Meet the Class of 2020
Victoria Ayo
Victoria is a Product Designer at Spotify in Stockholm, Sweden. She is the 2021 silver recipient in the New York Design Awards' Better Future - Equity and Inclusion category. After receiving her BS in Computational Media from Georgia Tech, she worked in the tech industry as an experience designer for ThoughtWorks, a consulting company focusing on social and economic justice. In the summer following her first year of graduate studies, Victoria gained experience as an intern at R/GA. After graduating from MFA Products of Design, she worked as an Experience Strategist at RAPP in New York City. Victoria'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 eliminate barriers to equitable birth outcomes.
Website: victoriaayo.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/victoria-ayo-967a1137
Helen Chen
Helen is the Interaction Design Lead in the Office of the Surgeon General at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Previously, she was employed as an Experience Designer at R/GA and was a Design Fellow at IDEO CoLab. Helen has also worked on the project management team at Bjarke Ingels Group that designed the Google Campus in Mountain View, California, and was part of the in-house digital media team at SOM. As a graphic and UX designer, she has worked with clients including Vox Media and Crunch Fitness. After her first year at Products of Design, she interned at Arup Foresight, and after graduation, she was a Brand and Experience Designer at The Science Project. Helen earned her BA in Art History and East Asian Studies from Columbia University. Helen’s thesis, Fruiting Bodies: Fungal Futures for Collaborative Survival, explores how new material ecologies and interspecies consciousness can create a paradigm shift in current industrial modes of production and consumption.
Website: helenchen.co
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/helenyinchen
Theodore Scoufis
Ted is a Senior Product and Service Designer at Frontier Design in Washington, DC. Before joining the MFA Products of Design program, Ted served in the United States Army, where he was a team leader in the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. He then attended Columbia University, where he worked as a research assistant for the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, studied coalition-building in the Global War on Terror, and completed his undergraduate degree in Political Science. Ted has also worked for the Warrior-Scholar Project, a non-profit that helps military service members transition to higher education. Ted’s thesis, FireLink: Fighting Fire with Data, won a WantedDesign Conscious Design Award (Best Student Project with Social Impact category). FireLink is an information management ecosystem for firefighters that focuses on the 4:30 minutes between receiving the call from dispatch and arrival on the scene, providing firefighters with real-time insight.
Website: tscodesign.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/theodorescoufis
Anna Chau
Anna is a Product Designer at Thrivent in New York City. After graduating from MFA Products of Design, she was hired as a Junior UX Designer at MediaMonks. Originally from Canada, Anna received her BA in Industrial Design from Carleton University. She has experience in 3D modeling, collaboration, and graphic design and has worked for design agencies in Hong Kong, Toronto, and New York, including Design Exchange, Tink Labs, Kerr Smith Design, and Karim Rashid Studios. After her first year of graduate school, Anna interned at Ogilvy where she composed the concept rendering deck for Samsung’s new product launch. Her thesis, Unfilter: Dating in the Digital Age, explores choice, reflection, communication, and confidence to create a more positive dating experience through design.
Website: annachau.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annachau
Catherine Weislogel
Catherine is a Product Designer at Backpack Interactive in New York City. She he grew up in a Chinese-American household in Atlanta, and her interest in Asian cultures led her to pursue a BA in Japanese Language and Literature, minoring in Fine Arts and East Asian Studies at Washington University, St. Louis. Upon graduation, she moved into the healthcare field, and worked for iResearch Atlanta, coordinating psychiatric medication trials and establishing the quality assurance department in charge of the company’s internal auditing. Catherine continues to combine her desire to aid humanity with creativity and analysis to form an interdisciplinary, thoughtful design practice. Her graduate thesis, Transcending Blue: Adolescent Interconnection & Empathy in the Age of Screens, examines how digital technology usage impacts adolescent social and emotional well-being.
