Our students emerge confident, powerful, agile, and skilled.

STUDENTS

CLASS OF 2020

Featured

Victoria is an experience designer with a background in research. 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. There, she worked on various projects from exploring the futures of tele-health, to helping large financial institutions keep better track of their clients and regulations. Victoria also founded the Black Designers in Tech NYC Meetup group. Growing up in New York helped shape her passion for design and creativity, and she hopes to use design to address societal issues and provide access to marginalized groups.

Website: victoriaayo.com

Anna Chau

Anna grew up in Canada, where she received her BA in Industrial Design from Carleton University. While there, she was especially interested in how design influences cultures, communities, and our daily habits. Anna 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. Anna is attending the Products of Design program with the intention of learning from her peers, professors, and the people of New York so that she can look at design through a different lens.

Website: annachau.com

Helen Chen

Helen is a multidisciplinary designer from Shanghai and New York. She has a BA in Art History and East Asian Studies from Columbia University. Over the last five years, she has worked in the fields of fine arts, architecture, graphic- and experience design. Helen worked on the project management team at Bjarke Ingels Group that designed the Google Campus in Mountain View, California, and was also part of the in-house digital media team at SOM. As a graphic and UX designer, she has worked such clients as Vox Media and Crunch Fitness. As a passion project, Helen runs Lady Marmalade Studio, where she creates artisanal jams and produces pop-up food experiences. The diversity in her life and work experiences have deeply influenced her human-centered design approach, and her ability to problem-solve.

Website: helenchen.co

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. Stephanie loves to travel and learn about food, art, and design around the world. One of her most memorable travel experiences found her in Oaxaca, Mexico where she participated in a Spanish-instructional artist residency with the Arquetopia Foundation and learned traditional backstrap loom weaving techniques from local master weavers.

Website: stephanie-gamble.com

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. A Nebraska native and 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 personal crusade to find an engaging and meaningful vector to push into has led him to the Products of Design program at SVA. What comes next, only the future knows.

Website: bartscience.com

Shu Han Ho

Felix grew up in Taiwan and received his BA in Industrial Design from Shi Chien University. He worked as a product designer for MIT Legend, a product design studio in Taipei, where he specialized in product manufacturing and materials processing. Through MIT Legend, his design works have been sold to companies such as the Container Store, John Lewis, and Hola. Felix looks forward to learning more about design strategy and technology applications.

Website: felixhodesign.com

Sun Joung

Seona was born and raised in Seoul, and moved to the US to study 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. Seona is excited to explore the role of design in both digital and physical forms, and its integral relationship to social responsibility. When she’s not in the studio, she can be found salsa dancing, exploring pop-up exhibitions or cultural events, or experimenting with homemade rice wine recipes.

Website: seonajoung.com

Yuko Kanai

Yuko was born and raised in Palo Alto, California. She 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. Yuko is greatly influenced by her Japanese-American upbringing, feminism, music, and queer subcultures, and she is excited to expand on the scope of her design work by investigating products and experiences in unfamiliar territories. At Products of Design, Yuko looks forward to developing the skills and vocabulary to address the needs within various intersections of identity.

Website: Yukokanai.com

Yue Leng

Leng grew up in China and graduated from the Xiamen Academy of Arts and Design of Fuzhou University with a BA in Product Design. Her passions include industrial design, interactive art, and painting. In addition to art and design, Leng likes to dance and travel. Her travel experiences include hiking in the Himalayas, diving in Malaysia, and selling handmade products on the streets of Italy. She enjoys the process of exploration, and is generally curious about everything, which inspires her design and art.

Shin Young Park

Shin Young is a multidisciplinary designer from South Korea. She 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, Shin Young became interested in researching and designing solutions to problems facing society, so she decided to pursue a masters degree in design. She is excited to merge her background with the knowledge and experience she will receive in the MFA Products of Design program. When she’s not designing or doodling, Shin Young can be found learning new languages and playing musical instruments.

