We designed #EscapeStone: a series of interactive puzzles that enabled a team of managers at Starbucks Corporate Headquarters to break down information silos that frequently manifest in professional work teams. The team collaboratively solved problems in the context of an Escape Room - a time sensitive, immersive puzzle game that necessitates teamwork and information sharing. The uniquely structured environment ensured that they worked together to solve the challenges; as a result, team members reflected upon each other's problem solving strengths and communication styles. Through a designed experience, team members collaborated to “escape,” then evaluated their process in order to improve information sharing.

Actively Me is an app that centralizes outdoor activity discovery, selection, and planning. A major element of the app is the ability to match users to activities based on individual preferences and temporal factors. The goal of this project was to construct a functional and scalable taxonomy that successfully addresses the information architecture and user needs of the app. Facets,terms, and structure were identified through combination of domain research, user surveys, and card sort testing.

Ava is a chatbot designed to facilitate and continually improve Avanade’s online customer service. Avanade has partnered with the iSchool to develop a solution that will align with their new marketing platform. Avanade‘s vision of the future revolves around artificial intelligence, and Ava is a step in that direction. With the dawn of AI on the horizon, integrating new ways for humans to interact, experience, and use technology are becoming the norm. Artificial intelligence is real, it’s driving business results, and will be a first-class citizen in the enterprise by 2020.

Trauma isn't linear. For trauma survivors, processing and organizing memories can be difficult. Sharing them even more so. Yet it can be deeply therapeutic. Bloom is a storytelling platform for trauma survivors. Bloom empowers users to create anonymous accounts, build stories through text and images that can be easily rearranged, and see stories from other survivors. By providing a safe place for survivors to share their experiences, we hope to help with the healing process. We collaborated with API Chaya, a Seattle nonprofit that serves survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking.

Webrecorder is a free, open-access web archiving software that excels at capturing dynamic, born-digital content. Its technology is powerful, but its user base is largely unknown to its creators at the NYC digital arts non-profit Rhizome. For my project, I collected data through a structured survey and a structured email interview as well as semi-structured, in-depth interviews with select volunteers. I coded these data to prepare them for qualitative analysis, which I will do after graduation. From this analysis, I will create a roadmap of recommendations for the Webrecorder team and points to touch on when writing their user documentation.

Today’s Interactive in-car systems have failed to provide the necessary comfort, safety, and experience expected of them. Part of the problem is the rapid addition of more advanced in-car components and flashy screens that lack the right user-centered approach and integration. We aim to bridge the divide through the next generation in-car experience for daily commuters. This will improve their interaction with in-car systems helping them accomplish secondary tasks while driving safely. To specify our design scope, we focus on the design of the instrument cluster, head up display and central console touchscreen for cars.

When shopping in grocery stores, nutrition labels can be difficult to read - especially in regards to dietary restrictions. Eligo solves this issue by allowing users to efficiently analyze nutrition labels from consumer food products. Shoppers will be able to scan food products using their Eligo app to get informative alerts about any ingredients that may violate dietary restrictions. These alerts apply to the shopper as well as to any friends/family who consume the food products. As a result, Eligo transforms the shopping paradigm by empowering users with the technology to make quick and safe decisions when purchasing food.

Roughly 50% of all produce in the United States is thrown away—some 60 million tons annually. Because this wastage is detrimental both to the environment and the economy, we created a way for people to manage their food better by building a mobile application that helps people waste less food. FoodSavr tracks the food in your kitchen, and suggests new recipes that encourage you to be more adventurous with your culinary experiences. It prioritizes food that is near expiration so you can create a tasty meal with it and avoid throwing it away.

Many students don’t have full-time positions immediately following graduation. Our desire is to remove that divide. Frontier provides company sponsored projects that enable candidates to improve their resumes through project completion, as well as secure offers in their fields of interest. Companies will be able to follow up on brilliantly done submissions, and reach out to individuals they wish to hire. No other application has sought to solve this problem in this way. We are the first of our kind in the massive market of recruitment/staffing, and we plan on generating the bridge to connect brilliant candidates to brilliant companies.