Odyssey 2021 © ISBN: 978-0-6484458-3-8 Published for ‘Odyssey 2021’, The Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning Graduate Exhibition 2021. First published in 2021 by Harvest: Fresh scholarship from the field. A Freerange Press imprint. Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning University of Sydney Wilkinson Building 148 City Road University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia Editors Kate Goodwin Adrian Thai Designer Adrian Thai © Odyssey 2021 This book, Odyssey, and all works depicted in it are © editors and contributors, 2021. All rights reserved. The Graduate Exhibition elective was run by Kate Goodwin, assisted by Phillip Gough and Adrian Thai. The exhibition was devised by the following architecture and design students: Monica Chen, Sue Cho, Yunchen Gong, Kazi Nabil Hasan, Christina Hatgis, Aimee Louise Jeffries, Peter Jorgensen, Jing Yuan (Claire) Lee, Skye Li, Shiya (Vivian) Liang, Lillian Liao, Zihe (Zoe) Lu, Celine Noviany, Lachlan Paull, Andrea Pino Nunura, Alex Pribula, Claire Say, Jiawen Sun, Aldrich Tan Kah Kei, Andreas Thoma, Harry Tse, Isabel M H Tseng, Yu-Wen (Monica) Tsui, Viswajith Unnikrishnan, Harry Wiraputra and Ting (Judy) Zhao. The Graduate Exhibition was realised by the External Engagement team, Steven Burns, Juthamus Marsh, Adrian Thai. The Exhibition has been supported by Iakovos Amperidis and Tin Sheds Gallery team, with Zoe Skinner, Dylan Wozniak-O'Connor and the Design Modelling and Fabrication team, and by SDRS.
We acknowledge and pay respect to the traditional owners of the land on which the University of Sydney is built: the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay respect to the knowledge embedded forever within the Aboriginal Custodianship of Country.
Contents
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DEAN’S WELCOME Robyn Dowling
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EDITORIAL Kate Goodwin
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FOREWORD Lian Loke
12 BACHELOR OF DESIGN COMPUTING 36
MASTER OF INTERACTION DESIGN AND ELECTRONIC ARTS
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MASTER OF DESIGN
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STUDENT EXCELLENCE
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SPONSORS
Odyssey
School of Architecture, Design and Planning
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Dean’s Welcome
Robyn Dowling Head of School and Dean, Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning
Odyssey
The Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning sits proudly on Gadigal land, where Aboriginal people have taught, learnt and nurtured since time immemorial. As the 2021 academic year began, the School welcomed new students with activities on the site now known as Gadigal Green, once a popular Gadigal fishing spot in Blackwattle Creek. It also welcomed students joining us from dozens of countries across the world, studying remotely for the 1st or 2nd year. By late June, the Wilkinson Building – the material fabric that anchors our vibrant and diverse community that is welcoming of all – fell silent. Stairwells emptied, homebases sparsely occupied, public lectures stopped. As I write this, Wilkinson remains in hibernation. Teaching, learning and nurturing continued however beyond Wilkinson. Staff and students spread across Australia and the world - Kamilaroi, Dharug, Melbourne, Beijing, Mexico to name a few. In tardis-like fashion, the teaching and learning spaces of the Wilkinson Building expanded. The School had a physical presence across all continents (perhaps not the Antarctic). Dining tables became fabrication spaces. Bedrooms became sites to design creative interfaces. Local parks presented design challenges to solve. Communities of students and teachers were built across time zones and vast distances. Through the disruptions of 2021 the School’s commitment to educate students to contribute to inclusive and sustainable futures remained undiminished, fostering imaginative, compassionate and unconventional approaches. Academic staff across the disciplines asked students and each other to learn new ways of working and to develop creative responses to the challenges of a global pandemic. Our newly appointed Professors of Practice supported graduation cohorts across our degrees and, especially relevant to this catalogue, in curating our first hybrid – virtual and in-person – graduate exhibition. And in making sense of our place, the School returns to the Wilkinson Building and Gadigal land as our graduating students move beyond these concrete walls and laptop screens, all the richer for the expanded spaces in which the School now dwells.
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Editorial
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Collectively
Kate Goodwin Professor of Practice, Architecture, Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning
Odyssey
This year’s exhibition graphic of topographic islands evokes the Odyssey journey and represents the three disciplines of the School; architecture, design and planning, showcased together for the first time in several years. They evoke the mountains students climb in each course and respective discipline as they develop knowledge and build resilience; they symbolise the importance of cross-fertilisation of ideas between the different fields; and they invite us to share the unique journey of this year’s graduating students. For us all, the year has undoubtably been a journey, with unexpected challenges and revelations. What will we take away from these experiences? In the fields of design and the built environment, in education, as in practice, we have seen how peer-to-peer learning and collaboration enrich how we question, challenge and innovate. Conceiving and producing this year’s Graduation Exhibition has been a collaborative effort like never before. Online and largely unknown to one another, architecture and design students from five courses came together in an elective to devise the exhibition conceptually, physically and virtually, breaking down disciplinary language barriers to share perspectives and skills. Teams of talented staff have worked to translate their vision, adapting to changing circumstances and making the physical exhibition a reality. While this catalogue may show the work of individuals – a selection of student projects from across degrees – these works and ideas are enhanced and supported by friends, peers, family and tutors. The pandemic has shown the possibility for global co-operation and the ability to make change at an unprecedented speed, it has also exposed the deep inequality imbedded in geopolitics and society close to home. These times calls for us to think collectively and act collaboratively. The student’s journey has only just begun and it is exciting to think that they will be at the forefront of innovations that can make our cities and lives more sustainable, equitable, connected and rewarding.
