Meet the Alumni: Class of 2019
Evelyn Cheung
Evie is the Associate Director of Service Design at frog in San Francisco. Previously, she was a Design Strategy Lead at Johnson & Johnson in New York City. Evie has worked across many industries and scales with several Fortune 500 clients—particularly helping large-scale organizations rethink their innovation approach through a user-centered lens. While at MFA Products of Design, she started her own freelance consulting company and was a Creative Strategy Intern at Code and Theory, working on projects with Adidas, Maybelline, and Moncler. After graduating, Evie helped lead teams at Doblin—a part of Deloitte's Applied Design & Innovation arm—where she also co-led a team in reimagining commonly used design & research methodologies and frameworks through an anti-racist lens. Evie’s thesis, Alexa, Help Me Be A Better Human: Redesigning Conversational Artificial Intelligence for Emotional Connection interrogates the status quo of the artificial intelligence (AI) space, and suggests pathways to use intersectional thinking to imagine new applications for the technology.
Website: eviecheung.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/eviecheung
Ellen Rose
Ellen is a Senior Designer at SYPartners in New York City. In this role, she is a "Swiss army knife": focusing on prototyping, experience design, graphic design, digital tool design, and illustration—but also leaning into research, strategy, and concept development. Ellen has a background in visual presentation, previously creating window displays and interior environments for Anthropologie, Saks Fifth Avenue, and J. Crew Corporate. Ellen was accepted to the inaugural Wix Design Playground design incubator, where she created interactive websites for partner organizations, including Tattly and the NYC-based nonprofit Community Food Advocates. Her thesis, The Aha Movement: The Creative Process at Work began as a dissection of the creative process from a psychology and neuroscience standpoint, and evolved into an exploration of how design might be used to foster a team’s collective creative practice.
Website: ellenhillrose.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ellen-rose-05925620
Rhea Bhandari
Rhea is a Designer at Luminary Labs in New York City. Born and raised in India, Rhea earned her undergraduate degree in design from Goldsmiths, University of London. For her undergraduate thesis project, she designed prosthetic limbs—devices now utilized by BMVSS, the world’s largest institute for prosthetic fitment. Previously, Rhea interned at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as a Design Strategist and was employed as a Design Strategist at NeuroEquilibrium, a company that designs vertigo diagnostic devices, fusing technology, and remote patient diagnoses. Her thesis, Hysterical Women: Designing Experiences to Counter the Current Gaslighting Healthcare System, aims to improve the healthcare experience of women by designing more efficient and empathetic diagnostic and treatment strategies to counteract a patriarchal healthcare system where women face neglect, misdiagnosis, and gaslighting.
Website: rheabhandari.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/rheabhandari187
Gustav Ole Dyrhauge
Gustav is an Interactive Designer at Apple in San Francisco. He was previously employed as Design Lead at Current Studios in New York City. Born and raised in Denmark, Gustav served in the army as a Royal Life Guard to the Danish royal family before obtaining his Bachelor’s degree in Digital Media and Design at the IT University of Copenhagen. As an undergraduate student, he designed an app collaborating with Volkswagen for both customers and mechanics to identify technical issues with cars. He was also employed by Danish company Maersk Line, for whom he developed and digitized the on-boarding and off-boarding processes of their employees. After learning about food deserts and food insecurity in New York City, Gustav quickly decided to dedicate his thesis, Food Justice: Through the Power of Knowledge Sharing, to food justice and the problem of food insecurity.
Website: gustavdyrhauge.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/gdyrhauge
Antya Waegemann
Antya is a Product Designer at Tinder in Los Angeles. Previously, she was a Product Designer at InVision and Equinox Media in New York City. Before joining MFA Products of Design, Antya received a BA in Environmental Studies from New York University and an MLA in Sustainable Management from Harvard University with a focus in policy and business. In the summer following her first year of graduate studies, Antya gained experience as a Design Researcher & Strategist at Johnson & Johnson. After graduation, she worked as an Interaction Designer at frog design and founded Margo, a redesigned sexual assault forensic evidence kit that began as part of her Master’s thesis. Titled, When No One Believes You: Redesigning the Rape Kit and Responses to Sexual Assault, Antya’s thesis proposes design interventions for sexual assault victims, nurses, and the police. Her project has won several awards, including Fast Company’s 2020 World Changing Ideas Award.
Website: antyawaegemann.com
John Boran Jr.
