20 Projects

Students in my People-Knowing class (Fall 2015) documented various aspects of MDP studio culture in an attempt to communicate and define what it means to live and work at the MDP. We then refined these findings in a daylong workshop and printed the following resources guide for new and current students.

The idea for this project grew out of my own professional interests in investigating, visualizing, and sharing internal culture external.

Completed: Fall 2015

Medium: Workshop + Magazine (print)

Role: Lecturer. Magazine created by Media Design Practices (MDP) students at Art Center College of Design

CLICK to read the issue

CLICK to see more graduate student work from my People-Knowing and Data Stories classes

Co-authored with Rhys Newman, VP of Nokia’s Everyday Adventure design team. This essay looks at some of the characteristics that fosters happy, healthy, and creative teams (hint: No Dickheads!).

RESULTS: The article gained over 13,000 clicks in its first 3 days and was the #1 most read article on Medium for 1 week!

Completed: 2015

Medium: Essay

Role: Co-author with Rhys Newman

CLICK to read the essay

The Ground Systems Development & Operations (GSDO) is the largest NASA program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. For one week, I embedded myself within the team as part of an independent study of GSDO Program’s work culture.

The design research process included:

> 18 interviews with various team members at all levels within the org.

> The creation of an Explorer’s Club workshop, which invited participants to crowdsource photos of KSC.

> 6 different tours of KSC’s vast facilities, including the launch pad and astronaut quarters.

> 1 final presentation to GSDO leadership outlining a roadmap for potential changes.

Fun Fact: The access to people and behind-the-scenes locations was unparalleled, with the a highlight being a visit to the Astronaut Quarters (where astronauts are quarantined four days before they going on there mission).

Completed: 2015

Medium: Print and Presentation

Role: Project Lead. Collaborators include Jessie Kawata (JPL) as well as GSDO lead Katherine Maloney (KSC)

CLICK for images from the project.

Created and edited six issues of ADQ, a quarterly magazine and tool for reflecting, archiving, and improving the design process, onboarding new employees, and connecting company executives to the team and its culture.

Completed: 2015

Medium: Print

Role: Project Lead

Pull up a chair and read a few issues....

CLICK to read the LANGUAGE issue

CLICK to read the CHANGE issue. 

This design research project supported the ideation and development of two future products in the active, outdoor tech space for Nokia. Research deliverables included an interactive journey map as well as a series of short films aimed at inspiring the design process and connecting the team to its target audience.

FUN FACT: The research process consisted of 9 field interviews, 65 hours of recorded footage, 10 home interviews, 6,984 miles covered and one stolen camera.  

Completed: 2015

Medium: Print + Video

Role: Completed with Rita Parada, Kat Gough, and Rob Kirby (Nokia), in collaboration with John McNeil Studio.

Created specifically for JPL’s Take Your Child to Work Day, this storytelling prototype explored capturing stories without a human intermediary.

Upon entering the booth, children were greeted by JIM, a beam of light projected inside the booth. Using Wizard-of-Oz-like technology, JIM asked ‘What do you think we do at JPL?’ and encouraged children to leave a message for the future.

FUN FACT: JIM was inspired by HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Completed: 2013

Medium: Architecture + Technology

Role: Project Lead. In collaboration with Alexander Smith (Creative Technologist) and Matthew Au (Architecture)

WATCH this process video to learn more about the project in action!

CLICK to view images of the project, including JIM's construction and implementation. 

Inspired by the aesthetic of the Mysteries and Curiosities map, my design team overhauled JPL’s onboarding material. Our resulting collateral included folders, postcards, a tote bag, and stickers —all housed in a box designed to look like a Jet Pack.

RESULTS: For offer packets, we changed the packaging from a standard manila envelope to one used in the Lab’s Clean Room—an inexpensive material that reflects the Lab’s culture while reinforcing a metaphor of transparency.

Completed: 2012

Medium: Print (box, postcards, stickers, maps, bag)

Role: Project Lead. In collaboration with Christiane Holzheid (Design,Illustration) and Erin Ellis (Art Direction, Illustration)

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is in the business of space exploration. The Mysteries and Curiosities Map is all about Lab exploration, encouraging JPL’s employees to discover the Lab (and its culture) through 9 themed walking tours.  

