A roundup of ideas and projects from around the Institute
Industrial Design Professor Emeritus Bruce Hannah, BID ’63, was featured in Hypebeast and Wallpaper. “Good design is respecting and having empathy for everyone who comes in contact with your design,” he told Wallpaper, “from the people who make the materials to the people who manufacture it; to the people who use it, to the people who repair it, to those who pass it on, to those who hopefully recycle it.”
Yimeng Zhang, MS Packaging, Identities, and Systems Design ’25, was interviewed in Canvas Rebel. “Many of my ideas come in flashes of inspiration—sometimes within a day or two—but the real challenge lies in prototyping, refining, and modifying them repeatedly. The final product must be visually compelling, practical, and, most importantly, cost-effective.”
Assistant Professor in the School of Information Shruthi Chivukula published a paper with colleagues “Tracing the History and Evolution of Dark Patterns on Twitter from 2010–2021” in ACM Transactions on Social Computing.
Tomokazu Matsuyama, MFA Communications Design ’04, who is exhibiting at LA Frieze Week, was profiled in Observer. “Matsuyama’s densely layered compositions capture the full complexity of today’s cultural and aesthetic landscape, integrating a wide spectrum of visual languages,” writes Elisa Carollo. “His work freely merges globally pervasive elements of American consumer culture with sophisticated references to Japanese prints and centuries-old artistic traditions, alongside nods to key moments in art history.”
Visiting Associate Professor of Graduate Communications Design, Trustee Emeritus, and Pratt Legends Honoree Marc A. Rosen, MFA ’70, was interviewed for an article in Harper’s Bazaar India about perfume bottle artistry. “There are many moving parts to creating a perfume bottle, the ergonomics taking precedence over artistry at the designing stage. We take into account several factors—the demography, the marketing elements, and the competition—before designing the bottle,” he said. “The proportion of the bottle, whether glass can even be blown for intricate designs, creating a harmonious user experience, all of these elements come into play in bottle design.”
Philip Sorenson reviewed Adjunct Associate Professor Laura Henriksen’s debut poetry collection Laura’s Desires for the Los Angeles Review of Books. “Laura’s Desires is about seeing and being seen, not just by people but also by art itself. It’s about desire and media’s role in awakening, associating, and transforming it.”
MFA Fashion Collection + Communication students participated in a Zombie Workshop led by British artist Jeremy Hutchison. “The workshop, based on Hutchison’s work Dead White Man, aims to subvert the ideology of fast fashion by hijacking its aesthetics. Students concluded the workshop by packaging their zombies as toxic commodities, creating lookbooks, styling, video, and photography.”
Manman Li, MFA Digital and Interactive Arts ’23, received Bronze in Multimedia/Interactive Media in the 2024 International Design Awards for their project “Manipulate,” while Hanzhang Zhu, BFA Communications Design (Graphic Design) ’25, received Bronze in Multimedia/Brand Identity for their project “Mise Rice Wine rebranding.”
Shikai Huang, MArch ’22, and Hung-Ju Liu, MArch ’22, received the Emerging Architectural Design of the Year award in the 2024 International Design Awards for their project “Exploratorium,” while Rachel Guo, MArch ’25, and Nour El Choueiri, MArch ’25, received Gold in Other Architectural Designs/Conceptual Architectural Designs for their project “Lolux Care +.”
Five Industrial Design students were recognized in the 2024 International Design Awards: Sean Lin, MID ’24, received Silver in Personal & Lifestyle/Health & Wellness Products for his project “Resilience Strategy – The Vibroacoustic Vest”; Weiqi Revive Sun, MID ’25, received Silver in Conceptual Products/Office & Work for his project “Stretch Go”; Linghui Ding, MID ’25, received Silver in Conceptual Products/Electronics for her project “Flat”; Siyu Steven Xiao, BID ’24, won Bronze in Automotive & Transport for his project “MedDash”; and Jenny Shan, BID ’25, received Honorable Mention for her project “The World in My Kitchen.”
