Andrew Ma

In partnership with IDEO and Beyond 12, we reimagined their students’ experiences by putting them in cohorts. We hoped that giving them small groups would make their transition easier and more empathetic.

Our stakeholders were interested in finding new ways to engage their students and empower them to make change at their respective colleges. Since their students were all first generation, they didn't have the family knowledge in support other students had. How might we level playing field for them?

Our research into the students we were designing for let us to understand the intricacies of the Community College experience for them. There were plenty of gaps that caused nearly 3/4 of them to drop out after their first year. They also lacked support groups to keep them accountable and knowledgeable, which would inevitably compound with curveballs that life throws at all of us.

Our approach was focused on giving them small groups of peers that they could take advantage of for guidance and support. We would build on top of the traditional student-mentor approach that most programs similar to Beyond 12 took. This would help them feel more connected to a community of peers, encourage them to speak up about their needs and dreams, and reduce the burden on support staff so that they could focus on higher level goals for the students.

In partnership with Activision, my team designed a mentorship feature for the CoD Companion App that helped new and veteran players develop crucial skills.

Activision challenged us to make their Call of Duty companion app more social. We decided to approach things from a new player engagement angle. Their newest installment, Warzone, brought in a multitude of new players. However, the steep learning curve and a lack of a campaign mode to help them hone their skills became a barrier.

New players were getting left behind and this was discouraging them from continuing to play. If the companion app was going to live up to its name, it couldn't be a tool just for stats tracking. We needed to give newcomers a community to learn from and play with.

We devised a feature called Call of Duty Enlist, which paired up new players with veterans to go on missions together. After each side put in their CoD and general interests. We would match them according to preferences, and each party would get a chance to learn and bond over shared missions. Further program-exclusive incentives in the game were provided.

We designed a smarter crosswalk system for Los Angeles that accounted for the needs of people of all abilities.

We designed a smarter crosswalk system for Los Angeles that accounted for the needs of people of all abilities.

In our research, we gained a lot of insight about the struggles and stories of our target population. We learned about the structure they needed in their daily lives, how they learned to navigate the dangers in a world that was not designed for them, and most importantly, they shared their desire to not be singled out. Instead, they wanted to see a society that included them in their design, rather than have labeled solutions for them.

We designed a smart crosswalk timer system that uses AI and mobile wireless technology to create adequate crossing time for different individuals. The system would be able to detect nearby individuals who have our app and customize the crossing time to fit their individual needs. This would ensure they how to buffer that kept them safe while they navigated around the city.