Date of Award
Spring 5-30-2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Industrial Design
Department
Industrial Design
First Advisor
Paolo Cardini
Second Advisor
Elizabeth Leeper
Third Advisor
Dana D'Amico
Abstract
Contemporary living leads to advanced communication and transport networks that people nowadays are more likely to live in a solo life. Even so, society has incorporated perceptions of single people and a biased assumption that single people are lonely. Loneliness is a big problem, but being single isn’t a problem that needs to be solved. Some people choose to be single. We should challenge the social norm that being alone is the same as being lonely. My research begins with my own experience growing up in China, but the bias against single people happens everywhere regardless of country or culture.
Single people face harsh judgment in different ways all the time. What if we designed for them, for the single experience, rather than designing ways to force them into relationships? For example, most public facilities are designed to accommodate couples or groups, and most recipes are designed to feed 2-4 people. But is this the most efficient way? Could there be another way?
Society should be more tolerant of diverse lifestyles. I am proposing thoughtful and niche products designed specifically for the single person. This collection of playful and interactive everyday objects, designed for use in daily routines,encourage single people to be comfortable with themselves and celebrate the joy of being alone.
Recommended Citation
Yao, Shiyang, "Surviving in a gregarious world" (2020). Masters Theses. 576.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/576
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.