Education

BI&ID | Industrial and Interaction Design

Syracuse University | Class of 2016
Rene Crown University Honors Program

Design Intern Connective Corridor and Near Westside Initative | Syracuse NY

Experience

Summer 2014

Carry out graphic design projects such as event invitations, banners, fliers
and wayfinding. Contribute to project ideas and present project concepts for
future implementation.

Traveling Exhibition International Arts & Artists | Washington, DC | 2011, 2013

Marketing and Researched potential venues to host exhibitions, initiated dialogue and
Development Intern correspondence with venues. Explored grant opportunities,

Hello!

Summer 2011, 2012

I am Sarah Folger, I am a fourth year

Industrial Design student at Syracuse
University. I grew up outside of Washington
DC, have had a passion for the arts
since high school, enjoy being active,
and am currently studying abroad in
London. I am interested in people and the
relationships they form with each other,
their environments, and the objects they
use. I hope to use my skills as a designer to
make well-design systems and objects that
the average person might encounter. Here
are a few of the projects that exemplify the
design methods and techniques I have
acquired while at Syracuse.

swfolger@syr.edu | US: (703) 901-5609 | UK: 07481 179701 | 10512 Samaga Dr. Oakton, VA 22124

marketing strategies, and generated ideas for Membership program

Semester Abroad Syracuse University London

Present

I am taking an industrial design class, a design history course, a Food

culture course, and an interdiscplinary design course while here in
London. I aim to immerse myself in another culture and experience
design in a new light. My courses promote and encourage being out in
London, in order to learn through experience.

Summer Abroad Japan: From Shoji to SANAA: Japan-ness in Architecture

Summer 2013

Traveled to various cities in Japan over the course of four weeks, to examine
materiality and craft in traditional and contemporary structures.

programs

SKILLS+Interests
Bridge

Illustrator

Acrobat

Axure

Design + Academia

InDesign Photoshop

Solidworks

KeyShot

Systems and
Cities

Design
Research

Collaboration
Teamwork

Geography

Sociology

Projects

Hospital Touchbar

American Self-Reliant

Comi-Camera

Hospital
Touchbar
A group project

How do we design a doorknob for a hospital that

better suits doctors, nurses, and Patients?

Hospital
appearance

Patients
Nurses
Non-Obstrusive

Users
Doctors
Hospital
Doorknob

The problem

We noticed while watching videos and documentaries in hospitals that users

modified this door handle by securing foam to the corners. They did this to
increase comfort on the body when pushing doors open. We decided to focus
on this as we begn designing a new doorknob for large hospital doors that
experience heavy traffic at times.

different
objects open
door

How to
open
Easy to use

High traffic
Area

How to
close
Easy to Clean

Appear
non-germ
accuomatling

Cleaned
Often

Users

Situation
We focused mainly on the process of
transporting patients from their room
to operating theatres it has an emotional and/or physical impact on every
user.

DOCTORS

Doctors move quickly through hospital spaces to see

patients and update charts, and therefore use their
HANDS and ARMS to open doors.

NURSES
Nurses often have their hands full with medical
equipment, so they tend to use their ARMS, ELBOWS,
HIPS, and LOWER BACK to open doors.

PATIENTS
Patients are usually transported in gurneys and may
feel anxious for their procedure causing them to be
hypersensitive to NOISE and MOVEMENT.

3
2

T
IEN
PAT

Admin
is

MS
OO

IN
AT
ER
OP

tration

GR
6

MS
OO

Admin
is

tration

We observed people traveling with

available hands tend to open doors
with both hands at their chest level.
However, users whose hands are not
available typically open the door with
the side or back of their body (i.e. hip
region, at the middle of the door).
People pushing large objects will
usually open both doors by pushing the
objects at the center of both doors and
walk through. In order to address the
problem in the most proficient manner,
we focused on the users that had the
highest number of interactions with
swinging doors, doctors, nurses and
patients.

Solution

Rubber is used in the bottom corner, an area in which the back and side
of the body come into contact with most. Steel is used in other areas for
ease of cleaning, and familiarity. A push bar is used because less bacteria
accumulates on push bars than an cross bars or grab style mechanisms.

American
Self-Reliant
A group Research project

How can we re-invent American Self-Relaint to be

more competitive in the self-reliance market?

Executive summary

The Problem

American Self-Reliant (ASR) is a family owned Survival

and preparedness company that wants an upgrade.
They are struggling to hold their own in the market.
ASR was one of the first Survival and preparedness
companies in the US and currently has both an internet
and in-store presense yet is struggling to gain new
customers. in order to expand their customer base
American Self-reliant is looking for innovative and
inventive attitude for their offerings.

American Self-Reliant (ASR) is a survival and preparedness company that provides high-quality prep
products to its loyal customers. Through information re-design, prep programs, simple product changes,
and promotional ventures we believe ASR has the ability to inspire positive self-reliant indivuals and
communities. The changes we are proposing are simple and do not require adjustments of their currents
products, just shifts in how they are presented. We aim to utililze ASRS reputatation as a trusting family
business to spread awareness of being prepared and make ASR the go-to business for indiviudals,
communities, and institutions.