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School of Architecture, Design and Planning
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Foreword
Lian Loke Associate Professor, Head of Design, Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning
Odyssey
We live in unprecedented times, where a global pandemic has disrupted the world as we knew it. The university is no exception. Our students have made the journey through university, not as expected, but like a true odyssey abounding in challenges and obstacles to be overcome. With many months of studying online disrupting the usual rhythms of campus life, we all got used to a life online, operating out of our homes and bedrooms. We missed the spark and energy of being in the same room together, yet got savvy with online digital collaboration tools. Our students and staff found ways to connect, to network, and to create opportunities. Our students produced creative, thoughtful and inspiring design work and research despite the difficulties, transforming an obstacle into an opportunity. I extend my gratitude to my colleagues, for their dedicated and passionate commitment to teaching and mentoring our students through this incredibly challenging period, often going way beyond normal duties to create positive learning environments for our students. A special thank you to our industry guests and partners, who bring a much valued professional practice perspective to the classroom. ‘It is under the greatest adversity that there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others.’ The words of the 14th Dalai Lama are a call to action for our graduating students. Our students are equipped with a great capacity for invention, to imagine alternatives, to materialise and bring forth new ways of living. To collaborate, to advocate, to challenge the status quo. To test, to question, to fail, to get back up again. These are the skills cultivated in our design degrees. It gives me great hope that a new generation of designers will be making a difference, helping us to imagine not just what might be, but making the leap to a brave new world.
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BACHELOR OF DESIGN COMPUTING
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Bachelor of Design Computing
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Interactive Product Design Studio Coordinator Callum Parker
Advanced Project Design Studio Coordinator Phillip Gough
Tutors Emily Hatton Waldemar Jenek Matt Leete Jonathan McEwan Wendy Qi Zhang
With thanks to Craig Campbell, School of Medical Science, USYD Judy Kay, School of Computer Science, USYD and Bob Kimmerfeld, School of Computer Science, USYD
With thanks to guest lecturers: Emily Hatton, USYD Jonathan McEwan, USYD Erez Nusem, USYD Benjamin Lindsay, INCUBATE, USYD
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Liam Bray Program Director, Bachelor of Design Computing
Odyssey
Another year of hybrid learning has taught us all even more about how design education works when we’re all separated from each other. It’s been a complicated time for all of us, staff and students. But one thing remains consistent, students in Design at The University of Sydney have shown dedication to their education. They remain as curious and engaged as ever, and it has been immensely encouraging to see young designers producing amazing work from their homes all over the world. This year marks my last year as the program director of the Bachelor of Design Computing. There are many people who make up this degree, and I have had the privilege of leading them through the ups and downs of the past four years. The degree today is more extensive and more diverse than it ever has been in its twenty years. Our graduates are both socially conscious and technologically capable designers who excel in finding the right solutions to hard problems. Thank you to both the students and the staff who make up this degree. I have learned a lot in this role. It is a time I will look back on fondly. To our graduating cohort, this is an amazing moment to be a designer. Your careers are starting as the world comes out of a deeply disruptive time. It’s now that designers must work to ensure that as the dust settles, people and their experiences remain at the centre of the new technologies and services that stay with us. I hope that wherever your career takes you, each of you will be an advocate for designs with an intentional and empathic approach to understanding people. Congratulations and good luck.
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Designing smarter and more accessible engagement Callum Parker
Bachelor of Design Computing
Interactive Product Design Studio
Recent technological advances bring new opportunities for engaging citizens with issues that affect them, with the potential to augment or replace traditional engagement techniques. However, careful attention needs to be paid toward the design of digital technologies to ensure they are connected to the local communities in which they are used or situated. It is necessary to consider bespoke solutions that do not take a ‘one size fits all’ approach, rather are tailored for the specific needs and issues facing a demographic or community. In response, student teams iteratively design and develop functional interactive concepts, which engaged a specific community around an issue that affects them while also considering the accessibility and empowerment of individual users. Students also consider the social and technical dimensions of their concepts, adopting a provocative, creative, or utilitarian design stance. Teams took the brief and conducted their projects within the following areas: • Contributing to the design space of Gratitude. Could technology play any role in reminding us to be grateful, or help us communicate, express, or share our gratitude in any way? • Enabling discourse for a particular community around a relevant topic for instilling positive change • Empowering individuals from marginalised communities (such as LGBTQIA+, people living with disabilities, CALD, Indigenous peoples) • More than human (Clarke et al., 2019) (e.g. focusing on a human problem but also considering non-human actors in our solution, such as plants and animals)
Confidante Claire Say, Cyrilla Lowas, Monica Tsui, Wiryawan Onggo
17 LINK TO PROJECT VIDEO
LINK TO PROTOTYPE WEBSITE
Domestic and family violence is one of the most under-reported crimes around the world for reasons such as fear of leaving and psychological abuse. The issue has become even more complex and severe as the impact of COVID and social isolation exacerbates acts of violence when victims are restricted to their homes. To help victims of domestic violence who have left an abusive relationship, we have created a digital platform designed to support their recovery journey in regaining their independence emotionally, socially and financially. Confidante is a one-stop-shop that provides victim survivors with a safe online community as well as resources for professional services, job opportunities and accommodation. Our current prototype is the result of constant iteration and refinement. We have tested our concept, security measures and usability with victim survivors and experts in the DV sector who have praised Confidante for its viability time and time again.
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News Talk Zoe Gao, Philip Chang, Xin Zhong Zhong Most older adults are experiencing a digital divide and social isolation. There is a clear need to empower the ageing population in this digital world. ‘News Talk’ is an online news reading platform that allows users to communicate and exchange knowledge, helping them to engage in the local community. It includes an audio and preview reading mode.
Bachelor of Design Computing
‘News Talk’ also contains online discussion groups of nearby physical communities to let the elderly enjoy connecting with society. The Parrot assistant provides explanations with the audio guide to help seniors when they face difficulties, allowing them to use the digital technology independently. The vision is to expand the influence of the elderly on the internet, creating a network environment to allow the elderly to embrace, learn, and connect with others.
LINK TO PROJECT VIDEO
MusicLab Jacky Chan, Persie Zeng, Yizun Zhang, Howie Qiu
19 LINK TO PROJECT VIDEO
LINK TO PROTOTYPE WEBSITE
‘MusicLab’ is a safe space for young people experiencing social anxiety. Rather than being a source of professional therapy, ‘MusicLab’ uses music therapy and user interaction to ease users into socialisation. It has been refined and iterated rigorously to ensure that the product meets its target user needs. ‘MusicLab’ has gone through several rounds of updates transitioning from Figma based prototyping towards a functioning web-based prototype. This transition and numerous refinements have been made based on user research, data synthesis and analysis. We hope ‘MusicLab’ can invoke empathy, a sense of presence, music therapy and community outreach to people who suffer from social anxiety.
