The other day I made a little pot with Air-dry clay using the [pinch-pot method.](https://youtu.be/qGvLj4F7X2M?si=zQ7V3_QICstNVxSv) It was my first time making a proper pot from scratch. I named him Cake :) 

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FEq9b9eMvZeVUhkjtU4qvzc1y9U22%2F0sdVH43PNYDNer1830TT%2Fcc10d90e-31f1-44b2-bfc5-9a45d8f13806.png?alt=media&token=7db05508-ca18-48ef-8b5d-c42dc30b5dab","id":"cc10d90e-31f1-44b2-bfc5-9a45d8f13806","width":902,"height":779,"filename":"cake.png","type":"image/png","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

It took me 5 days to make him. An evening to mold the clay. 2 days to dry. Painted it on the third day. It was raining on the 4th day. I glazed him with resin on the 5th day. That's how long it took me to make cake. How long did it take to make the shirt I'm wearing as I type this article? How long did it take to make my laptop?\
\
Consumption is so easy in this era of late-stage capitalism. We rarely think about the behind-the-scenes process of what we consume. Why would we? Adding to cart and hitting purchase abstracts the entire process, from how materials are sourced to how they are shipped. In fact, that's also what good user experience is, right? Simplifying day-to-day actions so much that we don't need to think. This thought process inspired my project "Label to Labor."

