sydney chanPARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DESIGN ’13

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Past...................................................................................................................3Present............................................................................................................4Future...............................................................................................................5

IKEA Fits.. ......................................................................................................8Bodega Busters.......................................................................................14MTAccess...................................................................................................21

Drawing........................................................................................................30Painting........................................................................................................33Mixed Media..............................................................................................37Graphic Design........................................................................................41

ABOUT ME

RESEARCH + DESIGN

PORTFOLIOcontents

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ABOUTME

PAST | PRESENT | FUTURE

...or Syd, as my friends call me. I hail from the good ol’ Lehigh Valley—the third most populated area in Pennsylvania and the most confused about whether it’s a city, suburb, or Amish Country. At the very least, my hometown’s lack of identity allowed me to experience a nice sampling of middle America. Combine that with my Hong Kong and Taiwanese heritage, and you got an interesting recipe for childhood. Throughout my years prior to college, I dabbled in just about every creative area imaginable—art, music, theatre. All the while, I was still pushing my brain to the limits desperately trying to understand chemistry and calculus. Yeah...it wasn’t too difficult to realize math and science would never be my thing.

hello,i’m sydney

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p a s t

and then i went to

P A R S O N SSince that very first day I moved into my East Village dorm room, the trajectory of my life has taken an amazing turn. During my past three and a half years attending Parsons The New School for Design, I’ve been blessed with the opporutnity to meet and work with some of the most incredibly driven and talented people. The Strategic Design & Management program has opened up my eyes to a new way of thinking about business strategy. There’s no other academic degree quite like it—a Bachelor of Business Administration rooted in the context of creative industries. It’s at Parsons where I not only refined my eye for design, but also gained the knowledge and skills necessary to become a successful business leader. For me, hard work has definitely paid off. Sleepless nights spent studying finance or toiling on design projects in the computer lab have allowed me to graduate a semester early with a solid 3.9 GPA.

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p r e s e n t

feel free tohire me!Being constantly surrounded by so many hardworking people has definitely motivated me to stay on top of my game. New York really knows how to keep you on your feet, and luckily I’m not the type of person to sit back and enjoy the ride. I plan on building a successful career in the fashion industry, which is competitive enough as it is. While simultaneously balancing working, interning, and going to school full-time, I’ve learned that nothing will be handed to you in this city, and even moreso in the world of fashion. Prior to college, I had little exposure to fashion in small town Pennsylvania. My interest in fashion developed not only from attending one of the world’s top fashion scools, but because I also saw this industry as a perfect synthesis of what I’m studying in school—business and design. Throughout my internships, I’ve been able to dabble in different parts of fashion and gain a well-rounded perpsective of how this industry runs.

f u t u r e

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research+design

IKEA FITS | BODEGA BUSTERS | MTAccess

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Image is everything. In the world of advertising, images are strategically constructed to embody purposeful personalities. The goal of this project was to re-invent an existing brand by designing a marketing campaign that would breathe new life into its product offering. I selected IKEA. Though the Swedish furniture company is well-known for producing creative advertising, this project focuses on targeting a specific demogarphic that I believed IKEA had not yet fully penetrated—residents of small-space households. After developing an idea for a fictional line of modular furniture, I designed a logo and marketing campaign to accompany the new product.

ikea fits

COURSEDesign 2

TERMSpring 2011

DURATION5 weeks

TEAMSydney Chan (individual)

OBJECTIVEInvestigage, research, and create an approach to re-inventing an existing brand

DELIVERABLESmind map, moodboard, logo design, tagline, advertisement mockup

SKILLSmarket research, branding, copywriting, graphic design

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furniture

for the handicapped

for dorm rooms/small space living

for children

light-weight

light-weight

movable

playabilitycustomizable

adaptable

personalized for differentphysical issues

individual furniture piecesspecific to disease/problem

metal

woodplastic

puzzle pieces

building blockscolorful

large shapes, fit together like puzzle

different shapescan be easily moved/manipulated by children

multifunctional

maximizes space

invididual pieces, slideinto eachother

single unit

drawers

pull out forportable boxes/storage containers

built-in power source

closet

shelves

storage

desk

bed

when not in use, fits togetherlike puzzle perfectly to displacenegative space

lamp

clock

flat-panel tv?iPod chargeroutlets

Mood boards communicate the overall look and feel of a design concept. Compiling images, text, and colors provides a starting point for determining an aesthetic direction. Because the main goal of this project was to create an ad campaign rather than to design a new product, I combined my design inspirations along with images that characterized our target market. From my mind map, I determined that the modular, space-saving furniture would be movable, customizable, and fit together like a puzzle.