Odyssey
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ReRoute Nabil Hasan, Natalie Lui, Celeste Alzate, Keiji Orime
Bachelor of Design Computing
A large issue for people in wheelchairs is that their daily tasks are dependent on someone else helping them or doing tasks for them. In addition to this, society is heavily tailored to able-bodied people and thus makes it more difficult for wheelchair users to get around. People in wheelchairs deserve to feel confident when they go out into the world. Our solution to this is an app that allows wheelchair users to be independent in finding their own way through train stations, while feeling confident that they can get proper assistance when needed.
LINK TO PROJECT VIDEO
LINK TO FIGMA PROTOTYPE
My Plant Diary Susanna Li, Yat Fung Cheung, Anran Huang, Zoey Jiang
21 LINK TO PROJECT VIDEO
LINK TO PROTOTYPE APP
‘My Plant Diary’ is a mobile phone application where users will be able to search for plant information, receive specific care instructions, and record their growth journey in the form of a digital diary. The Diary function holds the memories of each houseplant and gives the user a sense of achievement when they look back to their previous entries. The idea for this project comes from the increase of houseplant deaths due to insufficient care and lack of knowledge, despite houseplants and gardening trends being on the rise. The aim is to empower users by building up their confidence, encouraging positive gardening experiences, and developing proper plant care habits.
Odyssey
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TECHISM Hannah McCormack, Alice Southeron, Lili Beavis Smyth ‘TECHISM’ is a website that explores the root of sexism in the technology industry and how to prevent and avoid it. It includes a pledge at the end, which produces a digital certificate demonstrating their education and commitment to creating an equal and inclusive workplace. The website is coupled with a physical projector which features a live count of the number of women who have faced discrimination in the technology industry.
Bachelor of Design Computing
‘TECHISM’ will only be available for a short period of time each year, coinciding with International Women’s Day. This scarcity will engineer popularity and engagement, and also lend itself to the ability to trend on social media. Overall, ‘TECHISM’ is a platform to increase awareness and knowledge about sexism in the technology industry, and will hopefully encourage cultural change to occur.
LINK TO PROJECT VIDEO
LINK TO WEBSITE
OnBoard Au Chau Nguyen, Jackie Chung, Sophia Fan, Joel Gunawan
23 LINK TO PROJECT VIDEO
‘Onboard AU’ is an app that provides recently settled newcomers with information about resettlement in Australia, directory of government and important services, as well as community events. ‘Onboard AU’ provides users with information to assist the resettlement process of living in Australia, as well as incentivise them to meet people of the same communities and build social relationships. The aim of ‘Onboard AU’ is to become the first information touch-point for newcomers, helping them to overcome early difficulties and settle better in Australian communities.
Odyssey
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FoodBest Amy Su, Natsumi Kosaka, Seyun Park, Sakuraka Kozuki For people with food intolerances or allergies, the process of decision-making when food ordering can often be difficult and time-consuming. As a significant mental burden, it also poses a significant health risk for those who are anaphylactic or have other severe health problems. As more people are becoming conscious about the food they are consuming, a user-centred approach that reimagines the food experience for these people with specific preferences is significant for improving food safety as well as social inclusion more broadly.
Bachelor of Design Computing
Our solution, ‘Foodbest’ is a food ordering app that allows users to search for restaurants and view menus that are automatically filtered and labelled to fit their specific food needs with easy to recognise food badges. To normalise specific food needs and connect people with similar needs, users can also follow each other within the app for tips and allergy-friendly restaurant recommendations.
LINK TO PROJECT VIDEO
eli Andreas Thoma, Alex Pribula, Lachlan Paull
25 LINK TO ELI WIKI
‘eli’ is a physical device interface that promotes interactions within the online classroom by gamifying the experience. In combination with its onboarding activity and online teacher portal with engagement metrics, ‘eli’ aims to facilitate suitable support for students suffering from isolation and disconnectedness in remote learning environments.
Odyssey
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Amble: Assistive Trolley Viswajith Unnikrishnan, Christina Hatgis, Elleni Poullos, Maria Salman ‘Amble’ is a shopping solution that would allow anyone affected by vision impairment or low vision the ability to independently and successfully engage with the shopping experience. Using physical, haptic and digital features, ‘Amble’ is an interactive experience product that aims to facilitate users to shop independently by increasing their ability to make decisions, confidently navigate, access information and develop a sense of purchasing orientation.
Bachelor of Design Computing
Designed for all age groups, this concept aims to (1) Allow users to navigate stores safely and confidently (2) Effectively communicate information about products such as packaging descriptions (3) Utilise tactile, haptic, digital, and voice assistive features such as text readers (4) Allow users to exercise independent mobility and decision making (5) Empower individuals to shop independently.
LINK TO PROJECT VIDEO
LINK TO FIGMA PROTOTYPE
Honour Wall Brooke Welsh, Alexandra Churchin, Luke Kelly, Charlotte Beatty
27 LINK TO PROJECT VIDEO
The nature of the Australian Defence Force personnel’s duties can often lead to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder due to the single or repeated exposure to traumatic events. This can impact their day to day lives long after they have left their role, having an effect on both their relationships and actions. Until relatively recently, this was not fully recognised and the extent of mental illnesses such as PTSD and depression were not revealed. This has resulted in an alarming rate of suicide and other equally serious consequences for the people who swore to protect Australia. It is now time for us to return the favour. ‘Honour Wall’ is a solution dedicated to encouraging veterans to embrace their creativity and create a piece of art to be displayed in public forums. Through this, they can receive positive feedback and encourage a conversation on a topic that is often stigmatised.
