Graduate Student Experience: Merve bayram

Design Graduate Student
DAAP, Class of 2010

I Live Well

Following my five years of industrial design education in Ankara, I worked for two different design companies focusing on the fields of furniture design and exhibition design. As a designer, it was important for me to develop an international perspective of design and, I was privileged to achieve my goal through a higher education in the United States with a Fulbright Scholarship. Currently I am a second year graduate student at DAAP-UC and working as a graduate assistant at Live Well Collaborative.

LWC is an environment full of inspiration for design research. From workspaces to studios, the overall atmosphere is designed to nourish research energy that primarily focuses on +50 market. My first challenge was to understand that +50 consumer is a significant market to work on, since we do not really consider this group of consumer segment as an opportunity area in Turkey. My challenge introduced me to a new research field that I was not aware of before. Luckily, LWC has a very strong database to help me understand this emerging market.

LWC provided me the environment where I could interact with students and professionals from diverse backgrounds. From business to psychology, I had chance to see different point of views on various design problems. The studios that I participated in showed me the joy of teamwork and synergy. I believe that LWC is a melting pot of academic and professional life. Within last year I worked with companies like LG, General Mills and P&G. The design and research process model followed here is a result of collaborative perspective that has been developed in many years. I feel lucky to have responsibilities of a professional and the flexibility of a student while working here.

The Live Well Collaborative is a central hub where design and research are blended. I am happy to be the part of this intelligent creative collaboration. The opportunities at Live Well are so diverse that one day you may wake up and see your face on Business Week!

To see more of Merve's design work, please visit her online portfolio.