"Label to Labor" is an exploration in critical design, manifested as a simple clothing tag. You might typically check the size or material of your dress, but by adding simplified, transparent data like the number of days and the number of hands it took, it adds another dimension to the dress. It's not just a piece of clothing; it's the fruit of time and labor. By humanizing the production process, we are reminded that behind every product are individuals whose labor and expertise make it possible.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FEq9b9eMvZeVUhkjtU4qvzc1y9U22%2F0sdVH43PNYDNer1830TT%2F29357377-2d74-4231-aac5-98014235bce6.png?alt=media&token=639a9d2c-a34f-43e8-bd39-c6ef0dbbce6b","id":"29357377-2d74-4231-aac5-98014235bce6","width":1128,"height":1128,"filename":"label.png","type":"image/png","caption":"label","border":false}]}
```

I also want to emphasize the two-way approach through this tag. Apart from providing consumers with transparency, it pushes corporations to be more accountable with their processes. While it's quite possible (or likely) that corporations might not be honest with the data on the tag, I think adding a tag like this is a step in the right direction. With the right resources to fact-check tags, this can be really beneficial. While I used a clothing tag as an example, this is also a more generalized framework that can be applied to almost any kind of object.\
\
I have a clay shop but my pot "Cake" is not for sale. Cake holds sentimental value for me. We all have things like Cake in our lives; things that hold sentimental value for us. We'd all have a lot more of those maybe if we made more slow and thoughtful decisions on what we buy.\
\
K Bye\
Akshara <3

Labor to Label

**Don't date your work. Good design is timeless.**

I love watching YouTube, but I was getting tired of the same "sit in front of the camera like you're talking to me" video essay format. I was yearning for something bright, colorful, silly, and uncurated. I missed the DIY videos that my 15-year-old self was eating up in 2015. So, I went to YouTube and tried to filter by the oldest videos, only to find that the feature was gone. After searching through Reddit threads where people were complaining about the feature's removal, I continued my search. Finally, I searched "DIY before: 2015," and there it was—my shining beacon of light: ["10 Ways to Make 2015 Your Year."](https://youtu.be/hfRCMmQvDhA?si=_uPap_7dwfmubjuM)

In the video, My Life as Eva and LaurDIY share a bunch of DIYs, from craft ideas to recipes. It's colorful, intoxicatingly positive, and boldly a product of its time. Why can't we have that now? Why do all the websites look the same?

While standardization of UX has improved efficiency and accessibility, it has also brought with it uniformity.

**Where it's heading**

There is a growing emphasis on play and delight, and products like Arc Browser are returning to the personalization of spaces on the internet. The other day, I had customized my Figma with vividly pink Comic Sans embellishments. But when I was screen sharing with the other designers in my team for a design critique, they were really laughing. I didn't mind because I thought it was funny too. But looking back, I think there is a push for everyone to conform to social norms and what they think is cool.

There's a tough chance you'd think about using Comic Sans for your text editor because nobody likes it.

**GirlsGoGames.com**

As I think about the [Shopaholic games](https://youtu.be/QUzo_K2eYA0?si=HVnWUeVIe3FAes5y) I loved in the 2010s, I remember how much fun shopping was in the game and how cool the stores and characters looked. I don't think about how it looks so Y2K or McBling or Fruitiger Aero. Everything today has to have a "core" or an aesthetic. Those flash games and the platforms were just being themselves, confidently so. Look around at Steam or the Nintendo game store. It's not the same. I know I sound like a "Back in my day" granny, but I've seen people collectively agree on how everything looks the same nowadays.

**Stop trying to be timeless**

Let's go beyond play and delight. Let's feel okay about making things look like they are true to the original creative vision while still staying accessible and inclusive. It's okay for things to look like they belong to a specific time; that's what makes them special.\
\
\
**K bye\
Akshara <3**\
\
\
\
\
**Some sites that embody this spirit**\
[My v1 portfolio:](https://aksharadash.com/) Still in the works of improving it, but I wanted it to look organic-- like a scrapbook vs a site :)

**[The Hydrant Directory:](https://www.dayroselane.com/hydrants?pageSize=50&page=2&sortby=hexcolor&reverse=false&hydrantsize=1&hexcolor=eb7ab8)** Hydrants in various colors\
\
[Rock on](https://lucys.rocks/) : I love me a shiny rock, mm..crunchy\
\
**[Artificial life: Insects](https://cdrom.ca/games/art/2022/03/31/artificial-life.html):** The background has a solid nostalgia factor\
\
I found these on an Are.na collection, but Polina has so many more: [Love at First Site](https://www.are.na/polina-lobanova/love-at-first-site)

and Neocities (although probably not very many responsive or accessible sites)

On (not) timeless design and the age of minimalism

I was shoveling pebbles last week. Nothing serious, just getting all the pebbles in the garden into a wheelbarrow. I did it for about 30 minutes or so. But the way I was doing it towards the end was not the same as when I started doing it.

I tried holding the shovel from the top of the handle, then maybe moved a little more to the middle. I tried gathering all the pebbles in the middle. I made adjustments as I went along. It wasn't a completely conscious choice. I just found myself doing that. Hypothesizing, testing, experimenting. The evolutionary way. \
\
**Hypothesizing, testing, experimenting.**

Over the years, we've had different names for this process. One of the most popular ones would be the scientific method: the process of observing, asking questions, and seeking answers through tests and experiments. However, I think we'd be a little egotistical to think that humans came up with this problem-solving mechanism. This method does not belong to science, it is merely formalized by science. This method is ingrained in life itself. It's the very phenomenon of life.

I was fascinated by deep-sea brine pools. These pools will kill anything that goes in them because of the lack of oxygen, high salinity, and toxic gases. But they are also an oasis of life. Millions of creatures have adapted to use brine pools as a source of nutrition and live right on the edge of the pool. I doubt they used the scientific method to adapt and thrive. Their evolution was powered by the need to survive.

\
**My design philosophy**

So, I refuse to use human-centered design and will focus on solutions that prioritize balance between humans and nature. For far too long, we've adapted the environment to suit us, which is good for us in many ways—like having a warm house or the internet to share ideas. But I'd be fooling myself into thinking I'm an inclusive designer when my definition of inclusivity only includes humans and not the earth.

The earth has been and will be here for millions of years, me...maybe a 100? I'm not a savior, and maybe the earth doesn't need me to save it, but the least I want to do with my design work is not add negatively to our environment. My definition of inclusivity now includes the earth as a living environment as a focus. This is why I will actively be incorporating biomimicry into my work. Thanks to the work of historians and biologists, we have access to the context of millions of creatures, and we can learn from them and integrate it into our practice instead of reinventing the wheel with solutions that disturb the balance in nature.\
\
**Project update**

My latest ongoing project, "On the Edge of Life," is a dress inspired by brine pools and the coexistence of life and death. I've just ordered the fabric and sequins, and I'm excited to share details and the final work soon :) Meanwhile, enjoy some sketches of my process.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FEq9b9eMvZeVUhkjtU4qvzc1y9U22%2FFL8ClWPTDwvn4pAYYddm%2Fc666ea63-1601-4317-86e8-229e2494d199.jpg?alt=media&token=920a3efa-9bea-42f6-9667-a6e80b95ada6","id":"c666ea63-1601-4317-86e8-229e2494d199","width":3024,"height":3914,"filename":"Image from iOS (3).jpg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"dress design sketches","border":false}]}
```