Odyssey
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In-Game Angel Chatbot Alan Ye, Ellyn Cho, Arnold Lee, Helen Trang
Bachelor of Design Computing
‘Angel Chatbot’ is an independent software that runs as an individual is playing an online game. The chatbot is specially designed for female players, to help them block toxic players and provide support and encouragement to female players to improve their mental and emotional health.
LINK TO PROJECT VIDEO
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Keep in Touch Phillip Gough
Bachelor of Design Computing (Honours)
Advanced Project Design Studio
There are many smartphone apps and web-based tools for maintaining contact with family and networks of support for people who are isolated or distant, FaceTime, Skype or Google Hangouts to name a few. Smartphones facilitate this connection and have been essential for the broader community to maintain social connection during COVID-19. However, communication software is often designed and tested for use with younger populations who use smartphones for almost any daily task. Seniors may not be as technologically literate but can still be supported by appropriately designed technology that supports their specific needs. Novel digital concepts were created, in partnership with Medical Science students to help seniors maintain contact with loved ones through technology specially designed to support their unique needs, as well as the needs of their families, friends, and carers. The services they designed can support the older population to have more socially fulfilling lives.
Social Bunch Bianca Laycock, Margaux Thwaites, Katia Moors, Gabrielle Hong
31 LINK TO PROJECT VIDEO
LINK TO APP
While younger generations may find it easy to adapt to the world of social isolation, some older people may find online socialisation more difficult. Due to the pandemic, many social and community groups that are important to their wellbeing have been interrupted. How can we move these activities online in a non-intimidating way for people who aren’t as accustomed to interacting online? ‘Social Bunch’ alleviates the complexity of traditional social media, by creating a space for groups to interact on their own terms, by combining tricky apps and sites like group message boards, video calling and group scheduling, into one easy-to-access iPad platform. We have considered the needs and wants of older adults, building an accessible and approachable app that provides a space for group activities. This is all without bombarding the user with options and fancy features, drawing inspiration from familiar technologies to ease the learning curve.
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Designing VR for Reflection Jade Jiang This project serves as a research probe for my Honours thesis, investigating the space of supporting reflective processes in virtual reality (VR). The main idea behind this is to find ways to ‘disturb’ the absolute and unwavering immersion of VR, which tends to result in users passively engaging with the experience without a critical lens.
Bachelor of Design Computing (Honours)
This project is informed by a proposed conceptual model and a series of co-design workshops which are inspired by avant-garde theatre. Simulated on a desktop computer, this project experiments with design strategies that can elicit opportunities for self-awareness in VR, inviting users to reflect on their everyday lives through day-to-day narratives.
LINK TO PROJECT VIDEO
LINK TO APP
FamilySim Magic Mirror Caitlyn Burton, Harrison Khannah, Kim Truong, Miguel Tamondong
33 LINK TO PROJECT VIDEO
LINK TO PORTFOLIO
LINK TO GITHUB
Our team was tasked with designing a solution to assist the elderly with keeping in touch in the absence of physical interaction. When thinking about problems an elderly person faces when keeping in touch, people often assume technology troubles as the root of the problem, however, as we discovered, another crucial element is that for younger family members barriers such as limited time or judgement from family members, often limits their ability or willingness to keep in touch. Our team developed ‘The FamilySim Magic Mirror’ which is a connected smart mirror device that is unobtrusive and simple to use. The device provides subtle reminders for a younger user to keep in touch and, being a smart mirror, offers natural integration into daily life and activity. As a result we have created a product that is inclusive, engaging and provides a natural gateway to improved family communication.
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Student List
Bachelor of Design Computing
Interactive Product Design Studio Coordinator Callum Parker Celeste Alzate Roland Beatty Charlotte Beatty Lili Beavis Smyth Jake Blundell Maya Brandel Jacky Chan Philip Chang Daylily Chen Gilbert Cheng Yat Fung Cheung Ellyn Cho Jackie Chung Alexandra Churchin Ramona Codd-Miller Valerie Comino Yiwen Ding Giulia Ding Aaron Dole Sophia Fan Lurui Gao Shreya Garg Linxuan Gu Joel Gunawan Luisa Hadinata Shantanu Halder Nabil Hasan Christina Hatgis Kristina Hedberg Ashley Hu Anran Huang Raveen Jayawardene Yunipaula Jeong Zoey Jiang Xiaowen Kang Erin Kearney Luke Kelly Daniel Kim Rachel Kim George Kingston Sakuraka Kozuki Annie Lacoba Wenfei Lan Tony Le Jing Yuan Lee Arnold Lee Alisa Leng
Advanced Project Design Studio Coordinator Phillip Gough Susanna Li Oscar Lim-Strachan Bing Liu Liangfan Liu Cyrilla Lowas Natalie Lui Xinyu Ma Marissa Maglis Hannah McCormack Kaela Mcguire Mustafa Aqil Muhammad Azrif Thomas Murray-Smith Nicholas Neilson James Newton Gabriel Ng Hon Ng Veronica Nguyen Chau Nguyen Wiryawan Onggo Keiji Orime Se Yun Park Lachlan Paull Allison Peng Noah Pham Van Elleni Poullos Alex Pribula Howie Qiu Kimberly Rawsthorne Gabriel Rodriguez Russell Pisithpong Saeung Maria Salman Claire Say Alice Southeron Amy Su Grace Suprapto Praveen Suriyaarachchi Stark Tan Dilli Tan Annabelle Tay Andreas Thoma Tom Tran Helen Trang Monica Tsui Viswajith Unnikrishnan Aidan Walbran Natsumi Wang
Yuefeng Wang Frank Wang Simon Wang Nina Warita Warita Brooke Welsh Thomas White Wilfred Wong Jiaqi Yang Yang Alan Ye Ye Raquel Yesner Alex Youngman Nathan Yu Valencia Yun Jingyu Zeng Yizun Zhang Yuxi Zhang Kol Zhao Ning Zhong Owen Zhong Eric Zhou Hongyu Zhu
Caitlyn Burton Alicia Chhay Peter Chin Macy Chong Dhanita Dewi Nadya Felissa Gabrielle Hong Jade Jiang Michelle Jong Harrison Khannah Bianca Laycock Eva Liu Jenny Min Katia Moors Aaron Ngo Vicky Nguyen Amasha Panagoda Tara Song Ruofeng Sun Miguel Tamondong Simran Tandon Margaux Thwaites Lilian Trieu Kim Truong Ryan Van Dyk Jaya Virk Victor Xi Annika Young Adam Zhao
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Odyssey
MASTER OF INTERACTION DESIGN AND ELECTRONIC ARTS
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Master of Interaction Design and Electronic Arts
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Semester 1
Semester 2
Graduation Studio Coordinator Somwrita Sarkar
Graduation Studio Coordinator
Tutors Rashi Shrivastava Hao Wu
Tutors Abhiruchi Chhikara Benjamin Doherty
With thanks to Small Multiples, Andrea Lau and Jack Zhao for sponsoring the design brief.
