Thesis Week 1: Brainstorming thesis ideas as an experience designer

I kicked off a 1-year project for the thesis: It’s an exciting yet scary to execute my idea from scratch.

I created a mind map to visualize my interests and thoughts on social issues. The goal was to generate as many ideas as possible and see my thought process. Based on this map, I chose five topics that I’d like to dive into. Then, I created keywords & following questions that help me think further.

Self-brainstorming on Miro board

1. Online privacy

• User agreement and privacy policy: It’s too long and boring to read. Most people don’t read it carefully when signing up.
• What are we signing? How can we help people understand unfamiliar jargons? What are the differences of agreements between platforms? Would companies like to keep it confusing so that they can take advantages of users data? How might we help people be aware of what they are signing up?

2. Design for emergency

• Dealing with unexpected emergency: Natural disasters, shooting incidents, virus pandemic, and other 911 emergencies
• How can we help people prepare for emergency? Where can we get trustworthy information? How can we distinguish?

3. Environmental crisis

• Reduce carbon footprints: Cows fart! Methane gas, Vegan foods
• Can people stop eating meat? Why aren’t we taking actions on climate changes as fast as possible?

4. How to optimize teaching/studying from home

• Screen fatigue: Hard to focus on learning online.
• How can we focus on screens in a longer time? How can we improve e-learning experiences for homeschooling kids?

5. Feminism in arts

• Backlash effect, Bechdel test
• How can we measure and visualize the discrimination? What is the discrimination? How can we find sexism&misogyny in arts? How can we change people’s mindsets? What are the stereotypes? Could a sex objectification be a choice? How can we protect children from sexism?