Tymirra Smith
Alumni
I design because user- based design is one of the most powerful tools we have to solve the problems of the world. As designers we have the unique superpower of being able to empathize with anyone, no matter who they are or how little we may understand them in the beginning. And leveraging that power is how we create a more inclusive and well rounded world.
I am passionate about User Experience design and try to ensure all of my design solutions keep the user in mind throughout the entire process from ideation to refinement. My strengths are user research and research analysis to discover insights. I love this part of the design process because it allows me the chance to engage with the users and hear from them what they want and need. Both explicitly and implicitly. I find that this is the part of the process that is most often rushed through and can to well intentioned designs that don't meet user needs.
Patterson Smith
Class: Brand Startup | Instructor: Roger Ball
Patterson Smith is a hair care brand I designed this semester in Professor Ball’s Startup Brand class. The goal of this class was to identify a design issue that we were interested in solving. So I created Patterson Smith, which is a hair care brand designed for women with curly and textured hair. Currently there aren’t many high quality hair tools designed specifically for women with curly hair and oftentimes most curly haired women must create or alter their own tools to create solutions for themselves.
Patterson Smith makes life easier for curly humans by providing access to easy, simple hair care. Giving them more time to experiment with hair styles and make curly hair fun again. All while decreasing both the time and pain cost curly and kinky haired people are all familiar with. I designed the big banana brush, which more than doubles the diameter of the average hair brush, and features a non slip covering to aid in grip during use. Also as part of this project I created the branding for Patterson Smith, as well as designed a series of ergonomic and easy to clean tools, created a business plan and other marketing tools such as a commercial and founder’s video, and solidified sourcing for materials.
Steminista App
Class: Capstone Studio | Instructor: Roger Ball
The Steminista App was designed for my senior Capstone Project. I aspire to become a User Experience designer and have a love for showing young girls the beauty of STEM and encouraging them to explore STEM career paths. The two passions have ultimately culminated in me designing my senior capstone around merging these two passions of mine. And here is a small look at my research and insights gathered during this project and over the past 12 years.
My key insight is this: young girls need a community where they feel supported and are provided with role models who show them how they too can be a powerful woman in STEM. The Steminista app works in conjunction with a subscription service that sends girls monthly boxes containing all the supplied needed for a month long STEM project. The app portion features weekly videos explaining the STEM concepts featured in the box that month. It also features weekly interactive articles about the origin stories of women in STEM showing young girls how they too can create their own path in STEM fields. There is a social media portion of the app for girls to share their progress on their boxes for that month and interact with other girls and support them. To learn more about this project you can visit my website linked in my bio.
Steminista Box
Class: Make 10 | Instructor: Steve Chininis
The Steminista Subscription Box was designed for Make 10, where the goal is to create a product that can be reproduced and sold effectively. For this project I designed the Steminista Subscription Box. This box is designed for girls age 8 - 12. The goal of this box is to make STEM education more accessible and fun girls to help keep them engaged in STEM throughout middle school, which is when most girls lose passion for STEM. This first box uses gears and levers to create a four bar linkage to make a bird’s wings flap.
The Steminista subscription box goes beyond just pieces and building instructions. It also contains an activity guide teaching the STEM concepts and leading the girls through additional activities to further teach the concepts. It contains activities teaching them about simple machines, levers, gears and gear ratios, types of motion, and linkages. It also features a short book about the mechanics of bird flight and a quick reference guide for all the terms taught in the activity guide. Each box also features a unique welcome to the girl it is ordered for and turns into a fun piece for her room that allows her to share her newfound STEM knowledge with all those who ask about it! For more information about this project check out my website, linked in my bio.