As my mood board shows, I was also inspired by modern architecture, geometric shapes, and other mind puzzles such as Rubik’s Cubes. I was also able to begin visualizing the types of activities, hobbies, and interests of the target customer, which includes TIME magazine, small dogs, and Apple products. Because my mood board helped me to better understand the product and establish a customer segment, I could begin forming a marketing strategy.

Mind-mapping is one of my favorite brainstorming tools. Working outwards from a central theme, a web of information can be built that organizes our thought processes. Outlining material in a visual manner not only helps to identify design opportunities, but it also exposes fundamental relationships between different ideas.

The first step in the design process is to define the problem. Once I selected IKEA as my company of interest, I began to analyze different features of furniture

design. Mymind map shows three possible topics I considered for my project, which includes furniture for the handicapped, furniture for children, and furniture for small spaces. I ultimately chose to focus on small space living, recognizing that this was a largely unpenetrated niche market. By mind-mapping, I was also able to identify the key inspiration of our fictional product line that would be the foundation for my re-branding campaign—jigsaw puzzles.

feeling the mood

mapping the mind

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clientIKEA

BACKGROUND“The IKEA vision is to create a better life for the many people. We make this possible by offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them” - IKEA

ADVERTISING OBJECTIVEIntroduce a new facet of the IKEA brand that guarantees affordability, functionality, and practicality, specifically in small living spaces.

target demographic/psychographicYoung men and women, aged 18 to 30, who are still studying or just beginning their careers. This may include students in dorms or young professionals living in small apartments in urban environments. Despite the size of their apartments, they still enjoy entertaining others and maximizing their personal space. Users have an appreciation for good design and a sophisticated, modern aesthetic. They are creative and fun, but also sensible and intelligent. As children, they enjoyed playing with LEGOs and probably chose Tetris over Super Mario Bros.

promise/end benefitWhere others clutter, IKEA fits.

whyThe IKEA ethos is to provide high design at a low cost. IKEA doesn’t just produce furniture, but home solutions.

tonalityClean, crisp, and simple, yet witty and playful in a similar fashion as other IKEA advertisements

the brand strategythe product

the market

• modular• space-saving• customizable and convertible• lightweight and movable• available in different sizes

• multi-functional• many storage options• sleek, modern design• affordable• for living room, bedroom, and office

• 18-30 year-olds• young professionals• young families• city residents• residents of small apartments

• college students• students in dormitories• appreciates good design• actively follow trends, hip

Source: Ergonomic Office Furnitures

Source: Getty Images

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creating anidentity

1 sketching

2 rendering

3 copywriting

Instead of creating an entirely new logo, my idea was to alter the original design. Because IKEA already has a significant amount of brand recognition, this design allows consumers to still recognize the brand while also shedding light on the new product line.

My rendering of my design on Adobe Illustrator maintains the colors of the original logo, but fragments the structure to look like pieces of a puzzle. The shapes are playful, yet the design evokes the same refined sophistication of the IKEA brand.

The tagline “Where others clutter, IKEA fits” comes directly from our brand strategy, where I defined the end benefit. The logo is also a visual embodiment of the slogan, where the IKEA oval fits into the surrounding shapes. Subsequently, IKEA Fits became the title of our furniture line.

Where others clutter,

fits.

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fits.

final logo designFollowing a class critique, it was agreed that the logo should clearly state the name of the product line in its entirety. The final design incorporates “Fits” as part of the actual logo, while reversing the fragmented blue shapes to surround the right half of the yellow IKEA logo.

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final ad designUtilizing the tagline and logo that I had created, I designed an advertisement for IKEA Fits on Adobe Photoshop. I incorporated the puzzle piece imagery and maintained IKEA’s signature color scheme. My approach was to create a sense of playfulness while visually communicating the new value proposition of the brand.