John is a Senior Contract Designer at Pentagram in New York City, where he creates identities, strategy, and style guides for clients in entertainment and technology. Born and raised in Texas, John studied Telecommunications and Graphic Design at Texas A&M University. Before joining MFA Products of Design, he worked as a graphic artist for Signet Interactive, Landry's Inc., and Drifting Creatives. John's design work has included branding for rock bands, developing user interfaces for private universities, and creating collateral for local restaurants. His thesis, There and Never Back Again: Design in the Next Age of Space Exploration, designed for “a future that is still far enough to be exciting, but close enough to design for: going to Mars.”
Website: johnboranjr.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/johnboranjr
Phuong Anh Nguyen
Phuong Anh is a UX/UI Designer for the Vietnamese Professionals Network in New York City. Born in Moscow and raised in Saigon, Phuong Anh earned her B.S. in Advertising at Boston University, and worked in UX design at Eligraphics, Boston University's AdLab and Potoo LLC, where she studied user behavior. She also interned as a PR specialist for T&A Ogilvy, an advertising/PR agency in Vietnam. Phuong Anh recently interned for New Reality Co. in NYC, where she was part of R/GA’s first VR Artist in Residence Team. Her thesis, Power Play: Designing for Agency and Empathy in Virtual Environments, examines how human cognition and behavior change when we socialize in the virtual space.
Website: anhngp.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/anhngp
Kevin Cook
Kevin is a Senior Product Designer at Lattice in Montréal, Canada. Previously, he was a Senior Product Designer at Sawyer in New York City. Born and raised in Montréal, Kevin has experience bringing manufactured products to market, including children’s toys, medical devices, consumer electronics and sporting equipment. Most recently, Kevin has worked as a User Experience Designer at Sid Lee where he worked with clients including Samsung, BlackRock, MetLife, and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. His thesis, Closer Kin: Building Stronger Family Environments by Design, explores how children’s outcomes could be improved by strengthening family relationships.
Website: kevincook.co
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/kevin-cook-4697b755
Carly Simmons
Carly is UX/UI Designer at Measures for Justice in Rochester, New York. She holds a BA in Architectural Studies from Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Prior to joining Products of Design, Carly worked with furniture designer Patrick Kana, and for the nationally recognized non-profit Second Nature. During her graduate studies Carly worked as a Design Research Intern at Public Policy Lab. Her thesis, The Mother Load: Owning Motherhood and Offloading Burden, aims to redistribute the burden and responsibility typically held by women and mothers to other individuals in their social network.
Website: carly-simmons.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/carly-simmons-a97369104
Sophie Carrillo Miranda
Sophie is a Designer & Spanish Transcreation Consultant at Bully Pulpit Interactive, a modern communications agency. Born and raised in Queretaro, Mexico, Sophie received a BA in Industrial Design from Monterrey Institute of Technology. After graduating, she worked as a graphic designer for Juriquilla, a Mexican health and lifestyle magazine. Sophie has also freelanced for a variety of clients, ranging from rock-metal bands, music academies, and health specialists. During her graduate studies at MFA Products of Design, Sophie collaborated with Lovevery to generate design concepts for baby toys. Her thesis, Unauthorized Play: Design Provocations for Children in Crisis, is a year-long exploration of the potential benefits of implementing more play into children’s lives, particularly for children growing up in adverse environments.
Website: sophiecarrillo.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/sophiecarrillom
André Orta
André is a Product Designer at Collab in Los Angeles, California. After receiving his BA in Literature from Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA, André spent four years in Los Angeles building strategic marketing plans with tech start-ups, manufacturing companies, and local small businesses. He has worked as a UX/Product Design Lead Intern at Normative in Toronto and as a Product Design Intern at Birsel + Seck in NYC. André’s thesis, Density is Destiny: Designs for Shared Experience in the Coming Age of Autonomous Vehicles, envisions a future of optimized ride-sharing where increasing the number of passengers per vehicle enables new community spaces to flourish inside the driverless cars of the near future.
Website: andreorta.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/andr%C3%A9-orta-56b7b879
Hannah Rudin
Hannah is a Strategist at Smashing Ideas in Seattle. Before joining MFA Products of Design, Hannah earned her BS in Mechanical Engineering at Cornell University. She honed her interest in design while working as an engineering intern at Cascade Designs in Seattle, helping develop systems to provide clean drinking water in disaster relief settings. She has also worked with Cornell Outdoor Education as a lead facilitator for the Cornell Team and Leadership Center, where she designed experiences for clients to allow them to achieve personal and group development goals. Hannah's thesis, Teambuilding America: A Declaration of Interdependence, tackles the issue of political polarization in America.