Dress design concepts:\
\
*Pockets inspired by "pockets" of life A.K.A extremophiles that survive in harsh environments.\
Coexistence of life, death and the void through spacial design on the outfit.\
Sequins on the edges of the dress = life on the edges of brine pools.*

\
K bye

Akshara <3

---

**Definitions:**

**Scientific Method**: A systematic way of exploring and understanding the world through observation, asking questions, forming hypotheses, conducting experiments, and drawing conclusions.

**Biomimicry**: An approach to design that seeks inspiration from nature's time-tested patterns and strategies to solve human problems. For example, creating materials or structures modeled after natural phenomena like spider silk or honeycombs.

**Inclusivity**: In the context of design, it means creating products, environments, or systems that are accessible and beneficial to all people, considering diverse needs and backgrounds. The writer extends this concept to include the natural environment as well.

**Human-Centered Design**: A design approach that prioritizes the needs, preferences, and experiences of humans. It involves understanding the people who will use the product or system and designing solutions that fit their needs.

**Deep-Sea Brine Pools**: Extreme underwater environments with high salinity and toxic conditions, where typical sea life cannot survive. However, some unique organisms have adapted to live in or around these pools, showcasing remarkable evolutionary adaptations.

**Evolutionary Design**: A design process that evolves over time through experimentation and adaptation, similar to how living organisms adapt to their environment. It involves trying different approaches, learning from results, and making continuous improvements.

**Adaptation**: The process by which organisms or systems change over time to better survive and thrive in their environments. In nature, this can be seen in physical changes or behaviors that enhance survival.

**Sustainability**: Designing and operating in ways that meet current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It involves minimizing negative impacts on the environment and promoting ecological balance.

On evolutionary design

**This week I attended [XCamp](https://www.x-camp.ca/): a two-day UX conference through my workplace and had a chance to connect with some amazing futurists/ speculative designers.** \
\
Um, this was a literal dream come true because I LOVE speculative design and one of the speakers knew the authors of [Speculative Everything](https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262019842/speculative-everything/) personally. They also happened to work on a speculative design magazine on self-driving cars that I had read a few months ago!\
\
I was able to chat with them later and got some invaluable advice as well :) I'm writing all of this down for future me.\
\
1\. Connect with other speculative designers.\
\
2\. Keep working on personal speculative design projects and putting them out there and clients who align with that type of work will reach out. Don't wait till you find a job.\
\
3\. Right now, keep working as a designer and embody speculative and critical design concepts into regular work. That will set your work apart and give you a focus as well.\
\
4\. Learnt a practical methodology called the Futures Wheel that I can apply day to day to build products for the next world from Jayar La Fontaine and Aqeel Wahab's "Speculative Design for Tomorrow's World" workshop.\
\
5\. Use AI tools to form a personal inspo space from your previous thoughts and notes as an alternative to dribble/ pinterest.\
\
The best part of this opportunity was that I am more hopeful than ever that speculative design isn't something I have to wait for and that maybe I can start building possible futures for myself right at this moment.