With thanks to Accenture, Fjord, James Bush for sponsoring the design brief.
Somwrita Sarkar
Research Project/Dissertation/Internship Coordinator Lian Loke With thanks to the internship organisations, Art Gallery of NSW and Pixii.
New challenges, New possibilites
Somwrita Sarkar (Acting) Program Director, Master of Interaction Design and Electronic Arts
Odyssey
The Master of Interaction Design and Electronic Arts prepares students to design for the future using the emergent technologies of today. This is the age when design and the arts are transformed and metamorphosed into novel, unexpected forms, the age where machines, data, and humans become seamlessly integrated into a new physical and virtual whole. From wearable computing to mobile applications to interactive architecture, responsive environments, and urban informatics, MIDEA students transcend the frontiers of how the principles of human-centred design, emergent technologies, and computing with data can come together into transformative and translational design solutions and products. This is also the age of big challenges. With the COVID pandemic, the comfortable patterns of our lives, location, and movement, the way we work, live, and play, have all been disrupted, and the world is resiliently trying to get back to a new normal. Design faces new challenges, but is awash with new possibilities. The philosophy of design looks at difficult challenges as an opportunity for identifying advances and innovations latent in the disruption. Our students, through collaborative studios and the technical and design-focused workshops and assessments, have engaged with complex socio-cultural and socio-spatial questions, bringing to the forefront the critical social role played by interaction design and the electronic arts. Many of them have navigated and excelled in the difficult territory of working from their home countries, and successfully weaving their own and their respective communities’ personal experiences into their design work. This year’s exhibition and projects show the large breadth and depth of exploration on how design philosophies, techniques, and skills have been leveraged and harnessed by our students to come out with design ideas and solutions that are human-centred, socially and culturally sensitive, aesthetically and artistically desirable, robust and resilient in the face of global challenges, and economically feasible and beneficial. We welcome you to the future!
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The Pandemic Survival Guide Somwrita Sarkar
Master of Interaction Design and Electronic Arts
Graduation Studio
We are living in uncharted times through a global pandemic that has forced us into isolation and to change the way we live and work. Will we learn next time? What if this happens again? Will our future selves remember what it was like and be prepared? The studio designs a Pandemic Survival Guide, that prepares future generations in the community to navigate through challenges and obstacles. With specific target groups from elders and seniors, to children, to single parents, to the physically challenged and mentally or socio-economically vulnerable groups, the Pandemic Survival Guide focuses on: · · · · · · ·
Mental health and physical wellbeing News, misinformation, lack of support for different languages and cultures Working and learning from home, unemployment, demands of teachers The impact on different demographics and parts of the community Travel restrictions Health, tracking and immunisation Economic impacts
The studio outcome is a physical booklet, the design of which is based on the analytics and visualisation of complex data and the use of principles of interaction design, focusing on enabling the target user group with critical information to survive a pandemic.
A Pandemic Survival Guide
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Lucy Zhao I have designed a survival pandemic guide for restaurant’s owners in the Chippendale and Newtown area to renovate their website into a virtual storefront. The booklet is designed following the concept of a calendar. Users are able to hang it on the restaurant’s counter or walls. They can check the guide whenever they have some spare time from their work.
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Easing panic buying Lili Zhang Panic buying is a consumer trend that emerged during the coronavirus pandemic. It is typically motivated by the fear of missing out and is a common response of a rational person who faces uncertainty, seeking control and guarantees over their future.
Master of Interaction Design and Electronic Arts
Designing for future generations, I investigated how we might empower family members of different age groups to comprehend the phenomenon and its impacts, providing guidance to ease this issue at the individual level. The guidebook illustrates challenges faced by different groups in our society, promoting understanding to broader communities. When the next pandemic comes, people can implement the ‘Must Should Could Would’ checklist, consider the factual evidence, and behave rationally to prevent excessive panic buying.
Pandemic Survival Guide
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Yuran Zhang The Pandemic Survival Guide is designed for young adults working from home during the lockdown. As working from home is an emerging way of workforce adjustment and the expectation of future work, this guide is preparing to tackle problems in regards to physical conditions and productivity of work.
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A Recipe for Pandemic Survival Fransisca Devina When the global health pandemic hit, every individual, community, and business was affected, especially those in the hospitality industry. Restaurants are one of the businesses affected the most when the government decided to apply a lockdown.
Master of Interaction Design and Electronic Arts
I worked collaboratively to collect my primary data from 20 surveys distributed to restaurants in the Newtown and Chippendale area, 6 interviews with restaurant owners, and 48 surveys from patrons. All the collected data was integrated into an appealing and meaningful resource for restaurant owners to understand why they need to manage their social marketing effectively.
Remote Working Guide
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Mengjie Li This project is a series of data visualisations on remote working during the pandemic. 46% of NSW workers worked from home in 2020, due to the COVID. The survival guide focuses on presenting what it is like to work remotely, what the major frustrations are for the workers. It aims at helping employees solve their problems while working remotely and allowing them to prepare for future pandemics.
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Restaurant Revivial Levy Tran We are living through uncharted times that has forced us into isolation and to change the way we live and work. In creating this pandemic survival guide, I focused on small, local restaurant owners as they have suffered losses due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Master of Interaction Design and Electronic Arts
I employed a user-centric design thinking approach combined with best practices in data analysis and visualisation to create a story-driven marketing guidebook for restaurant owners. The guidebook features five easy-to-do content tips, compiled from data insights of Google Search & Google Maps, Youtube, Instagram, and examples from local restaurants to help restauranteurs prepare for a future pandemic.