Website: catstoddard.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/catherine-weislogel-84433849
Seona Joung
Seona is a UX/UI Designer at Deloitte Digital in New York City. Seona earned her Bachelor’s degree in public health and urban studies at the College of William and Mary. After graduating, she worked for Maga Design and the Lewin Group in Washington, DC, focusing on design strategy and data visualization. In the summer after her first year at MFA Products of Design, Seona participated in the Wix Design Playground design incubator, where she created interactive websites for partner organizations. 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.
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sajoung
Yuko Kanai
Yuko is a Senior Service Designer at Prophet in New York City. Previously, she was a designer and founding team member at Zencape. Yuko earned degrees in Psychology and Gender Studies from UC Davis before moving to New York to study Fashion Design at FIT. She has five years of experience in the fashion industry as a luxury womenswear development and production specialist for such brands as Adam Lippes and Rosie Assoulin. After her first year at Products of Design, Yuko interned at Birsel + Seck where she worked on a design research project with the SCAN Foundation, centering on the needs and desires of older Americans. Yuko’s thesis, Rich Bitch: Feminine Strategies for Financial Power, addresses the emotional facets of money, breaking down the taboos of financial discussions, and presenting alternative models of financial success, her thesis aims to elevate femininity as a source of power rather than a handicap.
Website: yukokanai.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yukokanai
Weston Rivell
Wes is a Senior Product Designer at Frontier Design in New York City. Previously, he was a Furniture Designer at West Elm. A native of New Jersey, he studied industrial design at Jefferson University, where he tackled a range of projects from classic industrial design—including furniture, medical, and consumer goods—to projects in interaction design and graphic design. His undergraduate thesis focused on developing a prosthetic to better serve amputees who play field sports at a professional level. Wes was involved in freelance projects at MIO, a Philadelphia-based consultancy, for clients ranging from horticultural societies to multinational banks. After graduating, he worked for Team Design Group, where he designed medical and consumer goods, which served to deepen his understanding of the relationship between business and design. His MFA thesis, AUTOMADA: Privacy and Propriety in the Age of Surveillance Capitalism, addresses the universal problem of internet surveillance.
Website: westonrivell.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/westonrivell
Shin Young Park
Shin Young is a Consultant at S-Core in Seoul, South Korea. After her first year at MFA Products of Design, she was a Design Marketing Intern at Yeh IDeology. Previously, Shin Young majored in Economics in Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, where she won the Dongbu Financial Essay Competition for her thesis on policies to eradicate insurance fraud in South Korea. During an internship with the consumer goods team at KPR, a leading Korean PR consultancy, she became interested in researching and designing solutions to problems facing society, so she decided to pursue a masters degree in design. Shin Young’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.
Website: shinparkdesign.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shinparkdesign
Pantea Parsa
Pantea is a Senior Product Designer at Backpack Interactive in New York City. Born and raised in Tehran, Iran, Pantea completed her Bachelor’s degree in Architectural Engineering at Azad University, Roudehen. After immigrating to the U.S., she worked as a textile artist and a visual merchandiser for companies including Target and Macy’s. Pantea's experiences as a Middle Eastern woman have shaped her identity as a designer, and she uses her design skills to help people who are struggling against injustice. 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.
Website: panteaparsa.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/pantea-parsa-14abb639
Yufei Wang
Born and raised in southern China, Yufei earned a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from University of Science & Technology Beijing. She was an exchange student at Arizona State University, where she enrolled in several industrial design courses. She has a strong passion for user experience, design strategy, and designing for people with disabilities. Before attending MFA Products of Design, she worked at LKK in China, consulting on product design and manufacturing for such clients as Alibaba and Geberit. Her thesis, Transversion: Creating Better Spaces for Introverts, advocates for introverts by designing spaces in which they are not expected to alter their behavior or personality. Unlike existing social spaces, which reward extroverts and are challenging for introverts to navigate, Yufei’s designs support introverts rather than asking them to “rise to the occasion” through design interventions that include reflection, culture sharing, communication, and recharging.
