Elaine Cheung

In the Summer of 2015 I worked at Proximity Designs in Yangon, Myanmar as a Media Team fellow. It was an amazing experience, one where I was able to go out into rural Myanmar, engage in field research and design with various emerging technologies and gain exposure to the real workings of how a design firm brings about social impact. I was really moved by how much design thinking was engrained into the inner business workings of Proximity and the creation of empathy towards the user – something I sought to capture as I redesigned their digital presence. The fellowship really captured a perspective of design used in ways to create real and meaningful design that changes lives – from a small village in Bogale to the macro scale of policy in Myanmar to bring about change in all scales. Going to a developing country within an organization aiming to change the way design and development are approached, I was immersed in many ways to new perspectives, experiences and models of impact as a designer.