Website: shinparkdesign.com

Pantea Parsa

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 such companies as Target and Macy’s. Pantea's experiences as a Middle Eastern woman shaped her identity as a designer, and she hopes to use her design skills to help people who are struggling against injustice. Pantea is deeply passionate about sustainable design, and tries to practice a low-waste lifestyle, one plastic bottle at a time.

Website: panteaparsa.com

Weston Rivell

A native of New Jersey, Wes 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. This exploration led Wes to his two main passions, physical computing and woodworking. His 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.

Website: westonrivell.com

Theodore Scoufis

Prior to joining the 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 and studied coalition building in the Global War on Terror, and completed his undergraduate degree in Political Science. Ted has worked for the Warrior-Scholar Project, a non-profit that helps military service members transition to higher education by hosting academic boot camps at universities around the country. Prior to moving to New York City, Ted was an avid mountaineer, and has ascended Mt. Rainier and Mt. Denali.

Website: theoscoufis.com

Catherine Stoddard

Catherine grew up in a Chinese-American household in Atlanta, Georgia. Her interest in Asian cultures, inspired in part by her heritage, 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 intends to combine her desire to aid humanity with creativity and analysis to form an interdisciplinary, thoughtful design practice. She is eager to learn more about the human condition, explore different materials and methods of thinking, and discover ways to mitigate waste.

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. Most recently, she worked at LKK in China, consulting on product design and manufacturing for such clients as Alibaba and Geberit. Yufei looks forward to learning new perspectives and expanding her creative and business skills at Products of Design.

Website: yufeiwangdesign.com

Xiaorui Wu

Sherry was 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. She is excited to start her new journey at Products of Design.

Website: sherrywu.myportfolio.com

Yi-Hsuan Yang

Yi-Hsuan Yang was born in Taipei, Taiwan. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from Tatung University. She has a strong passion for design strategy, development, and data analysis. She is also interested in narrative movies and has created short films and advertisements. Her short films have been screened at exhibitions such as the Yodex Young Designers Exhibition. Yi-Hsuan wants to continue to balance the value of design and business at the MFA Products of Design program.

Website: elvisyangdesign.com

Hui Zheng

Born in Hangzhou, China, Hui completed his undergraduate degree in Industrial Design at Xian Jiaotong Liverpool University. He interned as a product designer at Benwu Studio in Shanghai, where he worked on the Egg House Shanghai and AirBorne. Hui was responsible for the installations, from concept to fabrication, including sketching, 3d modeling, and drawing. Hui enjoys games, especially Metal Gear Solid by world-renowned game director and designer Hideo Kojima. He believes that some of the philosophies in game design can also be applied to designing great products.

Website: hzheng.net

ALUMNI

FEATURED ALUMNI OF THE CLASS OF 2019

Featured

Rhea Bhandari

Rhea is a product designer and design strategist based in New York City. Rhea was born and raised in India, and 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. Most recently, Rhea interned at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as a Design Strategist. 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.in
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/rhea-bhandari-187445113

Evelyn Cheung

Evie is a Senior Design Consultant at Doblin in New York City. After receiving a BA in Psychology from Pitzer College, Evie started working in content marketing and brand strategy for startups, such as Fluent City, Front of House NYC, and Unified Social. As a student at MFA Products of Design, Evie started her own freelance consulting company, and was a Creative Strategy Intern at Code and Theory, working on projects with clients including Adidas, Maybelline, and Moncler. Her 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

Gustav Ole Dyrhauge

Gustav is a designer based 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 in collaboration 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

Kevin Cook

Kevin is a product designer based in New York City. Born and raised in Montréal, Canada, Kevin has experience bringing manufactured products to market, including children’s toys, medical devices, consumer electronics and sporting equipment. Most recently, Kevin has worked as a User Experience Designer at Sid Lee where he worked with clients including Samsung, BlackRock, MetLife, and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. His thesis, Closer Kin: Building Stronger Family Environments by Design, explores how children’s outcomes could be improved by strengthening family relationships.

