Investigation of student-to-faculty communication in the School of Design using design research methods and design principles to propose a design solution.



Duration


3 weeks

Team


Michelle Dang
Julia LePoer
Yoo Sung Lee


Tools


Figma
Illustrator

Problem


Communication is a vital part of the learning experience for students, and clear communication can improve the faculty/student dynamic.



Solution


This research project investigates communication between students and faculty in the School of Design. Through qualitative and quantitative research, we investigate the effectiveness of types of communication and the quality of these interactions and provide design proposals to address our findings.










Lunar Gala is a fashion organization at CMU. Mapping allows us to understand how this community and their stakeholders develop a consensus of understanding around shared values.



Duration


2 weeks

Team


Jiyeon Chun
Michelle Dang
Gian Seixas 


Tools


Figma
Procreate



Problem


Communities are shaped through systems of interaction as facilitated through communication (verbal & non-verbal), shared assets, social practices and cultural relationships. Use design research methods to better understand how and why a specific community organizes to fulfill their own needs and clearly communicate through a map.



Solution


The branches of the map act as subsystems embedded within the larger Lunar Gala community, each serving a unique purpose related to shared skills and abilities within them. In this way, we analyze Lunar Gala as a system, seeking to understand the inter and intraconnections between stakeholders and pinpointing key relationships and practices that organize and sustain the community.











Mapping the issue of healthcare access provides exploration of the system to identify knowledge gaps and intervention points when redesigning policies, organizations, and experiences.



Duration


4 weeks




Team


Catherine Liu
Gia Marino
Karan Shah

Tools


Figma
Illustrator
Procreate


Problem


Currently, 1 million adult New Yorkers are uninsured, and more than 1.2 million adults lack a regular care provider. The 4 main factors causing this issue are the mismanagement of healthcare resources, lack of access to health information, inequality, and laws and regulations that inadvertently cause more complications.


Solution


The map is divided into four sections that represent the four main issues: inequality, laws and regulations, mismanagement of resources, and access to information. Individual nodes are then organized from an individual to national scale, thus representing different groups of stakeholders being affected. Within each section are also specific nodes that connect to create positive feedback loops. Additionally, each problem has an icon representing what sector of society causes that specific issue.



© THIEN LE