STUDENTS
From Artists and Designers to Researchers. From
Financial Managers to
Philosophers.
Our students emerge confident, powerful, agile, and skilled.
From Brooklyn to Bangkok, the students of the MFA in Products of Design offer their diverse range of experiences from varying backgrounds, disciplines, nationalities and cultures to the world of design. Together, they embark on an immersive journey, exploring multiple design lenses and creating important, thoughtful work. Our students secure positions at some of the most prestigious consultancies in the world, such as IDEO, frog, SYPartners, R/GA, Fuseproject, Pentagram, Vice Media, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, and The Future Project.
Evelyn Cheung
Evie is a Senior Service Designer and Program Lead at frog in San Francisco. Previously, she was a Design Strategy Lead at Johnson & Johnson in New York City. Evie has worked across many industries and scales with several Fortune 500 clients—particularly helping large-scale organizations rethink their innovation approach through a user-centered lens. While at MFA Products of Design, she started her own freelance consulting company and was a Creative Strategy Intern at Code and Theory, working on projects with Adidas, Maybelline, and Moncler. After graduating, Evie helped lead teams at Doblin—a part of Deloitte's Applied Design & Innovation arm—where she also co-led a team in reimagining commonly used design & research methodologies and frameworks through an anti-racist lens. Evie’s thesis, Alexa, Help Me Be A Better Human: Redesigning Conversational Artificial Intelligence for Emotional Connection, interrogates the status quo of the artificial intelligence (AI) space, and suggests pathways to use intersectional thinking to imagine new applications for the technology.
Website: eviecheung.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/eviecheung
Ellen Rose
Ellen is a Senior Designer at SYPartners in New York City. In this role, she is a "Swiss army knife": focusing on prototyping, experience design, graphic design, digital tool design, and illustration—but also leaning into research, strategy, and concept development. Ellen has a background in visual presentation, previously creating window displays and interior environments for Anthropologie, Saks Fifth Avenue, and J. Crew Corporate. Ellen was accepted to the inaugural Wix Design Playground design incubator, where she created interactive websites for partner organizations, including Tattly and the NYC-based nonprofit Community Food Advocates. Her thesis, The Aha Movement: The Creative Process at Work began as a dissection of the creative process from a psychology and neuroscience standpoint, and evolved into an exploration of how design might be used to foster a team’s collective creative practice.
Website: ellenhillrose.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ellen-rose-05925620
Rhea Bhandari
Rhea is a Designer at Luminary Labs in New York City. Born and raised in India, Rhea earned her undergraduate degree in design from Goldsmiths, University of London. For her undergraduate thesis project, she designed prosthetic limbs—devices now utilized by BMVSS, the world’s largest institute for prosthetic fitment. Previously, Rhea interned at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as a Design Strategist and was employed as a Design Strategist at NeuroEquilibrium, a company that designs vertigo diagnostic devices, fusing technology, and remote patient diagnoses. Her thesis, Hysterical Women: Designing Experiences to Counter the Current Gaslighting Healthcare System, aims to improve the healthcare experience of women by designing more efficient and empathetic diagnostic and treatment strategies to counteract a patriarchal healthcare system where women face neglect, misdiagnosis, and gaslighting.
Website: rheabhandari.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/rheabhandari187
Gustav Ole Dyrhauge
Gustav is an Interactive Designer at Apple in San Francisco. He was previously employed as Design Lead at Current Studios in New York City. Born and raised in Denmark, Gustav served in the army as a Royal Life Guard to the Danish royal family before obtaining his Bachelor’s degree in Digital Media and Design at the IT University of Copenhagen. As an undergraduate student, he designed an app collaborating with Volkswagen for both customers and mechanics to identify technical issues with cars. He was also employed by Danish company Maersk Line, for whom he developed and digitized the on-boarding and off-boarding processes of their employees. After learning about food deserts and food insecurity in New York City, Gustav quickly decided to dedicate his thesis, Food Justice: Through the Power of Knowledge Sharing, to food justice and the problem of food insecurity.
