June 5, 2023
Santa Monica College Interaction Design Students Collaborate with MaCher Inc., USA
Santa Monica College Interaction Design Students Collaborate with MaCher Inc., USA
As Part of Eight-Week Capstone Project, SMC Baccalaureate Program Juniors Reimagine Flagship Products for Certified B Corporation and EcoVadis Platinum-rated Sustainable Company
SANTA MONICA, CA—Santa Monica College (SMC) Interaction Design (IxD) juniors enrolled in the baccalaureate program celebrated the culmination of an eight-week-long
design challenge in which they took a fresh look at reimagining specific MaCher, Inc. flagship products. MaCher, Inc. is a Certified B Corporation and an EcoVadis Platinum-rated company, among the top 1% of sustainable businesses worldwide.
The five teams—17 students in total—made their final presentations at MaCher’s Venice, Calif. offices on Thursday, June 1. A jury of industry experts selected the winning team/project: Nicolas Palomino, Kalynn Porter, Hawa Camara, and Yelizaveta Skibinskaya who redesigned a travel carry bag for consumer electronics and added a proposed digital
companion—a chatbot with a Welsh corgi mascot named Wren.
The four students won premium MaCher marketing products, the opportunity to work with
MaCher to further develop their idea, and a surprise award from MaCher client Rudi Schreiner, owner of Calabasas-based AMAWaterways: a seven-night European river cruise for each winner, plus one guest.
MC Baccalaureate Program Juniors Reimagine Flagship Products for MaCher
Rudi Schreiner, owner of AMAWaterways
Rudi Schreiner, owner of AMAWaterways and a MaCher client, provides feedback to SMC Bachelor of Science in Interaction Design students at their June 1 presentation at MaCher Inc.’s Venice, Calif. offices.
SMC Bachelor of Science in Interaction Design (IxD) students
SMC Bachelor of Science in Interaction Design (IxD) students who worked on an eight-week design challenge for MaCher, Inc. as the final capstone project in the Major Studio 2 class taught by Maxim Safioulline in the IxD program’s junior year. Pictured here at MaCher, Inc.’s Venice, Calif. offices with MaCher team members.
The travel carry bag reimagined for MaCher by the winning team
The travel carry bag reimagined for MaCher by the winning team, along with a digital component that included a chatbot with a Welsh Corgi mascot named Wren.
A panel of industry experts picked the winning team, pictured here with SMC professors and MaCher mentor
A panel of industry experts picked the winning team, pictured here with SMC professors and MaCher mentor. (L-R) Richard Schuler, SMC Product Design professor; Nicolas Palomino, IxD student; Kalynn Porter, IxD student; Hawa Camara, IxD student; Ben Denzinger, MaCher strategic innovation and design lead; Maxim Safioulline, SMC IxD professor; Yelizaveta Skibinskaya, IxD student; and Luke Johnson, SMC IxD professor.
The winning team during their June 1 presentation
The winning team during their June 1 presentation at MaCher Inc.’s Venice, Calif. offices.
Interior and exterior views of the travel carry bag for consumer electronics redesigned by SMC Interaction Design juniors for MaCher Inc.
Interior and exterior views of the travel carry bag for consumer electronics redesigned by SMC Interaction Design juniors for MaCher Inc. along with a proposed digital companion—a chatbot with a Welsh corgi mascot named Wren. This was the winning project in a design challenge judged by a panel of industry experts and the four students won, among other things, the opportunity to work with MaCher over the summer to develop the concept further.
Interior and exterior views of the travel carry bag for consumer electronics redesigned by SMC Interaction Design juniors for MaCher Inc.
Interior and exterior views of the travel carry bag for consumer electronics redesigned by SMC Interaction Design juniors for MaCher Inc. along with a proposed digital companion—a chatbot with a Welsh corgi mascot named Wren. This was the winning project in a design challenge judged by a panel of industry experts and the four students won, among other things, the opportunity to work with MaCher over the summer to develop the concept further.
“This collaboration is an excellent opportunity for the students to gain real-world
experience and professional feedback on their work, and for MaCher to be inspired
by innovative and fresh perspectives from the next generation of designers,” said
Patrick Marsden, MaCher Partner. Marsden explained that while MaCher is in the top 1% of sustainable
businesses worldwide, the company is “paradoxically part of one of the dirtiest and
most inefficient industries in the world: the promotional products industry.” The
company’s mission, therefore, is to “shrink the massive, dirty and inefficient promotional
products industry into something smaller, more effective, and far more sustainable.”
Kalynn Porter stated that the eight-week project was “the first time we have worked with a real
brand and company, so we were trying to be really mindful and put our best foot forward.”
Ben Denzinger, MaCher strategic innovation and design lead mentored the team throughout the process,
but “never forced his opinion on us.” Among things they learned, Porter named “iterating
and designing and getting feedback and not being afraid to show [our work] to a bunch
of different people . . . being brave in that way, I think, helped us be a success.”
Porter is passionate about service design—a process where designers create sustainable
solutions and optimal experiences for customers in unique contexts and service providers—because
her mother is disabled. “Ways to make the world easier for her to navigate, that’s
what I’m interested in,” she said.
Yelizaveta Skibinskaya said the group’s goal in reimagining MaCher’s product was to “make something that
was modular, that could have many more lives.” “We wanted something that was easy
to use, that could go from [containing] your gadgets to going around your trip in
a matter of seconds,” Skibinskaya said. This was for the physical product. As for
the digital component, “we wanted something that was really simple and that a person
wouldn’t have to download . . . something that anybody with just a cellphone and Wi-Fi
connection could access.” Hence, the idea of a proprietary chatbot with a Welsh corgi
mascot named Wren, who could provide helpful tips to a traveler exploring a new destination.
The collaboration with MaCher is the final capstone project in the Major Studio 2 class taught by Maxim Safioulline in the junior year of the Interaction Design program. The project spans two other
classes taught in the Spring 2023 semester: Product Design taught by Richard Schuler and the Project Management class taught by Luke Johnson. The design brief is shared among the three classes and the student groupings remain
consistent while focusing on a separate component relevant to the skills learned in
each class: Project Management deals with organizing and running a medium-scale design
project; Product Design, the material exploration and the design of a physical object;
Major Studio 2, the design of a high-quality user interface for “a useful and delightful
digital experience.”
In collaboration with industry partners like MaCher, SMC faculty create a challenge
to satisfy the requirements of all three classes. Last spring, IxD students completed
a design challenge for MaCher and Meow Wolf.
Safioulline stated that this semester’s project focused on design for sustainability through the
exploration of eco-friendly material options and manufacturing practices, and through
extending the useful life of physical products with the help of companion digital
experiences. “This firmly orients our students towards both imagining the exciting
possibilities in cross-disciplinary design and being able to concretely organize their
implementation. These skills are invaluable on the job market for the innovative and
solution-oriented design industries,” Safioulline said.
All students who participated in the MaCher collaboration received gift packages of
MaCher marketing products, and will also be featured in a project collaboration highlight
on MaCher’s newsletter and LinkedIn page.
To learn more about SMC’s Bachelor of Science in Interaction Design program—whose alum have gone on to work for JPMorgan Chase & Co, Google, Snap Inc., Sony PlayStation, Lyft, Amazon Prime Video, and more—visit ixd.smc.edu.
Santa Monica College is a California Community College accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).
# # #