Website: kevincook.co
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/kevin-cook-4697b755

Ellen Rose

Ellen is a designer at Brandpie, a branding agency based in London and New York City. Ellen is also an artist and has a background working in visual presentation, having created 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

Antya Waegemann

Antya is an interaction designer at frog design in New York City. Prior to joining MFA Products of Design, Antya received a BA in Environmental Studies from New York University, and an MLA in Sustainable Management from Harvard University with a focus in policy and business. In the summer following her first year of graduate studies, Antya gained experience as an Insights, Experience and Strategy Design Intern at Johnson & Johnson. Her thesis, When No One Believes You: Redesigning the Rape Kit and Responses to Sexual Assault, proposes six different design interventions for sexual assault victims, nurses and the police, including two redesigns of the standard rape kit, an emergency sexual assault resource app, a product that detects DNA during the exam, and a rape kit tracking system.

Website: antyawaegemann.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/antyawaegemann

Meet the entire class of 2019

FEATURED ALUMNI OF THE CLASS OF 2018

Featured

Bernice Wong

Bernice is a 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

Smruti Adya

Smruti is a designer at Deloitte Digital in Seattle, Washington. 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 is skilled in ethnographic research, industrial design, and product strategy, which she is excited to apply in her goal of creating design that is impactful and products and services that are responsible. Her thesis, entitled UPGRADE: Designing for Access and Acceptability around Limb Loss and Limb Difference, aims to create the conditions that lead to 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

Andrew Schlesinger

Andrew is a Design Researcher at TrialSpark in New York City. Andrew studied Industrial Engineering at the University of Michigan before moving to San Francisco to work at Apple as an engineer in the manufacturing design team. His work focused on the development and mass production of iterative generations of the iPhone, from the 4S to the 7. 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

Juho Lee

Juho is Interaction Designer at frog design in Austin, Texas. Originally from South Korea, Juho moved to the U.S. 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. Juho's thesis, entitled Cast Away: Designs for Socially Isolated Korean Men Contemplating Suicide, was presented in May 2018.

Website: juholee.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/juho-lee

Alexia Cohen

Alexia is a Venezuelan-Belgian-American designer, currently working 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

Lassor Feasley

Lassor is a designer based in New York City. Prior to his design career, Lassor worked at ModernMD Urgent Care, a chain of medical clinics in underserved neighborhoods in Brooklyn which he helped grow from zero to seven locations in a year. He graduated from Brandeis University with concentrations in American Studies, Film, Business, and Law. His thesis, You Are on the Fastest Route: Intentional Community and Responsible Autonomy, examines how self-driving cars might impact American culture and the habits of everyday life.

Website: lassor.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/lassorfeasley

Meet the entire class of 2018

FEATURED ALUMNI OF THE CLASS OF 2017

Featured

Jenna Witzleben

Jenna is a design strategist at Arup in New York City. She received her undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University, and immediately after, joined the Products of Design program. Before graduating from the program, she expanded her experience through working as a researcher and engineer at Eleven LLC., an exhibition designer at Design Museum Boston, and an experience designer at R/GA in NYC. Jenna's thesis, entitled Finding the Wild: A Visceral Approach to Sustainability, explores an alternative future trajectory—“rewilding”—and how physical and emotional reconnection with our natural environments can inspire lifestyles of environmental stewardship.

Website: jennawitzleben.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/jenna-witzleben-1a47848a

Ailun Sai

Ailun will be joining IDEO Shangai in the fall as a junior designer. Currently, she is the lead designer for Bonbouton—a medical technology firm promoting preventive diabetes health care. She collaborates with the engineering team to conceptualize and define product solutions for diabetes-monitoring wearables. She briefly consulted with 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. Ailun's thesis, entitled DOMINION: Redefining the Relationship and Humans, was presented in May 2017.

