Designing experiences, shaping futures
Discovering professional development through research projects
When I was a Master’s degree student, I was trying to figure out my “place” in the world of design. I had a business and management degree and had worked in different industries and countries, developing a passion for human-centered and experience design. During my time in the Experience Design Masters program at Northeastern, I was motivated by the variety of research projects that my professors were working on. I thought that it might be a great opportunity to develop my design knowledge and skills by working on one of these projects, so I expressed interest to some of my professors.
I was then contacted by 2 professors — Miso Kim & Michael Arnold Mages, to be a part of the Climate Change & Health project in 2019 while I was working on my Masters’ Thesis, because of my expertise in designing for conversations and facilitating workshops with objects, as these two frameworks were highly aligned with the project.
About the project: The project’s goal was to understand attitudes in young adults (18–24) regarding climate change and how it affects mental health and health behaviors. We hypothesize that the environmental risk wrought by climate change and the national conversation on sustainability likely leads to a spectrum of beliefs, behaviors, and values regarding personal agency and resilience, which we are loosely defining as climate nihilism, climate ambivalence, and climate hope. The working group will pursue two phases of data collection using complementary, cross-disciplinary methods (i.e., Design Toolkits, Online Surveys) to explore collective and relational aspects of climate change and health.
We hypothesize that climate may be experienced emotionally by youth in two key ways: as stress, ongoing underlying feelings of concern, malaise or anxiety, or as shocks, coping with a sudden catastrophic environmental event, like a flood, storm, landslide, or wildfire.
It started as a volunteering experience. I wanted to get a feel for a research project with experienced faculty members. I started to work on the Climate Change and Health project late 2019. Around that same time, I had the opportunity to meet with Prof. Paolo Ciuccarelli during my MFA Thesis Exhibition course. During that course, I had the chance to talk to Paolo about different design topics and initiatives, and I learned more about the Center for Design (CfD), as Paolo Ciuccarelli was just starting to bring it to life. I was especially interested in the Center’s mission and vision — not only because I am passionate about design and research, but also because of my interdisciplinary and multicultural background and motivation for these. I shared this interest with Paolo, who was excited to see that the CfD was attracting young design professionals…
My volunteer experience with the Climate Change & Health project led to developing a bigger research opportunity which led in parallel to another project — An Exploration on the Use of Metrics in the Service Design Process (paper in progress) — even after graduating with my Master degree during the summer of 2020. I saw this work as an opportunity to continue to develop my knowledge in design, to be involved in the design community, and as a way to enhance my research skills.
I got a job in the design and tech industry, though I also continued to be involved with the Center in different capacities… On top of being involved with professors and doing research, I continued to stay in touch with the Center for Design through its mailing list and by participating in the CfD’s events. I was really amazed by the Center’s growth and development when I found out that the Center was hiring!
… and my story at the Center for Design started to take shape…
I joined the Center this past March as a Postdoctoral Design Strategist and Researcher. As such, I am currently working on several research projects at Northeastern and with other organizations and companies, as well as helping manage the Center’s strategy for development. In hindsight, it is amazing to see how my interest, passion, motivation, and skillset aligned with the Center’s need and how I am actually helping with the Center’s growth, while fulfilling its mission and vision.
Never stop pursuing and designing your dreams!
Estefanía Ciliotta
Center for Design, Northeastern University
This story is part of the #DesigningExperiencesShapingFutures series at the Center for Design @ Northeastern University. It showcases one of many different pathways in which students and/or designers may get involved with the Center for Design.
Here are a couple of extra ideas for current students interested in connecting and growing with the center:
- Join our mailing list here
- Check out upcoming events & lectures on our website and social media
- Check out our new space on campus (opening soon)
- Be on the look out for an installation in our new space coming soon!