Website: yufeiwangdesign.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yufei-wang-5a7ba5132
Xiaorui Wu
Sherry is a product designer based in New York City. Born and raised in Beijing, China, she completed her undergraduate studies in Engineering and Industrial Design at China Agricultural University. In her senior year, she interned at Studio715, a design studio in Beijing, where she gained experience designing products, including a series of lamps. This internship inspired Sherry to further her education in design—a field she regards as a combination of art, technology, business, and a reflection of culture. Sherry’s thesis, PACE: New Modalities for Slow Living in Accelerating Times, explores the tension between fast and slow modes of living. She identifies the balance between the two modes as a critical area of focus and views this balance based on the relationship between technology and culture.
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/xiaorui-sherry-wu
Yi-Hsuan "Elvis" Yang
Elvis is a Product Manager at 17LIVE Inc. in New Taipei City, Taiwan. After graduating from MFA Products of Design, Elvis was hired as a Automotive Software Product Manager at Mobile Drive in Taipei, where she led a seven-person SCRUM team for the automotive infotainment system account features, including biometric log-in, retrieve media, navigation, seat, and steering wheel users preference settings. Born in Taipei, she received a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from Tatung University. Elvis has also created short films and advertisements, which have been screened at exhibitions such as the Yodex Young Designers Exhibition. Her thesis, Fighting Fatigue: Decision-Making In the Era of Big Data, utilizes design to address the root problems of indecision to help people make daily decisions more comfortably.
Website: elvisyangdesign.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yi-hsuan-elvis-yang-08231b163
Stephanie Gamble
Stephanie is a designer in New York City with eight years of experience in the women’s apparel industry. She received her BFA in Apparel Design from the Rhode Island School of Design, where she expanded her fine art skills and built a solid foundation in design thinking and making. Stephanie's work experience includes being the lead designer for Tory Sport, designer for Converse Apparel - Nike Inc., as well as a freelance designer for Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, and the Gap. Before joining MFA Products of Design, Stephanie participated in a Spanish-instructional artist residency with the Arquetopia Foundation in Oaxaca, Mexico where she learned traditional backstrap loom weaving techniques from local master weavers. Stephanie’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. Her project Upbraid won a Core77 Speculative Design Award in the 2020 Student Runner Up category.
Website: stephanie-gamble.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sagamble
Bart Haney
Bart learned the ins and outs of design and development by starting his own collaborative business called Superhappybunny, a LA-based design studio, where he is the lead product designer and business development coordinator, and has worked with clients such as BMW, Virgin, PixelBlocks, Toyota, Verizon, and Coca Cola. Bart has also worked as a product designer for the renowned design studios Fuseproject and Sterling Brands. An Art Center alum, his career has focused on integrating his skill of translating product strategy into reality, as well as leading teams of specialists through coordinated exercises around ideation, presentation, and market launch. Bart’s thesis, Happy Plants and A Smiling Belly: Investigating the Probable Future of the Human Food System, proposes radical shifts in thinking about the design of public information.
Website: bartscience.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/barthaney
Hui Zheng
Born in Hangzhou, China, Hui completed his undergraduate degree in Industrial Design at Xian Jiaotong Liverpool University. He was a product design intern at Benwu Studio in Shanghai, where he worked on the Egg House Shanghai and AirBorne and was responsible for the installations, from concept to fabrication, including sketching, 3d modeling, and drawing. In the summer after completing his first year of graduate school at MFA Products of Design, Hui completed an industrial design internship at Kohler in Wisconsin. Hui’s thesis, Journey to the West: Integration of Chinese students in America, sets out to face his contemporaries' problems, focusing on the international student community in the United States.
Website:
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/hui-zheng-designer
Yue Leng
Leng is currently a PhD Student at the University for Creative Arts in Surrey, England. She grew up in China and graduated from the Xiamen Academy of Arts and Design of Fuzhou University with a BA in Product Design. Leng’s passions include industrial design, interactive art, and painting. Her travel experiences include hiking in the Himalayas, diving in Malaysia, and selling handmade products on the streets of Italy. In the summer after her first year at Products of Design, Leng was accepted to the Wix Design Playground design incubator, where she created interactive websites for partner organizations. Leng’s thesis, Plant Blindness: Communicating with Plants Through the BioSense, 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.