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It’s a constant nuisance we face when we stop by a bodega. You’re in a rush, and all you want to do is grab a quick snack and be on your way. So you whip out your card hoping to charge your $2.00 bag of pita chips, but you’re met with the cashier pointing to a sign on the register reading “$10 card minimum.” In my experience, carrying cash is a rare habit for many New Yorkers. The overarching objective for this project was to instigate a change within our urban infrastructure. After identifying this perpetual issue we face in our own environment, my team designed a new system for intervening to overcome card minimums.

bodegabusters

COURSEResearch + Development Methods

TERMFall 2012

DURATION12 weeks

TEAMIsha Bhatti, Sydney Chan, Joey Edwards, Rosie Ko

OBJECTIVEIdentify a facet of the urban infrastructure and develop a new system to enact change

DELIVERABLESproject plan, weekly progress presentations, protoypes, 15 minute video pitch, post-mortem presentation

SKILLSinnovation, prototyping, ethnographic research, data collection, product devleopment, video production, teamwork

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After identifying the problem, we realized that we could approach the issue in one of three ways: defend the customer, defend the merchant, or defend the card issuer. Our brainstorming method using sticky notes allowed us to compile our individual ideas, critique one another, and weigh our options Realizing we could better leverage our own strength as consumers, we agreed that our most effective approach would be to take the customer’s perspective.

In addition, our preliminary research indicated that consumers are supposed to hold purchasing power. Contractual

agreements between businesses and the card issuers prohibits merchant discrimination against their card, which is often breached by establishing minimums.

Though a recent federal law established in 2010 as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act allows merchants to set a minimum purchase requirement of up to $10 for credit cards only, the rules do not apply to debit cards. However, few businesses actually distinguish between the two.

sticking to it

the problemIn order for a merchant to accept card payments as a form of currency, a business must pay a small fee per transaction to the card issuer. Known as an interchange rate. The virtues of economies of scale allow larger businesses and retail chains to internalize these costs more efficiently. In contrast, small independent businesses like bodegas and corner stores have greater difficulty paying these fees, especially when the interchange rate may account for a large percentage of the transaction. In an effort to shift the burden of debit card fees to customers, many small businesses impose minimum purchases for customers wishing to pay by card.

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TIME TO INTERVENEOnce we determined our approach, we took to the streets. With so many bodegas scattered around the East Village, we figured it would be the perfect location to stage some preliminary interventions. In order to change our environment, we must first understand how the system operates.

We hopped between five different bodegas along 2nd Avenue in Manhattan. My teammate Rosie attempted to purchase a single item less than $5.00 with a card, and we documented the cashier’s reaction. Our intention was not to harass the cashiers, though we understood that intervening involves taking risks outside of our comfort zone.

We captured our interventions via candid iPhone video recording. We specifically noted the following three dimensions:

1. If the bodega accepted cards at all2. If the bodega had a card minimum3. If there was an ATM machine inside

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SO BUSTEDAfter weeks of background research of news articles, laws, and data collection, we began designing our final deliverable. Our rounds of interviews, interventions, and observations indicated that most consumers were unaware that card minimums are not programmed into the cash register systems, but are actually made up limits imposed by business owners. More importantly, we also noticed that cashiers at bodegas allow sales below the minimum under certain circumstances. And thus, Bodega Busters was born.

Bodega Busters is a campaign designed to empower customers of bodegas, delis, and corner stores to exercise their consumer rights. I designed the logo to the right as well as our campaign’s tagline, “Don’t let delis devour your dollars.”

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THE BODEGA BUSTING TOOL KITThis tool kit was designed as a recipe book of sorts, based upon our tested interventions. Users could utilize different approaches to overcoming card minimums by following the instructions on each page. Because our campaign is constantly evolving, we also included a page for our users to tweet or Instagram their results so that we could refine our solutions.

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media socializing

@bodegabusters

@bodegabusters

facebook.com/bodegabusters

Our tool kit handbook could be read, studied, and even taken on the go; however, this approach has its limitations. Additional copies could be printed and existing books could be shared, but at some point, the diffusion ends. We live in the age of the social media generation. With millions of users logging onto today’s most popular social networking sites—Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram—we wanted to leverage these three platforms to build a community of consumers and help our movement grow.

Through our Twitter, we could post observations and engage with our users. People could tweet at us their thoughts, frustrations, and opinions. Hashtagging would also allow us to collect data on trends.

Instagram adds another element—photographs. Similar to our Twitter, users can voice their ideas, hashtag trends, and tag us in posts while also provind images of their location.

Facebook has the ability to connect all of our platforms in a single location, allowing us to spread information consistently through these cross-functional channels.

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Most of the MTA’s 5 million daily riders take using the subway for granted. But for the 900,000 New Yorkers with phyiscal handicaps, public transportation can be a nightmare. For this project, I was asked to identify a design opportunity within my own domain of interests. After conducting both primary and secondary research, I had to create a solution to the problem. Understanding that the ideal task of renovating each and every station for accesibility is financially impossible in the short-term, I developed an information resource that could make subway navigation easier for disabled riders.

