Paparazzi is a mobile web app that facilitates the game Assassins, a game commonly played in large college organizations.

Similar to Assassins, each player is assigned a target. However, the randomization of targets is taken care of by the app and the organizer is allowed to participate without the stress or burden of administration. The violent connotation of the name Assassins is also replaced by the modern and more friendly direction of paparazzi, who kill by shooting targets with camera phones.

I led the visual design for this project, but I worked with a fantastic team for UX design, development, and business strategy - Thank you Haley Dobart, Lizzy Perold, Athif Wulandana, Ian Pierson, and Connor Lay! The live version can be played here.

An Earlier Rendition

The Final

AimHigh is a tool that will help students identify and keep track of their academic and personal goals.

It records progress though a one simple repetitive action that only requires one submission at the end of the day. Eventually, it will show progress as time elapses throughout a quarter. The goals are separated into two categories, academic and personal.

All goals are achievable and there is no goal that is too high to reach. The first step is to set them.

The story behind AimHigh is a personal one. At the beginning of every academic year, I've holed myself up in a coffee shop to try and visualize what an ideal year would look like. What were my priorities going to be? What did I want to accomplish? The idea was to pinpoint in writing exactly what I wanted as thoroughly as possible. The annual Evernote document covered anything from time management, to health, to friendships and relationships.

While I did understand my goals, they were largely based on feelings and were not quantifiable.

I've been my own test subject for three years and It's helped me grow. I set out to make this an easier process not only for myself, but also as a way to share it with others.

Research

Since it takes 40 days to make or break a habit, Jerry Steinfield says that the secret to productivity is something called the chain calendar. if you place a red x on a calendar for every day that you complete your goals, seeing that x chain will persuade us not to break it. Seeing consistency will motivate us to keep going. Data visualization helps pull together a vast amount of information and simplify it to tell a story. I started looking into existing trackers such as FitBit, Reporter, and AprilZero to try and understand human motivation.

Needfinding

I enlisted the help of a friend to use Reporter to see if there was anything glaringly missing. The first step was the observe and set the stage. I asked him to narrate outloud what he was doing. After a while, I prompted him to try and make a report.

• Needed a bigger call to action on the home screen for reporting
• Needed an explanation for asleep and awake toggle
• Needed a way to account for subjective preference and record it for future use

Personas

The targeted users are undergraduate students. They have many different interests, but are generally connected by location and school affiliation.

Visual Development

AimHigh went through a few different visual styles through the prototypes. However, the general aim of it being approachable and friendly stayed the same. I brainstomed for words that invoked the images of altitude (e.g. climbing, clouds, space, sky, flying) and began moodboarding. I really wanted to focus on desirability, making the tool colorful and fun and to use.

Audience Testing

• "What if I don’t want to count in days?"
• "I could see this being very useful for a very particular kind of personality"
• "I can see myself getting discouraged very quickly"
• "What if I want to return to the home screen while I’m editing a goal?"

The Bay Bridge began construction in 1933 and was opened in 1936. I wanted to commemorate a bit of San Francisco history by creating something that focused on the old bridge, with the characteristic fog rolling in from the bay. This was a project that is a main inspiration behind my personal philosophy of “bridging” past and future. It’s important to commemorate and value the the past, but also to bring the lessons learned from the past into the future.

This postcard was chosen for the 18th annual De Young Student Showcase which is a three day event featuring visual art, film, museum talks, music, and performance art by college and university level students.

The theme was ‘Expand’, which was inspired by the De Young Museum's permanent collection as well three special exhibitions at the time. I was particularly drawn to The Bay Bridge: A Work in Progress, 1933–1936, which was on exhibition in parallel to the opening of the new Bay Bridge.

ECHO is a student to teacher messaging service, created at Startup Weekend EDU London.

This app is meant to facilitate instructor to student communication, with special focus on addressing a serious problem in our educational system today. Social anxiety affects how a good number of students take in information and focus on course content, beginning from primary level classrooms and stretching all the way into higher level lecture rooms.

Instructors can intermittently begin "Echos" to gauge understanding, while students can give anonymous feedback and vote on the questions of their peers.

The need for such an app was justified by the excitement (especially during the pitch session) from the many educators who attended Startup Weekend, who talked about the problems behind social anxiety in their classrooms.

Especially with two university educators on the team, we decided to target users at the uni level, but also keep functionality in the app accessible and usable for all by paying extra attention to language.

Final Thoughts

ECHO couldn’t have been possible without this talented group of educators, entrepreneurs, developers, designers, and business strategists: Gaurav Malik, Jasmin Sparling, Barbara Sparling, David Thompsett, and Ashley Chinyangarara

Interact with the final interactive prototype!

Vitacore is a vitamin supplement designed around the old Welsh saying, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away’

An apple’s core vitamins are Vitamins A, B, C, E, and K. VitaCore not only provides nutrition for growing children, but also offers an engaging experience aimed towards developing better mental wellbeing.

The final design comes in six parts – the core and each of the five slices. The slices each hold one of the vitamins A, B, C, E, or K. By separating each slice into pieces holding only one of the five core vitamins, the act of taking vitamins can become a customizable experience.

Core Knowledge is a memory game in which two players can take turns trying to find matching pairs of facts about the health benefits of apples.

Beyond being a collectable toy, Core Knowledge is educational. Gameplay will help children remember to take their vitamins. After reading the instructions on the back of the first card, this two player game “Core Knowledge” creates interaction between people, whether that is between the guardian and the child, or between kids amongst themselves. This mental association builds up over time so that children can continue to learn about the health benefits of vitamins as well as develop healthier habits.

Constant reminders pop up elsewhere on the packaging as well, such as within the flap of each vitamin slice.

Research

From the beginning I started researching existing brands such as Emergen-C and and Airborne, which focused their graphics around the fruit flavor of the supplement, or introduced a new fun character to appeal to children. However, I wanted VitaCore to be appealing to both children and to the adults buying them. In this case, the packaging had to be fun and playful, but still retain a sense of quality and authenticity.

Through motivational reminders and behavior changing games, children will have more incentive to take their vitamins and also be more aware of the health benefits behind their actions. Hands on experience and interaction can encourage learning.

Biomimicry Studies

I looked into biomimicry studies of the apple, as a fruit. Oftentimes, nature provides us the inspiration we need to create effective products and even more effective packaging. The apple itself has three layers — the endocarp, the mesocarp, and the outer epicarp. This ensures the protection of the seeds inside.

Sketching & Brainstorming

During Phase 1, I focused on a few key words and ideas: Learning, Health, Lifestyle, Mental Health, Physical Health, Prevention.

During phase 2, I Expanded on the key words which led to the idea of centering the packaging around the saying, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.’ An apple’s five key vitamins are Vitamins A, B,C,E, and K. The combination of these five provide highly beneficial health perks, all of which would help a growing child. Not only is the apple is known to improve neurological health, but apple imagery is also culturally associated with teachers and academia, especially in early schooling.

Mockups & Prototypes

I created a rough mockup of an apple slice with bristol board and tape. Through this iteration, and iterations after, I found out that the geometric shape that I had been pursuing in one of my sketches was ideal for the form. Instead of rounded cuteness, the sharp angular features retained the sophistication that was needed but still exposed a slight playful nature in the color and overall building-block-like shape. I also tested a few other materials including fiber board and corrugated cardboard. The cardboard was not ideal for the formal structure, but did make an appearance as an accent in the final label.