, events, and snapshots of student life at SVA in New York City.
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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.
The Indian Mom: Encouraging Better Eye Health, One Blink at a Time
The Indian Mom is a computer application for students and professionals who experience symptoms of Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) when they spend more than four hours per day in front of a digital screen. Designed by first-year students Regena Reyes, Xiaohan Miao, and Siddhant Goyle, the app flashes a cartoon image of a multi-tasking "Indian Mom" on the screen, reminding the user to take a blink-break and assisting in completing eye exercises.
VIDEO: Ari Melenciano Lecture at Products of Design
On December 11th, the extraordinary Ari Melenciano visited Products of Design to share her body of work, her vision, and her advocacy…and it was an incredible lecture. Ari is the founder and producer of Afrotectopia, the New Media Arts, Culture and Technology Festival. In addition, she is the founder and director of Publics.School—a platform exploring experimental methods to disseminate social justice issues, working on the first project called Justice Factory, an interactive data visualization platform for activists. Beyond these initiatives, Ari also shared her line of experimental "neo-retro" digital analog cameras, Ojo Oro; AricianoTV, an online video tutorial channel on creative coding; and a VJ/DJ (in the duo, GVÖ), with a residency in Brooklyn, NYC. Please enjoy the video and snapshots below!
1st Annual Products of Design Holiday Gift Guide!
We’re so pleased to bring you our first annual MFA Products of Design Holiday Gift Guide, featuring dynamic and delightful objects, books and other interventions by MFA PoD alumni and faculty. Click below to shop each product!
Register For our 2019 Open House & Info Session!
Join us at this year's Open House and Information Session, taking place on Wednesday, November 13th, 2019—from 6–8:30pm EST! Attendees will be able to meet faculty, alumni, and current students, see projects, learn about the program, tour the studio, classroom spaces, and Visible Futures Lab, and ask questions about life at Products of Design. Delicious refreshments will be shared throughout the session.
Snapshots from our 2019 Orientation Reception
We were thrilled to welcome our new class of 2021, our returning class of 2020, and all of our amazing faculty to last week’s Orientation Reception! Each of the faculty presented a few minutes about themselves and their course, and then it was celebration time to meet new people, catch up with old friends, and enjoy some amazing food from City Bakery!
Announcing New Faculty for 2019-2020!
We are thrilled to welcome four amazing new faculty to Products of Design for the 2019-2020 academic year: Shanti Mathew, Megan Ford, Alexandre Hennen, and Jonathan Meléndez-Davidson. Meet them all below, and see them on the quad!
Roger: A Bedtime Story Platform for Consistent Sleep Schedules
Roger is a device that helps children of low-income families get consistent sleep. Designed for the many children whose parents work irregular hours, it aims to get children to bed on time, especially when parents are not available. Created by recent graduate Kevin Cook as part of his thesis, Closer Kin: Building Stronger Family Environments, Roger releases a pre-recorded bedtime story every night at a specified time and gives children an incentive to get to bed on their own.
DARE + DEFY: A Woman’s Place in the Great Outdoors
As an avid climber and hiker, Alexia Cohen found herself interested in examining the role of women in the great outdoors. When she started climbing three years ago, she attended an event organized by Flash Foxy—a group of women dedicated to celebrating and empowering women climbers. Through this event, she met her climbing partner Janice, who as Alexia recalls “quickly became a friend and a mentor. Her guidance and support helped me develop my climbing technique and become more comfortable in this new space.” She also began to understand the importance of community and women mentors in traditionally male-dominated spaces.