SERINA LIU 🙇🏻‍♀️

Each project on the site had a custom header image. With 13 in total, they needed to be both visually eye catching, but also all work in conjunction with one another.

Within the 13 projects, there are videos, photosets, interactive pieces, etc. The individual projects were more or less self directed after we’d had an initial conversation about the intent and the medium. In the group projects, we all worked from the same prompt and set a few restrictions to really be able to see our distinct voices through how we chose to execute it. 

Each of these conversation bubbles, separated by color and type, represents one of our voices. Scattered throughout the home page and project pages, these bubbles feature an on-going conversation about things this project has prompted us to think and reflect on. Starting out with blank bubbles, we wanted to represent the research insight of “not knowing what’s to come” by creating an element of reveal and discovery with an on-hover interaction. They eventually disappear after some time, making viewers re-hover to emulate the repetitiveness and physical nature of motherhood. 

This feature is a nod to the underlying goal of our project: adding to the conversation around motherhood. This account is in no way a complete history, but rather a collection of major moments that have directly impacted the way that American society engages with motherhood.

This page is important in giving context to the goals of the project. This is also the only place where we more deliberately associate ourselves with a color… so Maddie is reddish orange, Anna is green and I’m yellow.

This is literally the longest Medium I’ve ever written/contributed to so you know it’s full of some juicy process documentation!! 👀

Here’s a semi-quick break down though:

Early on, while we were doing our research (interviews, surveys, secondary, etc.) we were also trying to rapidly prototype some ideas we had. Here’s a part of one I made. These were meant to be little posters that would be around snack vending machines in the maternity ward or gift shops to prompt visitors to purchase “yay congratulations” gifts that could actually be beneficial to a new moms’ conditions.

We were all excited to work on a “product solution” post spring break… except COVID-19 really had other plans for us.

Here we are… ZOOMING! Because of the shop and studio being closed, working remotely, etc. we decided we needed to adapt to the changes in both our project, but also our group working method. That meant daily zoom check-ins, divvying up work more intentioonally, upping group chat activity, etc.

Mommy-Issues.com was technically our second pivot (lol), but you can read about that first pivot in our full documentation.

A collection of expressive and interactive micro-projects, housed on a website, that capture the transition into motherhood in order to:

• Explore the physical and emotional insights we gained from our research more deeply through making

• Challenge the means by which we as designers gain empathy

• Question how this process will change our own perception of motherhood

• Invite the larger community to consider their own relationship to motherhood