Designer Statement

One of the things that design can achieve is balancing ideas, incentives and motivations that seem inherently opposed to each other. In this project, the core challenge was giving users more control without cluttering the sharing experience. But at a larger level, I realized that my project was really about removing the underlying concerns that people have when using social media products; sharing too much and compromising the privacy of themselves and others they know. In designing for these concerns I believe that we can arrive at a win-win situation where people feel safe sharing more and more online. Social media service providers only stand to benefit from increased engagement from users that feel safe. I hope this project inspires other designers to take on challenging problems and continue to exploring solutions that could benefit every party.

“Jaewon has shown a strong curiosity to explore problems and embrace uncertainty throughout her thesis development. This openness to explore is a great quality to have as a graduate student and designer alike. As faculty, we are excited to see where this exploratory attitude will take her as she makes the next step in her design career.”

– Jason Germany, Assistant Professor of Industrial Design

Committee

• Jason O. Germany (Industrial Design)
• Dominic Muren (Design)
• Sang–gyeun Ahn (Industrial Design)