Meeting other speculative designers <33

Critical & speculative designer

STEM for a Better World

$5000 scholarship based on community impact within STEM fields

Women in technology and community service Award

For community service, volunteerism, and leadership awarded to 1 upper-year female student in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Saskatchewan

Courageous Curiosity Award

My 2 teammates and I tirelessly worked for 36 hours to address the issue of current washroom models in Saskatoon and our target demographic were the people who were the most in need I.e the homeless. We came up with a to-scale washroom model, 3d representation of a modular model, and a companion app prototype.

Code Queen

24-hour hackathon where our team of 3 build a music brainstorming app. This award of $1000 was presented to a female individual contributor who had the most impact on their team.

The second year I won the Zu Award for social good through our club the UX Collective.

Interdisciplinary degree in computer science combined with psychology, art, and art history with Honors.

Hosted and exhibited web art at a first of its kind exhibition in Saskatoon, blurring the lines between art, design and technology

Pixel Palette

Dash pursues research for the better good

✈️ Worked with a designer and a team of developers on a 0 to 1 re-design project for a local airline company.

🔬 Spearheaded research to accommodate users with slow internet/ older devices which ultimately led to a lightweight and smooth re-design.

📱Worked on mobile mocks for screen sizes as small as iPhone SE to ensure smooth transition and accessibility.\
\
The project is currently in its last stages before deployment. Please contact me directly, since the company has an NDA policy.

Airline Website Re-Design

🎸 JamHive is a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software that is meant for small bands to be able to mix and match tracks and practice remotely. A.K.A a brainstorming app for musicians!

🧶 This was a complex 24-hour project where I collaborated as principal designer with 2 developer friends :) One of them is a musician in a local band called Pink Perry! We brainstormed and whiteboard together before I got to designing.\
\
💫 Dark mode option for ease of working for long hours. Minimalist design so the album cover art is the star of the visuals. 

JamHive

Stop Corporate Greed Website. \
\
I was the solo designer on the project and executed logo design, brand identity, creative direction as well as web design. \
\
Strong colors to represent greed and chaos inspired by the French Revolution. Simple and bold language to inspire action.

Stop Corporate Greed

Redesigned the YouthLine site at Arcana Creative for YouthLine. My role was creating dynamic components, style guide, web design, some custom css animations and some front-end. Molly, Logan, Linh, Torrey and Devon this would not have been possible without you all :)\
\
One of my favourite projects because both mental health and the queer community are close to my heart <3

YouthLine

A very raw and honest zine about my experience with tokenism and being in spaces that practice performative DEI. 

I don't want a piece of your DEI Cake

🪼⋆. ദ✧ Clay charms, illustrations and stickers⋆｡‧˚ʚ🍓ɞ˚‧｡⋆  ⋆˚✿˖° Shop Open ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

Art Store

Html, CSS and JS to make a silly little y2k neocities inspired site. Get your horoscope pookie!!

Duckymoomoo's Horoscope

Biomimicry X Fashion design\
\
A dress inspired by brine pools, exploring the co-existence of life and death.

Ongoing

A speculative design project at the intersection of marine biology, sustainability and social commentary on beauty.

Beauty/ Bone worms

Hosting an HTML freewrite event at President Murray Park for world HTML day :) I also made a zine for participants as an intro to the event/ intro to HTML.

HTML in the Park

* A week of collaboration with my friend Trang Nguyen for EcoHack 2024. We wanted to help design a solution to encourage reusable dishware at events. \
  \
  After looking at competitors and doing research on pros and cons of dishware available today, we came up with a vending machine for dishware with an inbuilt dishwasher! Trang mostly did the research and I focused on the design.