MTAccess

COURSEResearch + Development Advanced Methods

TERMSpring 2013

DURATION11 weeks

TEAMSydney Chan (individual assignment)

OBJECTIVESelect an area of personal interest, define a problem or opportunity, and design a feasible solution

DELIVERABLESweekly progress reports, iteration drafts, final prototype, summary presentation and document

SKILLSinnovation, prototyping, fieldwork, experience sampling methods, empathic research, product development, app-building, graphic design

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the problemSince its opening in 1870, the New York City Subway has grown to become the largest public transit system in terms of number of stations. Out of 468 stations, however, only 97 contain amenities for people with ambulatory diseases. And even In some cases with intersecting lines, one platform may be accessible while another is not. The number of usable stations becomes significantly reduced for thos with disabilities, and thus, navigating the subway can become a daily struggle.

Once again, mind mapping proved to be a useful tool for dissetcing my findings from my preliminary research. By laying out the problems I foresaw and their possible solutions, I was able to identify an outstanding issue with the MTA’s accessibility—the lack of visibility of useful information.

The MTA’s website is muddled with too much information and is difficult to navigate. In particular, the page dedicated to Accessible Stations is an eyesore. Directional signs and maps within the actual system are sometimes confusing to the typical rider, but even moreso for disabled passengers.

mapping the mind

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In order to better understand the problems with the subway system and the possible design opportunities for disabled riders, I investigaged a number of stations first hand In a sense, I was role-plyaing a handicapped rider. I utilized this empathic research method in order to gain better insights as to the struggles disabled riders face, especially since my goal was to develop a more user-centered, ergonomic solution. I traveled from the Marcy Ave M station to 34th St, utilizing only limiting myself to using only accessible stations. Through my observations, I noted a number of issues with both the actual system as well as the system’s visual language.

Large gaps between trains and platforms

are difficult for wheelchairs to traverse.

The limited number of accessible stations

are difficult to identify with current signage.

Out of service elevators cause impassable

roadblocks for a disabled rider’s journey.

Vague signage can sometimes lead disabled

riders in a wild goose chase for an exit.

Many stair entrances are scattered along

the street grid, but elevators are scarce.

WALKING IN THEIR SHOES

mind the gap

few & far between

detour where?

wrong turn

2424Source: The Daily Beast

Prior to starting this project, I’d seen pictures of Jillian Mercado floating around fashion blogs, and I was truly inspired by her story. I was able to get in contact with her through a mutual friend, and she was more than enthusiastic to help me out with my research. She suffers from spastic muscular distrophy, a physical condition that has her confined to a power chair. Jillian has a fast-paced career in the fashion industry, so the ability to travel around the city is crucial for her job.

During an initial interview with Jillian. she revealed even more issues with the subway that she has to deal with daily. She has to use a number of resources to plan her trips in advance, get directions, and check the service statuses of both trains and elevators. In her line of work especially, time is money. Jillian revealed that a single platform to access all this information at once would make planning her trips significantly easier.

meetjillian

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I began my final deliverable by redesigning the MTA Subway map. It’s not exactly redesigned per se—it’s slimmed down. Working with a vector file of the original map, I deleted each indivdual station on every line that wasn’t accessible. The G line for example, which has no accessible stations, was deleted in it’s entirety. Below, a close-up view of the Financial district, where only three accessible stations exist.

Though the new map is shockingly empty, it becomes a valuable tool for riders with disabilities to identify exactly where they can travel. If displayed in subway stations, the map not only acts as an information resource, but also as an awareness campaign.

THE MAPREIMAGINED

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building a mobile app

basic structure service status

transit and station maps train schedule

directions

For easy information access on the go, building a mobile application seemed like the obvious solution. I based my design off of other navigation apps such as NextStop, Google Maps, and HopStop, creating a comprehensive program that allows users to check train schedules, input addresses for directions, view transit and station maps, and get alerts and notifications on both train and elevator service.

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the finalapp design

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creative work

DRAWING | PAINTINGMIXED MEDIA | GRAPHIC DESIGN

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DRAWING

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painting

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mixed media

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graphic design(See previous 40 pages.)

sydney chanPARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DESIGN BBA STRATEGIC DESIGN & MANAGEMENT ‘13SYDCHAN61@GMAIL.COM 646.898.9697