Retailers Survival Guide
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Iris Wang My pandemic survival guide is a foldable brochure – lighting up your business again, targeting all business retailers for future pandemics. It aims to guide businesses through challenging times and offer ideas that are fundamental but vital for business transformation.
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Sisters Lin Li, Vicky Wang, Jianuo Zha
Master of Interaction Design and Electronic Arts
‘SISTERS’ is a pandemic survival guide for young women to use social media to break the social vacuum brought on by the pandemic. The target user of the ‘SISTERS’ survival guide is young women who are in a low mood. The data is collected by web crawlers based on the answers collected from questionnaires and interviews. It is hoped that through direct and practical data visualisation, this data can help female users break the situation and establish a good social model for women to help and promote each other.
The Mind Edition
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Juby Mathew The main aim of this pandemic guide is to help tackle mental health stressors faced by international students in a pandemic. The key messages from the guide are that international students are not alone, that they can persevere and to encourage socialisation. Most international students aren’t prepared mentally for the challenges that await them in a foreign country; add a pandemic to the mix and it’s fair to assume that students would require a gentle nudge to face the enormity of the situation. ‘The Mind Edition’ draws inspiration from personal experiences, as well as experiences that have been shared by peers. The guide is in the form of a poster that has been designed especially for the target audience, and is short and eye-catching.
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Telehealth Somwrita Sarkar
Master of Interaction Design and Electronic Arts
Graduation Studio
The global pandemic has displaced how and where we work, learn, shop and play. This has accelerated the trend of Healthcare providers to reduce costs by moving a portion of their healthcare delivery into homes. In 2020, the Australian government further encouraged this by providing greater incentives for GPs and specialists to provide Telehealth for their patients. However, healthcare providers are failing to meet increasing consumer expectations of digital experiences. With no longer needing to find a GP or a health service based on where you live, how might we improve the way patients access doctors in a way that is inclusive and equitable. The students create a digital Telehealth product that prepares and helps citizens in the community to access day-to-day healthcare during a pandemic or lockdown. The target audience is people in the community, such as seniors, or children, or disabled/ differently abled, or families or student households with all aged/all background members. The final design solution was critically assessed in terms of the excellence and sensitivity with which it attends to specific needs and requirements of the target group of users in response to the above brief, whether it employs best visual and interaction design principles and practices, and whether it is grounded in data and it is effective visualisation.
MyConnect Hugo Dowd, Erin Topfer, Zihe (Zoe) Lu
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Making Australian HealthCare More Accessible. We were tasked to create a digital product that enabled Australian citizens to access day-to-day healthcare during a pandemic/ lockdown situation. We were strongly recommended to consider systems that could be adapted and used even after pandemic life. MyHealth is an existing $2 billion investment in Telehealth. MyHealth Records is an online summary of a person’s key health information. It’s accessible by any Australian medical practitioner and allied health services. We propose developing the MyConnect app to allow users to upload remote data to their My Health Record. Their doctor can access this data, through their My Health portal. The benefits of the app are: establish reliable communication between doctors and patients, even in times of pandemic, improve diagnostics and patient monitoring, facilitate better healthcare for remote patients, generate usable patient data and fill My Health Records, and help patients to take control of their health.
Odyssey
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PanaSea Ke Wang, Xiaoxuan Hu
Master of Interaction Design and Electronic Arts
This project is a product design to help with mental health during a pandemic. The main users are teenagers. The name ‘PanaSea’ is a combination of the concepts around panacea, medicine that can cure and heal the psychological pain and discomfort of young people, and sea, where we hope the application will release pressure off teenagers and to allow them to live a content life.
Emo App
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Yue Jiang, Jialong Wang Chinese international students with mental health issues have many obstacles when they ask help from mental health services in Australia. The Emo App encourages international students to care about their mental health issues by providing relevant and important information to them through an easy to use and convenient phone app.
Odyssey
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Capstone Research Lian Loke
Master of Interaction Design and Electronic Arts
Research Project, Research Dissertation, Research Internship
Research is the pursuit of new knowledge. Design research puts the work of design at the heart of the research enquiry. Students undertook an independent research project under the supervision of Design Lab academics on topics that engaged with contemporary issues, emerging technologies and the needs of industry and community. Projects included diegetic interfaces to show exercise data in virtual reality exergames; co-creative AI for daily reflection; redefining trust in human-robot interaction through martial arts; evaluating public display of exhibition tour guide robot; developing ethical sensitivity in interaction design educators; a toolkit to document user experience of software-based artworks in art conservation; understanding how women manage menstruation in public, and designing with Country for digital placemaking. Students navigated the winding path of conducting research, starting with a research question to frame their enquiry. In the context of the pandemic, students had to think creatively about engaging with human participants using online tools, with the positive consequence of expanding their digital skills for future collaborations in a world reliant on networked communication. Design research can produce many kinds of outputs, from insights into user experience and behaviour, to the generation of novel concepts and prototypes, conceptual frameworks and new methods and tools. Some of the student outputs will make their way into practice, helping to shape the future of the profession and society.
Towards Country-Centred Interaction Design
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Siena White Awareness about the destructive effects of colonisation on sustainable pre-colonial ways of living that thrived for millennia has gained increasing momentum in recent years. That has led to growing movements in the industry and academia towards understanding of Indigenous ways of relating to Country, raising questions about culturally and environmentally appropriate approaches to design. This research project, motivated by the challenge of designing an audio augmented reality storytelling application for and with the Awabakal people of New South Wales, Australia, proposes an innovative approach which identifies and consolidates design methods, principles and precepts, mapped to a sustainable design process timeline.
Odyssey
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A User Experience Toolbox for Interactive Software-based Art Conservation Mei Wilkinson Software-based artworks present unique challenges for conservators due to the rapid rate of obsolescence and their often variable, procedure-based expressions. Given their mutable nature, understanding and maintaining the ‘identity’ of an artwork is important for its conservation. A user’s experience with an interactive software-based artwork has been established as a key part of its identity. Despite this, the literature reveals there is a significant research gap in user experiences with interactive artworks explicitly for conservation concerns.