* Designing for kids in mind with fun buttons at a lower height and interactive display. Also accommodating families or couples with matching dishware at an incentivized rate.

* Data-driven design: We can implement a tracking system on the number of plates used and repurposed to show impact.

* We also considered costs, considerations/ limitations and scope for future improvisation.

* Images generated by Bing AI :)

Cutler

An inclusive space to discuss themes in tech, AI, diversity and design :) \
\
We currently have 200+ people in the book club :))

Inclusive Design Book Club

* "Label to Labor" is a critical design project that reimagines the familiar clothing tag to reveal the often invisible processes behind goods production.

* Today's convenience in purchasing clothing has abstracted the hours of labor, the people, and the resources involved in making a single garment. This project uses clear, humanized language to visualize data, bringing transparency and simplicity to these hidden aspects.

* By presenting this information directly on clothing tags, "Label to Labor" encourages consumers to think more deeply about their choices and promotes slower, more conscious consumption as well as encourages producers to be more fair and transparent about their process.

* This is also a more generalized concept that can be used for all sorts of goods outside of the clothing industry.

Hosted a beginner product design workshop for 60+ high school students

Camp UXCo

* This was one of my favorite projects because I love working with kids! Hosted a mini brand and design workshop with 2 other designers for 8th-grade students. It was super fun!

* Talking about color psychology through the lens of the Barbie movie and a brand quiz which the kids found super interesting. :)

* EcoQuest is a mobile classroom where students experience everyday adventures while learning in urban and wilderness settings. 

EcoQuest Workshop

Intro to UX Design Workshop

Youngest TedX speaker at the University of Saskatchewan. My talk is about inclusive design and how good products make humans feel seen.

Great design goes beyond empathy

Founding the UX Collective Club

Started the first product design club at my university with over 250 members currently. Manage 20 executive members and have successfully hosted 6 events in collaboration with product designers and local tech companies.

Founder and President

Judge panel

Mentor to help Indigenous Women build a business around the idea of helping other Indigenous women get interested in tech and sciences called Wâsakâmon at Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies.\
\
As a mentor I worked with them, tried to understand/ empathize their pain points and help bring their idea to life through brand visualization exercises. I was always mindful to help uplift their ideas and show up for them as a collaborator/ ally rather than an expert. \
\
Our team ended up winning $1500! 

Mentor

My role includes web design/ front end development as well as a more well rounded breadth of tasks like research/ illustration/ brand or layout design. 

As a critical designer, I love being a part of an organization that prioritizes social impact.

Design Engineer

Devised the UX strategy, and visual rebranding and designed the user interface of a survey app for a local soil company
Created user flows and interactive, high-fidelity prototypes and low-fidelity wireframes.
Conducted extensive user interviews, and testings to uncover user needs and refine the designs.

Product Design Intern (Summer)

UX Strategy and Research\
\- Did several extensive heuristic evaluations with recommendations for improvement for brands like Lum, Sasktel etc.\
\- Involved with user research interviews and mapping information architecture diagrams.\
\
UX Design\
\- Completed 2 website re-design projects from zero with a small team of 1-2 designers. Including an indigenous owned airline website called Rise-air for a primarily remote north Saskatchewan demographic and CanGas-- a Canadian propane company.\
\- Persona design for Lum\
\
UX Writing and Presenting\
\- "Accessibility for Design Systems" did a company wide presentation and converted it into a blog that was published on the company website.\
\- "Figma/ Figjam for everyone" did a company wide presentation collaborating with my manager to educate all teams in and outside of design to adopt tools to collaborate together.\
\- Did a Brand workshop for 8th grade students from the "eco-quest" program

Product Design Intern

Designed the typography and layout of the university newspaper. 
Responsible for illustrations and comics. 
Coordinated a team of 8 graphic volunteers and served as a mentor for new and aspiring contributors.

Akshara Dash

2024