Website: gustavdyrhauge.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/gdyrhauge
Andrew Schlesinger
Andrew is a Global Supply Manager at Apple Inc, based in the Bay Area. Before returning to Apple in this new strategy role, Andrew was employed as a Design Researcher at TrialSpark in New York City. Andrew studied Industrial Engineering at the University of Michigan before moving to San Francisco for his first stint working at Apple as an engineer in the manufacturing design team. After earning his MFA from Products of Design, Andrew was a design research fellow at the Omidyar Network. His thesis, entitled GENTLEmen: Challenging Adults to Raise Feminine Boys, explores gender identity, masculinity, stereotyping, parenting, education, and male culture.
Website: andrewschlesinger.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/andrew-schlesinger-a1570624
Smruti Adya
Smruti is a Product and Interaction Designer at TEAGUE in Seattle, Washington. After MFA Products of Design, Smruti was hired by Deloitte Digital as a Product Designer. Since graduating from the National Institute of Design in India, she has designed and developed products—ranging from healthcare to home appliances—at frog design and Future Factory in Mumbai. She also has previous experience designing for Frontier Design and ATLASON and she was a Fellow at the SVA GroundFloor Incubator. Her thesis, entitled UPGRADE: Designing for Access and Acceptability around Limb Loss and Limb Difference, aims to create more open conversations about and with people with LL/D and their acceptance in society, as well as easier access to products and services that improve their quality of life.
Website: smrutiadya.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/smrutiadya
Bernice Wong
Bernice is a Senior Product Designer at Albertsons in San Francisco. Previously, she was a Senior Designer at Luminary Labs in New York City. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, Bernice graduated with a B.Comm from the University of British Columbia, specializing in Marketing and Sustainability. She has experience in a variety of spheres, ranging from professional services to service design to non-profits. Bernice has also travelled, studied, and worked in over twenty-five cities across nine countries. Her thesis, In Equality: Migration, Labor, and Our Modern Global Economy, is an investigation of our modern labor system and how it allows individuals to be vulnerable to exploitation or enslavement.
Website: bernicejywong.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bernicejywong
Alexia Cohen
Alexia is a Venezuelan-Belgian-American designer, currently employed at Dalberg where she serves as Senior Designer. Previously, she was a Designer at argodesign in New York City. After graduating from MFA Products of Design, Alexia worked as a freelance design consultant, co-leading the design and production of The Human Account project exhibition for Dalberg Design and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. During her graduate studies, she was a TEK-TILE Fellow at the Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator where she collaborated with 14 designers and engineers to develop textiles with embedded electronics. Alexia’s thesis DARE + DEFY: A Woman’s Place in the Great Outdoors explores a women’s role in the outdoors, yielding a suite of design offerings that are meant to honor, amplify and celebrate women’s position within this space, ultimately arguing for a more inclusive and diverse outdoors sphere.
Website: alexiacohendesign.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexia-cohen-07540315
Juho Lee
Juho is a User Experience Designer at Goldman Sachs in New York City. Previously, he was employed as an Interaction Designer at frog design in Austin, Texas. Originally from South Korea, Juho moved to the US by himself when he was fifteen years old. He joined the military after his freshman year in college, and worked as a military police at the Korean Embassies of Japan, China, Israel, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. After retiring as a sergeant, he returned to school, graduating with a BA in Psychology and a Minor in Business Studies from New York University. As part of MFA Products of Design’s partnership with Veterans Affairs and IDEO, Juho’s team designed a number of solutions to improve women veterans’ experience in areas specific to visiting the VA Hospital. Juho's thesis, entitled Cast Away: Designs for Socially Isolated Korean Men Contemplating Suicide, was presented in May 2018.
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/juho-lee
Sowmya Iyer
Sowmya is a Senior Product Designer in the Operational Technology team at Lyft Transit, Bikes & Scooters in New York City, where she builds Citi Bike share products. Prior to joining MFA Products of Design, Sowmya worked as a Senior UX Designer at Samsung Mobile R&D. She graduated with a degree in Industrial Design from the National Institute of Design in India. She has also worked at Cardiac Design Labs and Honeywell in Bangalore and at Tomorrow Lab, Legends Solar, and Function of Beauty in New York City. Sowmya's thesis, entitled Prosumerism: Crafting Alternate Consumption Experiences, explores whether products and services can ease the consumer’s guilt of excessive spending and materialism by providing them with options that best fit their values of sustainability.