Website: hannahrudin.me
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/hannahrudin
Benjamin Bartlett
Ben is a Product Designer at Howl (Greenlight Energy) in New York City. He attended Western University in his hometown of London, Ontario, where he received a BA in English Language and Literature. While at MFA Products of Design, Ben gained experience as a User Experience Intern at Chicory and as a Package Designer at Little Spoon. For his thesis, entitled The Mother Load: Owning Motherhood and Offloading Burden, Ben spent a year studying Western urbanism and the future of cities.
Website: benbartlett.net
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/ben-bartlett-19a1826a
Xuan Wang
Xuan is a UX/UI Designer at Majestyk Apps in New York City. Born and raised in Dalian, China, Xuan received her undergraduate degree in biotechnology from Dalian University of Technology. During her graduate studies Xuan was selected as a Design Research Fellow in a partnered project with Omidyar Network where she collaborated on a design research project around the topic of interdependence. In her thesis, Queer China: Diminishing the Tension Between Chinese Queer Youth and Their Family, Xuan set out to design interventions that bring comfort, provide support, and facilitate both personal and political conversations for Chinese Queer Youth and their families.
Website: xuanwangdesigning.com
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/qixuan-wang
Zihan Chen
Zihan is a Product Designer at Flexport in New York City. Originally from China, Zihan earned his BA in Studio Art from the University of Virginia. Before joining the Products of Design program, he founded his own company, SECSTUDIO, which designs online games for Android devices. During his graduate studies, Zihan interned at Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv where he created branding and identity work for clients such as National Geographic and Discovery Channel. He has also won several awards, including the Red Dot Design Concept Award and the Coca Cola Innovation and Design Contest. Zihan's thesis, Queer China: Diminishing the Tension Between Chinese Queer Youth and Their Family, was presented in May 2019.
Website: zihanchen.webflow.io
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/zihan-chen-9456b6176
Yangying Ye
Yangying is a Product Manager for Lanehub in Shanghai. Born and raised in Wenzhou, China, Yangying earned her BFA in Industrial Design from the China Academy of Art in Shanghai. As a graduate student, she gained experience as a Product Design Intern at ATLASON Studio in NYC. After learning of polyamory (also known as ethical non-monogamy), Yangying developed her thesis, MONO/POLY: Designing for a Post-Marriage Society, to create services, experiences, and educational games that speak to polyamorous partnerships and envision a society where monogamy is no longer the default ordering principle of human relationships. In 2021-2022, a version of her thesis project was exhibited in A Section of Now: Social Norms and Rituals as Sites for Architectural Intervention at the Canadian Centre of Architecture.
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/yangying-ye-06701b13b
Tzu Ching Lin
Tzu-Ching is the Co-founder & Creative Director of Satirist in Taipei City, Taiwan. Originally from Taipei, Tzu-Ching received a BS in Industrial Design from Tatung University. Prior to completing his undergraduate studies, he was a member of the ROC Military Police in Taipei were he was a guard of the presidential mansion. More recently, Tzu-Ching worked as an Interaction Design Intern at New Reality Co. in NYC and as a Design Intern at the Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator Brooklyn. His thesis, No Do-Over: Designing Lives Without Regret, uses design to help people live with their regrets in peaceful coexistence.
Website: tzuchinglin.com
Eugenia Ramos Alonso
Eugenia is a product designer based in New York City. Born and raised in Spain, Eugenia earned her BA in Product Design at Instituto Europeo di Design in Madrid. As an undergraduate student, Eugenia worked as the assistant to the head designer for Johnpepe Design Studio. Her thesis, entitled Public Speaking Anxiety: The Environments That Make or Break Us, was presented in May 2019.
Website: eramosalonso.com
Micah Lynn
Micah is a designer based in Freehold, New Jersey. He earned his BFA in Graphic Design at Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts. Micah apprenticed with designer Brad Zimmerman, with whom he designed videos, animated slide shows and printed materials. Micah’s thesis, Attainable: Designing for Academic Engagement Through Sports and Exercise, uses methodologies from sports and exercise as a design toolkit to encourage academic engagement in students.
Runshi Wei
Wei is a Senior Industrial Designer at Shenzhen 3nod Acousticlink in Shenzhen, China. Before joining MFA Products of Design, Wei earned his bachelor's degree in Industrial Design from Beijing University of Technology. He has won design competitions, including the Red Dot Design Award and the Hyundai Car Design Competition. The MoMA Design Store selected Wei's product to be produced globally for wholesale. His thesis, Small But Certain Happiness: Finding Fulfillment in a Low Desire Society, sets out to create simple but delightful experiences that reduce the pressures in the day-to-day lives of Chinese youth.