Master of Interaction Design and Electronic Arts
This research addresses this gap through the development of a purpose-built ‘toolbox’ of methods and frameworks borrowed from the field of user experience to record and examine user experiences in the context of conservation. The toolbox has been informed by literature, past research and was applied to artwork case-studies from the Art Gallery of New South Wales collection. It includes a decision-making process developed to guide selection of appropriate tools for the study of an artwork’s user experience. The toolbox is intended to be used in the design of future studies of interactive software-based artworks.
Designing a diegetic interface that visualises exertion data in VR exergames
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Dylan Cheng VR exercise games (or exergames) are becoming a popular form of exercise because it enables player to have fun when doing exercise in a fully immersive environment. In order to obtain optimal exercise effects and avoid becoming overexerted, a graphical user interface (GUI) is needed to track player’s exertion while they are playing exergames. There are different types of in-game GUIs, and among them, the diegetic GUI has been shown as a potential to perform better in VR environment because of its association with game play. This work explores how diegetic GUIs can be designed for visualising exercise information in VR exergames. Three different designs of diegetic GUI were designed in a game snowballz by Unity 3D, and then taken into a comparative study with twelve participants, combining qualitative and quantitative method to evaluate their influence on game immersion, usability, effectiveness and user preference.
Odyssey
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Orb Jiawen Sun, Yidan Cao Pregnancy is a journey that brings life into the world – new parents may feel a bit lost, especially if this is the first time they experience this journey.
Master of Interaction Design and Electronic Arts
‘Orb’ aims to provide professional support to you as a one-stop service. It also represents preciousness. ‘Orb’ genuinely believes that every baby is a precious ‘Orb’. We provide professional support through self-management and data visualisation. ‘Orb’ will help you and your baby make this extraordinary journey together.
Co-Creative AI for Self-Reflection
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Michelle Xiang Modern day life is more fast paced than ever, leaving individuals with limited time to manage life stressors. In response, we have seen a growing trend in the interest of adopting self-reflective practices. This research project explores the potential for co-creative AI systems to facilitate self-reflection through working with human partners to make shared creative artefacts exploring daily thoughts, emotions and experiences. To do this, we used autoethnography and to pilot a method combining use of popular co-creative AI tools with journaling and reflective questioning, followed by a diary study with users. We discovered that while self-reflecting through AI allowed some participants to construct personally meaningful visual narratives through self-expression, other participants felt frustrated by its non-deterministic outputs. These differences were mediated by participant expectations, perceived control and understandings of co-creative AI capabilities affecting satisfaction with the created image and its utility for self-reflection.
Odyssey
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Breathing Scarf Yidan Cao Research has shown that emotion regulation increases our health and well-being. Designing wearable and tangible computing devices with emotion regulation capabilities is gaining popularity in the HCI research domain. However, as emotions are subjective experiences, there is often less development in individualised emotional needs and the design for customised technology.
Master of Interaction Design and Electronic Arts
This research investigates the process for designing customised digital jewellery to support individual emotional regulation via an autobiographical study. Self-observation data is collected on daily emotional activities through a qualitative workbook consisting of writing, drawing, and 3D modelling exercises over three months. The data is analysed through a thematic analysis process. This work contributes to the growing discourse on autobiographic research around developing customised digital jewellery.
LINK TO PROJECT VIDEO
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Student List Graduation Studio Coordinator Somwrita Sarkar
Xuan Li Mengyu Li Skye Li Keyi Li Kenneth Li Jingyi Li Fino Lin Kangli Lin Nicole Lin Yongjin Liu Lily Liu Zhaoyi Liu Zoe Lu Mandy Luo Jiaqi Lyu Zimeng Ma Stella Marissa Juby Mathew Zhuoxi Shao Yuqing Su Jiawen Sun Yixin Tang Sonya Tian Ziying Tong Erin Topfer Levy Tran Isabel Tseng Iris Wang Haiqi Wang Chenyang Wang Vicky Wang Jing Wang Zihan Wang
Yuxiao Wang Ke Wang Ziyun Wang Raelyn Wang Jianlong Wang Ming Wang Avery Wu Mika Xia Maurice Xiao Peichi Xie Zhixun Xu Ellena Xue Joy Yang Yixuan Yang Fangzhou Ye Peiwen Yin Aiai Ying Jiapei Yu Jianuo Zha Yutong Zhang Yuran Zhang Keira Zhang Xuechen Zhang Sharon Zhang Lucy Zhao Sia Zhao Ze Zhao Lewen Zheng Zhizhi Zou
Yidan Cao Estelle Chen Dylan Cheng Rein Liu Xinlan Lu Boy Steven Silalahi Sonya Tian Siena White Mei Wilkinson Yu Xia Michelle Xiang Cinyo Yang Sherry You Wendy Zhang Zhaohua Zhou
Odyssey
Jingning Bai Jiaoyang Cai Yidan Cao Qing Chen Leah Chen Long Chen Yuting Chen Xi Chen Zhuo Cheng Yaxin Cui Shengting Deng Fransisca Devina Hugo Dowd Xin Du Jade Du Zhengyang Feng Ollie Gan Rui Gao Yidan Gao Siyi Hong Dinuo Hou Tianyu Hou Tzu-En Hsu Xiaoxuan Hu Wen Huang Lili Jiang Jiang Yue Jiang Thanmai Korati Starry Lai Amy Leedham Sihan Lei Lin Li Meng Li
Research Project/ Dissertation/Internship Coordinator Lian Loke
MASTER OF DESIGN
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Master of Design
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Erez Nuseum Program Director, Master of Design
Odyssey
The need for design is becoming increasingly evident in industry. Indeed, as our society continues to grapple with increasingly complex problems (e.g., impacts of the Anthropocene) and necessitate rapid responses to global developments (such as COVID), so too does the need for design increase. Industry, more than ever, is looking to and embracing individuals adept at not only problem-solving but also problem-finding. Those that can undertake holistic investigations in a range of contexts, and can identify and balance the often conflicting needs of stakeholders. It is no wonder then that the Master of Design has grown to record numbers following its inception in 2019. One of the key principles in the Master of Design is the need to tailor design practice to the context in which design is being employed. Despite the plethora of design methods, frameworks, processes and approaches that we discuss and use as designers, there is no one ‘correct’ or single way of designing. In this sense, designers never stop learning. Each of the projects or collaborations we undertake are opportunities for us to evolve our practice and learn from our experiences. Much like this year’s exhibition theme ‘Odyssey’ – which presents the milestone of graduation as a pitstop – the Master of Design is just the beginning of a journey as a designer, and graduating does not mark its end. With the conclusion of this chapter, a new chapter will now unfold for our graduates. I am proud to welcome our graduates into the workforce and am looking forward to seeing all the amazing things they will accomplish. Congratulations on being the second cohort to complete the Master of Design. On behalf of the Master of Design teaching team, we wish our graduates all the best in their future endeavours. We hope that what they have learned at the University of Sydney will serve them well, and that their time here will prove to be a strong foundation from which they can begin to shape our discipline.