Website: sowmyaiyer.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/sowmya-iyer-design
Xumeng Mou
Xumeng is a Product Designer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. She has also worked as an Industrial/UX Designer at ION Design, an award-winning product design and development firm, collaborating with some of the world's leading healthcare and consumer product companies. Before joining Products of Design, Xumeng earned her Bachelor of Science at the Beijing Institute of Technology. During her undergraduate studies, she participated in the 7th Honda Eco Mileage Challenge with a team of mechanical and electrical engineering students to develop two energy-saving race cars. Xumeng’s thesis work, ABSURD INTELLIGENCE: Explorations of the Unconscious, received a Core 77 Award and was recognized by the Global Grad Show during Dubai Design Week.
Website: mouxumeng.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/xumengmou
Arjun Kalyanpur
Arjun is an Associate Director of Creative Strategy at Code and Theory in New York City. Previously, he worked at 10XBeta where he consulted as a product manager and design engineer on medical devices, IoT consumer products, and robotics. He has also worked for a retail packaging company, creating and launching several products for the luxury cosmetics brand La Prairie Switzerland. Arjun earned a BS in Engineering and an MS in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University before joining MFA Products of Design. Arjun's thesis, entitled Invisible Tethers: How Time and Memory Shape Products and Places, posits that people are connected to one another through time via shared experiences and history with objects and places.
Website: arjun-kalyanpur.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/arjun-kalyanpur-27966830
Julia Lindpaintner
Julia is an Innovation Specialist and UX Designer at 18F, an office within the General Services Administration that partners with federal agencies to improve government user experience. Previously, Julia worked as a senior designer at innovation consulting firm Luminary Labs and served as a Civic Digital Fellow for the US Census Bureau’s Census Open Innovation Lab (COIL). While at MFA Products of Design, Julia worked for Common Cents Lab, where she studied behavioral economics and worked with a team on products to improve the financial well-being of low and middle-income Americans. Before joining PoD, Julia spent three years on Michael Bierut’s team at Pentagram, where she acted as project manager, strategist, researcher, and writer on a wide range of projects. Her thesis, entitled JUSTICE BY ALL: Revitalizing Civic Engagement in the Judicial System, was presented in May 2017.
Website: julialindpaintner.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/julia-lindpaintner
Ailun Sai
Ailun is a Strategic Designer at designaffairs in Shanghai. Previously, Ailun was a designer at IDEO, where she embraced the role of a hands-on product designer and a storyteller. A few of the projects she has worked on have been taken to market, focusing on creating strategic vision directives for clients. Ailun also was the lead designer for Bonbouton, a medical technology firm promoting preventive diabetes health care. While in this role, she collaborated with the engineering team to conceptualize and define product solutions for diabetes-monitoring wearables. Ailun also has experience working at Vayu Inc. as an industrial designer—conceptualizing functional prototypes to production-ready CAD models. She holds a BFA in industrial design from the China Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. DOMINION: Redefining the Relationship Between Animals and Humans, was presented in May 2017.
Website: ailunsai.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/ailun-s-5a8368117
Joshua Corn
Josh is one of the co-founders and lead designers for Double Take Labs—a transdisciplinary design studio making exhibitions, robots and installations for clients such as MoMA Store. Josh also teaches courses at Pratt Institute, School of Visual Arts, and CUNY City College of Technology. Prior to establishing Double Take Labs, he was a design and electrical engineering intern at Tomorrow Lab, and design director at Throughlines. Before joining the MFA Products of Design program, Josh graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor’s in Architecture, and then worked as an architectural lighting designer and theatre consultant for Schuler Shook in Chicago. His thesis, entitled Awe and Astonishment: Wonder in the Age of Democratized Magic, aims to inspire wonder and awe through the design of products, services, and experiences.
