The Instagram ads you are mysteriously compelled to click on are slowly molding your style preferences. You know the ad with the perfect looking french bulldog wearing the sleek pink harness for purchase. The dog is walking toward their monochromatic-outfitted-owner standing against a bold orange studio backdrop. You can’t forget about the expected Sans Serif typeface with a pre-destined personality.

Data Journalism

In a recent class project, I used MoMA’s collection dataset published on GitHub to create an interactive installation that reveals the dominant narratives being amplified. I break down the gender and ethnicities of the 15,222 records of artists who MoMA acquired artwork from between the years of 1930–2019. How can we break down MoMA’s collection into its parts to critique the dominant narrative being told?

Keeping Institutions Accountable

In September 2019, MoMA opened up for the first time after an intense renovation. The goal: expand the museum and put “Picasso and Monet next to more recent, diverse artists.” This has become a common…

This is not a reflection of 2020. The year where everything seemed to crash and burn leaving us with a lingering splash of disbelief and hysteria. As I write this on December 30th with two nights away from 2021, it all feels extremely anticlimactic.

This is a story about cookies.

Just before we propel into a new year I devoured the novel Anxious People by Fredrick Backman. It was a page-turner. The majority of the story takes place in one scene: an apartment open house that turns into an unintended bank robber hostage situation. …

Lately, I’ve been thinking about what goes into the things we care about. From my deep dives into random topics, I would enter as a skeptic and emerge from the surface with a new interest (staring into the abyss wondering why it took me this long). Jenny Odell’s book How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy discusses how investing in care and rest can be equally productive as devoting every part of our being to the innovation and disruption cycle.

How can designers strengthen their ability to pinpoint their blindspots and know where to explore further? It has become…

It’s still hazy on where we stand on the progression of COVID-19 cases, but the country is beginning to re-open. Andy Warhol’s Death and Disaster series remind us that as we begin to resume our “regular” lives we risk becoming desensitized to the whirlwind of visceral emotions engendered by the pandemic. Is it strange how I no longer feel anything when listening to or reading the news?

Warhol’s iconic silkscreen prints with highly saturated colors are part of his signature style. Some question the banality of his pop-art. To them, I say, “Oh you’re in for a ride.” The Death…

These smart assistant devices are placed in the most intimate areas of our living spaces. My family has two Alexa and two Google Home devices that are primarily used for music (or to put an end to a trivial debate). By 2021, it’s predicted in an UN report that there’ll be more digital voice assistants than people on the planet — I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in.

Through speculative design as a mode to critique existing technology and imagine a new future, I want to explore how IoT devices can be more transparent in data collection…

Growing up, the struggle to return public library books was all too real. For starters, it was a hassle to remember when to pick up or return books, I couldn’t mark up the pages, and there was always a limited selection on-site. With Amazon, it has become easier to purchase books with 2-day shipping but overtime it becomes impractical financially and detrimental for the environment. Last year, I invested in a Kindle Paperwhite and since then I’ve become an informal spokesperson for it. Before that, I nodded my head in doubt alongside other avid book readers. No way could an…

In nearly every facet of our daily lives, changes and cancellations have been occurring at an abrupt pace. This pandemic has created a new reality for people across the globe — a virus revealing just how easy our sense of normalcy can be shattered. There are cities, streets, and buildings that are eerily quiet. At home, we’re left with loud, stress-inducing, and confusing headlines on our phones. All while thousands of people fight for their lives with thousands of healthcare professionals at the frontlines risking their safety.

I’m doing my part in social distancing, but meanwhile, I thought it’ll be…