Website: ailunsai.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/ailun-sai-5a8368117

Julia Lindpaintner

Julia is a UX Designer for 18F, an office within the General Services Administration that partners with federal agencies to improve the user experience of government. Previously, she worked as a senior designer at innovation consulting firm Luminary Labs in New York City and served as a Civic Digital Fellow for the US Census Bureau’s Census Open Innovation Lab (COIL), where she helped to conceptualize and produce materials that would engage partners across the country in anticipation of the 2020 Decennial Census. While she was an MFA Products of Design student, Julia worked for Common Cents Lab, where she studied behavioral economics and worked with a team on products aimed at improving the financial well-being of low and middle income Americans. Prior to her time at PoD, Julia spent three years on Michael Bierut’s team at Pentagram, where she acted as project manager, strategist, researcher, and writer on projects ranging from brand strategy and corporate identity to books, digital marketing tools, and environmental installations across a variety of industries. 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

Arjun Kalyanpur

Arjun is a Junior Creative Strategist at Code and Theory in New York City. Soon after he received his MFA in 2017, he worked at 10XBeta—a design firm for which he consulted as a product manager on six projects in the fields of medical devices, IoT consumer products (product/app), and robotics. Arjun developed an interest in product design after graduating with a B.S. in Engineering and M.S. in Biomedical Engineering. He worked for a retail packaging company, quickly developing and launching several products for the luxury cosmetics brand La Prairie Switzerland. 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

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. Prior to establishing Double Take Labs, he was a design and electrical engineering intern at Tomorrow Lab, and design director at Throughlines. Prior to joining the MFA Products of Design program, Josh graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelors in Architecture, and then worked as an architectural lighting designer and theatre consultant for Schuler Shook in Chicago, IL. 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 solder at the MoMA Store. An award winner at the Core77 Design Awards and Best Design Awards, Oscar’s work has also been featured on numerous international design blogs.

Website: oscarpipson.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/oscar-pipson-8434504b

meet the entire class of 2017

FEATURED ALUMNI OF THE CLASS OF 2016

Featured

Adam Fujita

Adam is a freelance design consultant and works with companies such as Blue Apron, the Rockefeller Foundation, Ideo.org, Whole Foods, Tomorrow Lab, and Bark Box, to name a few. He also launched his own podcast, My Life in Letters, in which he documents the lives of graffiti artists and letter enthusiasts, as well as the culture created by graffiti art. You can listen to the podcast through iTunes and Google Play. Adam has spent the majority of his life crafting and telling stories through various forms of performance. He’s been working as a voice over actor in New York City for many years and can be heard on radio stations across the nation. He has 20 years of experience as a public artist specifically using highly flammable and pressurized enamel paints.

Website: adamkfujita.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/adamkfujita

Isioma Iyamah

Isioma is the Creative Director for VICE Media. She provides creative direction to project designers and video editors, and also conceptualizes for branded content on VICE’s platforms. Her prior experience includes working for Mother New York and PSFK Labs. Prior to joining MFA Products of Design, Isioma received her BA in molecular and cell biology from UC Berkeley.

Website: cargocollective.com/IIyamah
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.

Website: edenlew.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/eden-lew-96a44762

Jonathan Lung

Jonathan "Jon" Lung is an American television personality, industrial designer and graphic designer. He is a co-host on the Science Channel TV series MythBusters, a reboot of the original show which premiered November 15, 2017. Lung 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. When he’s not in front of the camera, John generates concepts, prototypes and tests as a product designer, and also designs and builds furniture. He also works as a freelance graphic designer.

Website: jonjuhanlung.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/jonathan-lung-131a9867

Roya Ramezani

Roya is an interdisciplinary and intercultural designer with a background in Physics. She is a design technologist for JPMorgan Chase & Co., and splits her time between San Francisco and New York City. 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.

Website: royaramezani.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/royaram

Souvik Paul

Souvik is the President, CEO and Co-Founder of Cathbuddy Inc.—a medical design firm that is developing a device that safely sterilizes, stores and reuses catheters. They were the winners of Tufts’ 2018 $100K New Ventures Competition. 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.

