SCADpros are 10 week studio courses that allow students to partner up with industry professionals who seek innovative solutions, creativity and diverse student perspective. Through these courses I've worked with students from all disciplines, found my voice in presenting, and a passion for storytelling.
Google.org
Google.org is essentially a non-profit within a big tech company. We would be working with the Crisis Response team to ideate solutions on how to enable local communities and help each other during hurricanes, floods and tropical storms.
This project challenged my ability to stand up for myself and advocate for the things I feel strongest about. My heart would be tied to the lives we would impact, and to the incredible group of individuals attempting to tackle this problem, I couldn't give up.
Midterm Presentation
Through interactive story telling we were able to present our three preliminary concepts. We would immerse Google in the world of our personas using props, exercises and sharing personal stories.
The Red Team
After midterms, an incredible challenge arose. Who would take on the "Red concept"?
Ramya and I.
We would aid local communities in moments of crisis by connecting them directly to each other. Focusing on the value of human connection.
Although we were made aware of the many constraints and issues that surrounded our idea, we felt the underlying love that John and Travis had for the value behind the concept. We kept this as our strength while we solved complex problems, held difficult discussions on privacy and security and balanced logic with feelings.
At the end of the course we hit a roadblock. What were our deliverables? What are we really trying to communicate? We don't have much time.
Slowly advocates for the red concept arose and we collaborated with Graphic Design students for a process book, Service Design for a blueprint, Industrial Design for a physical takeway and others for emotional support. At the end of the day, all we really needed to do was convince Google and believe in ourselves. It was possible, it was worth it and they could do this.
What else did I do?
• Audited Google's current crisis response experience.
• Worked on our Midterm Presentation and ideated innovative ways to present our concepts to Google.
• Presented to Google our research in the Midterm Presentation.
• Interviewed designers from Facebook about crisis response and Uber about safety.
• Designed a pitch with Ramya for the Red concept and presented it to Google.
Volvo Cars
The Volvo Cars SCADpro was formatted into several design sprints that were led simultaneously to conceptualize the future of Volvo Cars. This collaboration consisted of students of 8 different majors and allowed me to learn several strategic methods for ideation through the lens of Advertisement and Branding students.
Our Timeline
Parking Team
On the second half of the course, I would lead a team of four to ideate what the future of valet and parking infrastructure looked like with autonomous vehicles.
We dove into research on the innerworkings of valet and how people perceive
and utilize it. This sparked several ideas that we would deliver to Volvo in the format of several "napkin sketches". This allowed us to purely focus on concepting rapidly to finding innovative solutions.
and utilize it. This sparked several ideas that we would deliver to Volvo in the format of several "napkin sketches". This allowed us to purely focus on concepting rapidly to finding innovative solutions.
What else did I do?
• Conceptualized several solutions on the future of car sharing with the facilitation of the mobile phone.
• Lead the future of parking team in the second round of sprints. Mainly served as a supportive figure and in facilitated the different disciplines to highlight their unique skills.
• Conducted contextual research with nearby valet personnel both in-person and over the phone.
• Presented our research in our final presentation and discuss our napkin sketches with Volvo.
Samsung Mobile
The Samsung Mobile SCADpro fueled my passion for storytelling. We were set to find the core value of a smartphone, observe natural human interactions with foldable objects and craft the story of students who designed a communication app for an innovative phone form factor.
Motion Media x UX Design
From idea to full visualization we worked together with motion media students to craft innovative features for our communication app.
Screen Portal, would allow users to share and interact with content without leaving the messages app. Another way for users to focus on the task at hand, and not be distracted by switching from screen to screen.
What else did I do?
• Managed the competitive research team where we would observe and test current solutions to communication apps.
• Conducted the opening objects experiment. This allowed us to observe the natural interaction between people and the material world to then apply to the future of technology.
• Worked on the UI team where we would ideate features, create a visual guideline and craft a story for each feature.
• Created the flow for the final presentation with a refocus on what value we want to communicate to Samsung.
• Presented for our midpoint review and kicked off our final presentation to Samsung Mobile Korea.
Most of this work is NDA protected, please contact me if you are interested in learning more about my experience. Meanwhile, enjoy pictures, thoughts and snippets of my journey with SCADpro.