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Skin Resin App Katherine Zhang, Yihui Miao, Chenjun Hu ‘Skin Resin’ is a sustainable skincare start-up. According to our research, the ideal target market is the millennial women living in New South Wales. ‘Skin Resin’ aims to become a global leader in sustainable skincare while being a commanding influence for positive social impact.
Master of Design
Our solution is an app that integrates social networking features and tools, which will help ‘Skin Resin’ to attract more customers and help the company to better connect with its target market.
Creating a lamp for industrial production
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Elanor Finch Drawing inspiration from the vanilla bean, this project is a lamp for industrial production. It explores the roles that light and dark play in creating space, textures and colours. The use of a variety of materials, including copper piping, tea bag papers, timber veneer, linen and Tasmanian oak, developed an awareness of industrial and craft practices, and their impact on the construction processes.
Odyssey
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Their Trails: Enabling and empowering cis and trans females to enjoy the outdoors Elanor Finch
Master of Design
Whilst many adventure sports companies continue to innovate for men, in what has traditionally been a male dominated industry, ‘Their Trails’ is an innovative product ecosystem that not only seeks to capture the attention and hearts of an increasing female customer base, but enable and empower cis and trans females to enjoy the outdoors in whatever capacity that suits their needs and lifestyle.
Innovating for Surfrider Foundation
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Elanor Finch, Max Bailey This project is partnered with Surfrider Foundation Australia, and is briefed with the responsibility of ‘redesigning the Ocean Friendly Program so that more businesses adopt ocean friendly practices.’ The solution links small businesses with suppliers of natural material packaging alternatives, and provides customers with an augmented reality experience that thanks them for supporting an Ocean Friendly restaurant and visualises the individual and collective impact of their plastic related decisions.
Odyssey
STUDENT EXCELLENCE AND SPONSORS
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School of Architecture, Design and Planning
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Towards Country-Centred Interaction Design, Master of Interaction Design and Electronic Arts Siena White
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Awards, Prizes and Scholarships
The Small Multiples Prize for Design Computing Aamir Husain The Alexandria Harbin Atlassian Coursework Scholarship Aamir Husain
Dean’s List of Exellence in Academic Performance
Dylan Laurence Hensby Michelle Yun Huang Aamir Husain Erin Beth Kearney Lillian Elisabeth Knothe Annie Lacoba Andrew Nguyen Le Jin Ling Leong Kaela Lauren Mcguire Lachlan John Paull Kimberly Laura Rawsthorne Mietta Lenke Reed Habib George Salem Sarah Sarsam Claire Say
Jaini Shah Praveen Suriyaarachchi Matteo Tiscia Viswajith Unnikrishnan Aidan Walbran Brooke Welsh Sarah Chian En Yap Raquel Yesner Anthony Kim Yip Wenxu Zhang Yizun Zhang Bachelor of Design Computing/Advanced Studies Indira Bhaskaran Caitlyn Narainee Burton Alicia Lee Chhay Macy Nicole Chong Georgia Cohn Sumedha Dommatmari Kaeden James Dunton Christina Hatgis Gabrielle Do Eun Hong Dominic Hu Jade Jiang Bianca Laycock Eva Liu Katia Moors Anh-Xuan Nguyen Laila Orna Reuven Yu-Wen Tsui
Lydia Shinya Yang Annika Ming Zhu Young Ying Yi Zhu Master of Interaction Design and Electronic Arts Almohannad Farid Mohammed Albastaki James Anderson Marten Blumen Xin Cheng Rosemary Louise Hough Minrong Hua Hei Yu Ally Lam Anh Huyen Le Jiaxin Li Veronica Lin Juzan Marolia Kali Jade Maserow Hollie Robinson Thida Sachathep Vu Le Vy Tran Rong Wei Mei-Lynn Wilkinson Xuan Wu Michelle Sui Wen Xiang Qi Zhang Master of Design Elanor Sara Finch Timothy John Angus Cook
Monica Sarah Minehan Holly Elise Griffin Margaret Sydney Squires Jennifer Patricia Penunuri Tanushri-Radha Saha
Odyssey
Bachelor of Design Computing Shannara Grace Berriman Thomas Brettell Zeynep Canli Christian Alexander Cerda Savvena Christoforou Alexandra Churchin Lauren Cislowski Oliver Vernon Dixon Lisa Quyen Doan Nadya Felissa Alannah Frankel Eden Gorton Imogen Rose Gribble Kristina Hedberg
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Sponsors The Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning would like to thank the following sponsors for their generosity in making the 2021 Graduate Exhibition possible.
School of Architecture, Design and Planning
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STUDENT PROGRAMS
Graduating 2023 Cadet Program Game Changers Club Career Compass Program
Could the skills you learn here unlock doors anywhere?
Graduating 2021 Graduating 2022
Graduate Program
Vacationer Program
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Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning ISBN: 978-0-6484458-3-8