Website: souvikpaul.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/souvik-paul-cathbuddy

Meet the entire Class of 2016

FEATURED ALUMNI OF THE CLASS OF 2015

Featured

Steve Hamilton

Steve is a Designer in Residence responsible for Branch Transformation at Ponce Bank and is teaching design led research in the Transdisciplinary Design MFA Program at Parsons in New York City. As founder of Spin Cycle Post Steve pioneered digital post-production workflows for independent feature films throughout the 90’s and 00’s, collaborating with filmmakers including Ang Lee, Hal Hartley, Michael Almereyda, visual artists Matthew Barney, Pierre Huyghe, and Mika Rottenberg, and Choreographers Trisha Brown and Cathy Weis. His own work has been featured at The New Museum, The Queens Museum of Art and Art-In-General. Steve founded Twelve Ton Rose, a creative design consultancy based in New York City, through which he is currently Designer in Residence focused on Branch Transformation at Ponce Bank. Steve's design work inspires creative thinking and dialog using the lenses of future studies, speculative design, and experience design through workshops and conceptual design artifacts. His thesis, entitled Enough is the New More: Reframing Scarcity to Feel Like Abundance, was presented in May 2015.

Website: iamstevehamilton.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/steve-hamilton-23009910

Lusha Huang

Lusha is currently a Ph.D. Student at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Hailing from Guangzhou, China, she gained a BA in Industrial design at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts before coming to Products of Design. Her work has been recognized in various international design competitions, such as the IF Design Award, and holds five patents. After her MFA she worked as an Industrial Designer at Pip Tompkin Studio and at Quirky, and interned at littleBits. Her thesis, entitled It’s Chinese to me: Luck and Cultural Empathy, explored the disconnect between Chinese and American culture.

Website: lusha-huang.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/lusha-huang-8b849178

Berk Ilhan

Berk Ilhan is a New York-based product and experience designer whose work focuses on bringing humanity, delight, and empathy to technology. His designs have been recognized by over 15 international design awards, including the Red Dot Best of the Best and iF Design Award, and he has been featured on numerous television networks including CNN. As the Director of Innovation and Strategy for 10XBeta, Berk designed many products for company's global clients including KLM, PUMA, NRG, as well as health technology startups focused on disruptive innovation such as Inspiren and Myovue. In addition, he co-created a Design Thinking curriculum for Thomas Jefferson University's JeffSolves Incubation Program, and co-directed the program for three years, facilitating design workshops and giving lectures. Berk holds an undergraduate degree in Industrial Design from Middle East Technical University, Ankara. His Masters Thesis, entitled Uplift: Happiness & Communication in the Context of Cancer, has enjoyed considerable renown.

Website: berkilhan.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/berkilhan

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 a forthcoming book on forest bathing (Ten Speed Press, Spring 2019). She's also the co-founder of Trouble Makers Inc., a design collaborative with the goal of making challenging issues digestible. They received an Awesome Without Borders grant and a Core77 award along with press from Popular Science, New Yorker, The Telegraph, Food & Wine, and Epicurious for their first product, Critter Bitters, which aims to change the attitude around eating insects. She's worked at 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 B.A. 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

Brandon Washington

Brandon is an Art Director and Designer at Staple Design in New York City. Since graduating from Products of Design, Brandon has enjoyed an abundant 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 obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design Technology from the Art Institute of Philadelphia. Brandon's thesis, The Spectacle, was an investigation into Guy Debord’s theory of the same name and how it relates to today.

Website: brandoffwashington.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/brandoffwashington

Elisa Werbler

Elisa is a Senior Art Director at Red Antler in New York City. Over the course of her career she has worked with such organizations as Mother New York, IDEO, Etsy, Casper, Allbirds, Android Pay, Google, Anthropologie, Coach, Kate Spade and Princeton Architectural Press. Elisa has a strong background in designing and making products both physical and digital, and ranges in scale from hand-held objects to complete spaces. She combines this with her skills in art direction, graphic design, strategy, research, service design, systems thinking, business-modeling and user-experience to create designs that are both visually and intellectually stimulating. Her work has been exhibited at New York’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair, and in several online publications including DesignSponge, DailyCandy, DesignMilk and others. She attended the Rhode Island School of Design, where she received her BFA in Furniture Design with Honors. Elisa's master's thesis, entitled Things, explores how we ascribe value to our everyday possessions.