Website: joshcorn.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/joshcorn
Oscar Pipson
Oscar is the Art Director for Game Seven Marketing—an experience design shop that creates, develops and executes innovative and authentic experiences for its customers. Prior to joining MFA Products of Design, he worked as a designer, researcher and teacher on multi-material 3D printing for Victoria University School of Design and Callaghan Innovation. He has also consulted for Formway Design Studio, world leaders in high performance furniture. Oscar’s product—Divine Proportion Bottle Opener—is sold at the MoMA Store worldwide. An award winner at the Core77 Design Awards and Best Design Awards, Oscar’s work has also been featured on numerous international design blogs. His thesis, SOUL'D: Exploring the Commodification and Appropriation of Black Cool, was presented in May 2016.
Website: oscarpipson.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/oscar-pipson-8434504b
Isioma Iyamah
Isioma is currently Senior Art Director at Glossier and was previously the Creative Director for VICE Media in New York City where she provided creative direction to project designers and video editors and conceptualizes branded content on VICE’s platforms. Isioma has worked on projects with Nike, Louis Vuitton, MailChimp, JennAir, YouTube, Kering Group, Estée Lauder, YouTube Music, Levis, Samsung, Verizon, Cazadores, Mars (Snickers) & UMG. Her prior experience includes working for Mother New York and PSFK Labs. Before joining MFA Products of Design, Isioma received her BA in molecular and cell biology from UC Berkeley. Her thesis, IN FLUX: Identities Under the Influence, explores how we communicate our identities—both verbally and non-verbally.
Website: isiomaiyamah.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/isioma-iyamah-845b30132
Eden Lew
Eden is one of the co-founders and lead designers for Double Take Labs—a transdisciplinary design studio making exhibitions, robots and installations for clients such as MoMA Store. Previously, she worked as a designer and brand strategist at Pentagram in New York City. Eden has had experience in graphic design, UX/UI, packaging, furniture, architecture, exhibition design and design strategy for companies such as Gensler, Finell, Acumen Design, and Blue Genie Art Industries. She received her BFA in Design from the University of Texas at Austin. Eden’s thesis, Masterminds and the Art of Misbehaving, was a year-long experiment in learning the ways of a criminal mastermind with the aim of becoming a braver designer.
Website: edenlew.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/eden-lew-96a44762
Souvik Paul
Souvik is the CEO and Founder of Aurie, where his team is building a patented automated single-user, multi-use, no-touch intermittent urinary catheter system designed to improve health outcomes and quality of life while reducing environmental waste. Aurie was selected to participate in the 2021-2022 cohort of Harvard’s Launch Lab X GEO. Souvik also serves as the Healthcare Solutions Lead for J&J Design in New York City. He graduated from Harvard College in 2011, majoring in Social Studies. Prior to joining Products of Design, he worked as a trader at JP Morgan Chase. Souvik’s thesis, Unbound: Design for Paralysis and Disability, seeks to empower individuals with spinal cord injuries and disorders (SCI/D), and to tackle some of shortcomings in treatment paradigms for SCI.
Website: souvikpaul.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/souvik-paul-aurie
Roya Ramezani
Roya is an interdisciplinary and intercultural designer with a background in Physics. She is the Staff Product Designer at SoFi and splits her time between San Francisco and New York City. Previously, Roya was a Design Technologist and Product Manager Lead for JPMorgan Chase & Co, where she worked on products and services to address millennial customers' needs via digital channels and retail branches. She has also worked with Antler, the BBC, Google, and Nest. She completed her Bachelor of Design (BDes) from The York/Sheridan Joint Program in Design (YSDN) in Toronto, where she practiced theoretical, research, and practical aspects of design. Roya's thesis, entitled Exponent: Amplifying the Female Voices in Tech Discourse, attempts to address these issues using product design, service design, and platform design.
Website: royaramezani.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/royaram
Jonathan "Jon" Lung
Jon is an American television personality and industrial designer based in San Francisco. He is currently employed as an Industrial Designer at IDEO, and previously was a co-host on the Discovery Network TV series MythBusters, premiering in November 2017. Jon and his co-host Brian Louden won their hosting duties on the reality television competition series MythBusters: The Search, which aired in January and February 2017. On the show, Jon rapidly designed and built functioning custom devices to test the validity of a wide variety of hypotheses, including a gas-powered sword-swinging rig that accurately mimicked the swing and draw of a human swordsman. Jon's MFA thesis, At the Ready: Preparation for Just About Anything, is an inquiry into "preparedness" in all its forms—from the fancifully speculative, to the soberly real.
