Divya Mehra
Interaction Design/Dev & Teaching
Rest of World
Ries
Six Emoji Story
Teaching
Adjacent
Rest of World
UX/UI Design, Some Code (CSS), DataWrapperRest of World asked me to design and develop their Impact Report, so that it could be templatized going forward.
Using their brand guidelines and assets, I designed and implemented a report format with custom CSS. I collaborated with their photo editor to select photographs, their fundraising director to work with copy, and their designer for support.
With copious amounts of content and long-scroll request, the key was to find a way to display impat information in a visually-engaging way while adhering to platform constraints.
Ries
3D Design (Rendering, Simulation, Cinema4D, Maya, AfterEffects)Ries wanted to showcase the functionality of its containers, especially how each component fits together. Ries is also a beauty brand sold at Sephora, not a utilitarian brand. Its feel is luxurious and Ries cofounder, Megan Graham, wanted a way to maintain this prestige while showing the inner workings.
We decided on 3D animations fairly early in the process. Key were exploding the bottle out and back in, locking, closing, and opening. Then we considered beauty shots and a little extra something.
Ultimately, we chose simplistic, natural backgrounds to highlight the elegance of the product and short 3-second looping animations for easy placement in different modules on the site.
Six Emoji Story
Design, Code (HTML, CSS, React)Six Emoji Story is a brief history of the emoji told through six emojis, applying the visual simplicity of early emoji to examine the evolution of the pictographic language.
There are a multitude of things to talk about with the emoji, but I had one objective with this story: to make a fun, interactive, and informative story using the pixel aesthetic of early emojis.
I chose six emojis that best represent pivotal points in emoji history based on my research. I used the six colors Kurita used for his original 176 emojis — a coincidental tie-in to the number six.
The sections feature smooth scrolling and an interactive grid. Each section also has annotations and pictures relating to its specific story.
Teaching
I currently teach Interaction (a combination of design + code for Communication Design students) at Parsons and a Digital Humanities course at NYU that teaches students to design and develop digital archives based on their academic research.
In the past, I’ve taught Visual Vocabulary, a class on visual symbolism and art direction with illustrator Shira Seri-Levi, and Digital Product Studio (UI).
My course curricula consist of both theory and practice elements. Students are encouraged to consider their work in a broader context and challenge themselves creatively.
Students during a brainstorming workshop in Parson’s Digital Product Studio
Adjacent
Editorial Direction, Art Direction, WritingFor Adjacent Issue 9, I acted as maanging editor, overseeing all pitches, editiing, visual direction, and finishing touches. I worked with a team. of editors and designers to encompass the term, “Rituals” and moderated a discussion on the topic at CultureHub.
I was an editor for Issue 8 and an advisor for Issue 10.