Website: elisawerbler.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/elisa-werbler-0663bb1b

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FEATURED ALUMNI OF THE CLASS OF 2014

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Damon Ahola

Damon is a Product Designer at Motivate, defining the future of bike share for New York City's Citi Bike system, as well as other bike share programs around the world. As an interaction designer at frog design, he worked with a diverse list of forward-thinking clients to tackle big challenges through research, strategy and design in the fields of finance, health care, transportation and consumer products. He has helped define opportunities from startups to such Fortune 500 clients as Google, Starbucks, Verizon, and BNY Mellon. Damon's portfolio is split between client and self-proposed projects, creating a unique perspective for purposeful design. He has been the recipient of numerous accolades and has been recognized by Red Dot Design Awards, Core77, IDSA, The Design Museum of London, The Verge, The Guardian and Fast Company. His thesis, entitled Hacking the Orchestra of Life: A Movement for Capturing Ambient Energy, explores the space of energy generation through human-made sources.

Website: damonahola.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/damon-ahola-9436793

Rona Binay

Rona is a graphic designer in interactive media at 2x4 in New York City. After graduating from Products of Design, Rona was a Visual Experience Designer at Local Projects and a Designer at Birsel + Seck. She has also interned for Natasha Jen at Pentagram and freelanced for Benjamin Critton Art. Dept., Natalie Jeremijenko, Ana Kraš, Nissan Future Lab, and Adidas Originals. Rona holds a BA in Interior Architecture and Environmental Design from Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. Her master's thesis, COEXIST: Mixing With Urban Wildlife, studies the relationship between city and nature through the lens of urban wildlife.

Website: ronabinay.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/rona-binay-3700181a

Richard Clarkson

Richard is the Founder and Creative Director at Richard Clarkson Studio, an innovative art and design studio based in Brooklyn whose clients include Google, IBM, Coca-Cola, and Miley Cyrus. During his studies at the Products of Design program, Richard realized and developed a strong passion for physical computing and business management. Utilizing these and other key skillsets, Richard launched his studio with his flagship product, the Smart Cloud. The studio has continued to grow, reaching international buyers and press with ever-evolving projects and products. Richard's thesis, entitled Super. Moments of Remarkable, was presented in May 2014.

Website: richardclarkson.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/clarksonrichard

Mansi Gupta

Mansi is a Design & Innovation Specialist at Women's World Banking in New York City. Originally from the industrial city of Kanpur in North India, where she grew up around leather manufacturing facilities, Mansi is also the co-founder of TRMTAB, a collection of upcycled leather goods made from manufacturing material waste. Mansi studied Economics and Computer Science at Bryn Mawr, and has always been interested in the role of design across various industries. Following her graduation from Products of Design, she spent several years as a behaviorial designer at FinalMile Consulting and as a product developer as Prachi Leathers in her native India. Mansi's thesis, titled BETTER: The Prejudices & Practices of Mass Production, began with the goal to bring sustainability to the larger fashion system.

Website: mansigupta.com
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/mansigupta

Kathryn McElroy

Kathryn is Creative Director at Austin’s Argodesign. Immediately following her graduation from Products of Design, she spent three years as Design Lead and UX Designer for IBM in Austin. Passionate about near-future technology, artificial intelligence, design strategy, and smart objects, she is the author of Prototyping for Designers, published by O'Reilly Media, and regularly speaks about prototyping, design thinking, and user experience design. Kathryn's thesis, entitled Presence: How to Use Digital Technology to Live a More Analog Life, explores approaches to limiting the distraction caused by modern information technology.

Website: kathrynmcelroy.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/kathrynmcelroy

Joseph Weissgold

Joseph is the Head of Invention at Future Laboratories in New York City, where he was also a founding member. Prior to that, he was the Chief of Staff at The Future Project. While studying at MFA Products of Design, Joseph taught digital fabrication and physical computing at day-camps and after-school programs for teens, and professional development workshops for teachers. He's worked with the Institute of Play, the Makerbot Foundation, and such museums as the American Museum of Natural History, the Jewish Museum, and the Guggenheim. Joseph's thesis, entitled The Teacher's Lounge, was presented in 2014.

Website: josephweissgold.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/jweissgold

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