Website: jonjuhanlung.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/jonathan-lung-131a9867
Tahnee Pantig
Tahnee is currently employed as a Design Lead at JustFix.nyc, a non-profit that builds free tools in support of New York City's housing movement. Some of her recent work has focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, including tools that help tenants avoid eviction. Previously, Tahnee worked with the Center for Urban Pedagogy to break down voting rights and civic engagement for people who have been involved in the justice system, and she created a website to help the City of Seattle improve their homelessness response system while she was employed as a Design Lead at the Future Company. As an Interaction Designer at IDEO.org, Tahnee was responsible for designing and implementing experiments focused on helping Americans with low-income improve their financial health. Tahnee holds a BA in Geography of Urban Systems, Architecture and Urban Design from McGill University. Her thesis, This Great Violence, was presented in May 2016.
Website: tahneepantig.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/tahneepantig
May Sun
May is a Senior Product Designer at Google in New York City. Previously, she was employed as a Product Designer at Marquee, Goldman Sachs' digital marketplace for institutional investors. Passionate about solving business challenges, May designed and built CoFoundersLab. She also volunteers as a mentor at BUILT BY GIRLS, a 1:1 mentorship program that connects young women and non-binary students with professionals who work in tech and are passionate about helping the next generation of industry leaders get their start. May earned her BFA in Industrial Design from China Central Academy of Fine Arts. Before joining MFA Products of Design, May's artwork Her Nature was acquired by the Central Academy of Fine Arts Museum for their permanent collection in Beijing, China. May's thesis, Her Sense: Women, Technology and Intervention, is aimed at helping women in the workplace by creating technology that builds confidence.
Website: may-sun.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/may-sun-design
Brandon Washington
Brandon is an Art Director and Designer at the Reed Art Department (formerly known as Staple Design) in New York City. Since graduating from MFA Products of Design, Brandon has enjoyed a productive freelance career, designing for companies such as MKG Experiential Marketing, Mother, and The Future Project. He has been a Scenic Designer for QVC, a Retail Designer for Coach, and a Studio Assistant for Chen Chen and Kai Williams. Brandon earned his Bachelor's degree in Industrial Design Technology from the Art Institute of Philadelphia. Brandon's thesis, The Spectacle (an investigation into Guy Debord’s theory of the same name), takes the form of an intervention, aiming to wake people up, expose them to alternative ways of thinking, get them in touch with their desires, and express their true selves.
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/brandoffwashington
Julia Plevin
Julia Plevin is a nature-centered designer, strategist, and writer based in San Francisco. She is the creator of The Forest Bathing Club and author of The Healing Magic Of Forest Bathing (Ten Speed Press 2019). Julia is also the co-founder of Trouble Makers Inc., a design collaborative aiming to make challenging issues more digestible. They received an Awesome Without Borders grant, a Core77 Award, and press for their first product, Critter Bitters, which aims to change the attitude around eating insects. Julia has previously worked with IDEO and SYPartners and has experience leading creative teams around the world. Her writing has been published in The Atlantic, The Huffington Post, and VentureBeat. Julia holds a BA in History from Dartmouth College. Her thesis, Gowanus Outdoors Club: A Field Guide to Soliphilia, was presented in May 2015.
Website: juliaplevin.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/julia-plevin-4075948
Vidhi Goel
Vidhi is a Senior Service Designer and Strategist at Providence in Seattle, Washington. Previously, she held Experience Researcher and Strategist roles at projekt202, EchoUser, and IA Collaborative. Vidhi has worked for clients worldwide, including Xerox, Qualcomm, Discover, FedEx, and Amgen. While at MFA Products of Design, Vidhi interned at The Meme as a research and strategy consultant for Samsung, Pill Pack, and Healthbox. Vidhi has worked on projects ranging from creating banking services for rural India to designing smart pregnancy devices—a student project featured in Fast Company. Originally from India, Vidhi received her undergraduate degree in Industrial Design from Srishti School of Art Design and Technology in Bengaluru. Her thesis, entitled Kona: Changing Perspective on Learning in India, was presented in May 2015.
Website: vidhigoel.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/vidhig