Hi there, I'm Hannah, a designer from Dublin who loves getting stuck into branding, print and UX/UI design projects. As a designer I'm passionate about research and focus on emphasising rationale throughout my process. I gained great experience interning as a visual designer at The Dock, Accenture's Global Innovation Centre. As a class rep, I have gained excellent communication skills which I intend to carry forward into my professional practice. This autumn, I will continue my studies at Parsons School of Design in New York where I will be studying for a master's degree in Communication Design, specialising in Digital Product Design.
Financial well-being is all about being financially confident, trusting decisions and knowing how to seek advice when needed. However, finance can be overwhelming. Statistically, young people aged 18-24 score lower than any other age group regarding thier financial wellbeing. MOCO aims to help Gen Z adults take control of their money and build confidence to make financial decisions that impact their present and future selves.
The MOCO app acts as a financial helper tool aimed at helping users achieve their wants, goals and experiences. Users can select goal prompts ranging from instant access to medium- and long-term goals or create their own. MOCO will ask a few questions to gather insights and generate an advisory plan for users, which they can use to track their progress. Additionally, MOCO allows users to observe their financial habits and actions and provides a simple-language ‘banktionary’ of financial terms. MOCO strives to make finance less confusing and more straight-forward, allowing Gen Z adults to do more with their money.
Presented at the Extended Thesis Symposium in March 2023.
My extended thesis investigates the IKEA catalogue’s role in reinforcing and globalising the Swedish national identity. For over 70 years, the IKEA catalogue represented Swedish values and culture, becoming a significant contributor to the global image of Sweden as it represented Swedish values and culture.
IKEA reinforced the Swedish national identity by aligning itself with Scandinavian modernist and social democratic ideologies, representing these ideologies within the catalogue. IKEA and the Swedish Social Democrats worked in tandem to create an egalitarian society and achieve the goal of ‘folkhemmet’, which sought to ensure no citizen was more undervalued than another. The government provided the ideologies for a better standard of living, and IKEA supplied the masses with objects to enact this. IKEA never intended to symbolise Sweden, but by utilising ‘Swedishness’ within the catalogue and spreading it worldwide, the IKEA catalogue effectively globalised the Swedish national identity.
IKEA discontinued the catalogue in 2021 and has not been negatively impacted, with sales continuing to increase. However, Sweden has since lost a successful outlet for promoting its country and identity.