Flip the map over to see an "Insider's Guide" to JPL, containing information to orient new employees to the Lab. This onboarding tool can be hung as a poster, used for impromptu exploration, or can serve as a conversation aid the next time you talk with your local rocket scientist!

RESULTS: Personally approved and overseen by the Lab’s Director, the Mysteries Map was given to all employees at the Lab’s 76th birthday party.  It is still given to every new employee and intern at orientation.

Completed: First edition (2011), Second edition (2015)

Medium: Map (print)  

Role: Project Lead. In collaboration with Christiane Holzheid (Art Direction, Illustration) and Erin Ellis (Illustration, Typography) as well Eric Nyquist (Illustration) for the project’s 2nd edition.

The General Meade Society is a non-profit organization devoted to promoting and preserving the memory of Union General George Gordon Meade. For five months, I embedded with this group to document a variety of Meade-related events including monthly meetings, the Society's awards ceremony and the reenactment of a Civil War battle.

Insight: I would have died within the first five minutes of fighting in a Civil War battle. There is something valuable in knowing that.

Completed: 2009

Medium: A multimedia presentation on a customized 8x12-foot wall and a book based on the transcript from the society's monthly meeting on Feb. 19, 2009.  (UI/UX, Graphic Design, Video, Product Design, Exhibition Design)

Role: Independent project

DOWNLOAD THE BOOK Me or Meade.

CLICK to see images from the project, including pictures of the customized wall used in the project’s presentation.

CLICK to watch a few second from reenactement. 

What are the unspoken conversations in families?

Text Story was part of a larger study to understand how real-time and streaming affects families.

In this site-specific project, a family was given a phone contact name Wall—and any text message sent to Wall were anonymously projected on their living room wall. The messages themselves built up during the day and disappeared at night. These same messages were also collected in a database and later designed into a book, which was given back to the family as a gift for their participation.

Insight: Text messages are a fragmented way of communicating, but allowing a family to send text messages to their living room wall creates a dynamic communication space within the home.

Completed: 2008

Medium: A book (Design Research, Graphic Design)

Role: Designed and created with Julia Tsao

DOWNLOAD Text Story, which documents one family’s text messages to “Wall-e” over a three-day period

CLICK for project images. 

What if you had the ability to see through walls?

The original intent of the project was to allow users to look from one end of Art Center’s campus to the other. To create this effect, a video monitor was embedded at the end of the telescope. Viewers looking through the telescope could access a variety of webcams, placed linearly throughout the school, by simply turning a knob. While this concept was interesting, what I found most interesting was the simple act of people looking through a telescope.

Taxicab Confession: Part of the motivation for creating a gigantic telescope was overcoming a fear of power tools. Of course, this landed me in the hospital. Eyeglasses do not double as safety glasses.

Completed: 2007

Medium:  Giant, customized interactive telescope (UI/UX, product design/construction)

Role: Independent project

CLICK to see images of the telescope’s construction + images of folks looking through it (the best part!)

The School for Arts in Learning (SAIL) Charter mission is to encourage students, the majority of whom have some type of learning disability, to use the arts as a means of accessing academic achievement.  

As the Arts Coordinator at SAIL Upper (middle and high school), it was my job to infuse the arts into the curriculum. To do so, I worked either with individual teachers to setup arts-based lesson plans or directly through my digital arts classes.  I was also responsible for arranging field trips and maintaining the overall aesthetic look of the school.  

Because of space constraints, I created the Seahawk Source, a middle and high school online newspaper, to highlight student work. Both the “Mother’s Day Card” and “If I Were President” initially appeared in the Source before being shown at the school’s first film festival, which I help create.   

CLICK to view screenshots of the Seahawk Source (and to see student work).

WATCH  Mother’s Day: Rather than create a traditional Mother’s Day card, my 9th and 10th graders students wanted to express their feelings through alternative means.

WATCH   If I Were President: SAIL’s close proximity to the White House allowed us to shoot this short on location.  Students were divided into groups of four and assigned a role: director, cameraman, whiteboard holder and talent.  Using a school camera, students shot and filmed what they would do if they were President.

Completed: 2005-2007

Medium:  Website

Role: Teacher