Mission

To provide our costumer with the highest quality preparedness products to ensure our customers feel
prepared for survival situations. We aim to do this by connecting individuals to create cohesive and
trusting prepared communities.

Vision

To provide the most up-to-date products, services, techniques, and knowledge for our costumers in order to
create positive self-reliant communities.

Know Context

In this mode we aim to gain a full understanding of

the sorrounding conditions for what we are designing
for. Components of this could include, products,
services, organizations, competitors, markets,
industries, gorverments, policies, environments, and
technologies.

Analogous Model
American Self Reliant
Geographic Specific

Polaris

Surf Shop/Extreme
Sports

Airports

Road and Lawn Care

Companies
Shelters

Fish Markets

Boat Store/Marinas

Struggling
Stores/Traditional
Companies

Kodak

USPS/UPS

Relationship with
Competitors

Apple/Samsung

Tabacco Companies

Decided
what to Buy

Browse Vs. Intentional

Ikea

Wegmans

Apples and Microsoft

Car Dealerships

Curcuit City

Coke vs. Pepsi

EMS

Ford vs. GM

Apple

Radio Shack

Google & Samsung

Food Prep-Chipotle

Banks

Clothing Enterprise

Etsy

Walmart

Dell & Microsoft

Coping/
Learning

Sundance
Timbuk2
Nike ID

peace of mind

Fire Drills

Hospitals/Doctors
Ofices
Embassies

Safe Neighborhood
Police Force

Childproofing

Self Defense Class

Work-out/Gym
Insurance

Buy
something you
dont want to have
to use
All Insurance

Suruvival/
Self Reliance
Equiptment

Medical/First Aid Kit

Prepare Now Outfitters

Fire Sprinklers

Equipped to Survive

Anti-Virus

Survival Unlimited

Fireladder

My Patriot Supply

Fire Extinguisher
Security Systems
Fraud Protection

Carbon Monoxide
Detector

Extra Food and Water

Education/Training
Generator

The Ready Store

BPSF Group LLC
NOLS

Overstock.com
Amazon

Online
Storefront
Experience

What can I do
differenty next
time?

Lowes/Home Depot
Eureka
Camping Products
IBM

Apple Store

Dicks Sporting Goods

Bug-IN Bag

A bag to be used in a situation that requires

one to huncker down in a shelter or home for
extended periods of time. Indoor survival

Bug Out

A bag to be used when you have to flee your

home and survive outdoors or in an unfimiliar
place. A grab and go bag.

Preperation
Mentally and
physically prepare for
what you may need for
pending diasaster

Prep

To gather supplies and information required

to make one ready for pending emergency
sitauation. Usually means acquiring survival
essentials.

Brick-And-Mortar

A physical building, or storefront

Moving Forward
What is your next stop?
Asses the current
sitation?

Actually
Happening

Amazon
online only

Barnes and Noble

Terms to know:

Anticipation
Think about the
pending Disaster

Disaster
SURVIVAL

Borders

Tower Records

What are the

steps of survival?

Acting/Action
Are you actually following
your plan? What your first
step? Does it happen as
planned?

The disaster is actually

happening, what are
you going to do?

Types of Emergencies
natural

technological

human-caused

Know People
Getting to know people implements the tools and strategies for gaining
a clear understanding of peoples thoughts, feelings, and needs. This
we do by listening, observing, interacting, and analyzing those peoples
lives. Focusing on understanding the problems they face, their needs,
motivations, and the challenges they overcome create valuable insights
for gaining new knowledge. Knowing people can lead to entirely new
categories of products, services, or even business strategies that address
peoples needs and desires.

Tom R.
Age: 49
Professor

Chris G.
Age: 32
Shop Technician/Ceramicists

Cade H.
Age: 23
Student

Ula W.
Age: 20
Studnet

I am most afraid of:

Nuclear Disaster, Floods
I am kind of afraid of:
Fire, Mudslides, Tornado, Winds,
Snow, Shootings
I am least afraid of:
Bombings, Lightning, Bio-Disaster

I am most afraid of:

High Winds/Hurricane, Tornado,
Mudslide
I am kind of afraid of:
Lightning, Nuclear Disaster, Snow,
Flood
I am least afraid of:
Bombing, Bio Disaster, Fire, Shooting/
Violence

I am most afraid of:

Fire, Mudslide, Lightning
I am kind of afraid of:
Snow, Hurricane, Bio-Disaster, Floods
I am least afraid of:
Shooting/Violence, Bombing,
Tornado, Nuclear Disaster

I am most afraid of:

Bombing, Shooting, Fire
I am kind of afraid of:
Mudslide, Snow, Lightening
I am least afraid of:
Bio-Disaster, Nuclear, High Winds/
Hurricane

bsite

s We
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Mag

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outh

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Wor

tion
tifica

s
New
dio -

t No

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Car R

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dio -

Forms of communication

a
Car R

TV

gram

Insta

e
Twitt

ook

b
Face

rded
Reco

n
visio
Tele ther
Livews/Wea
Ne

iPad

one

h
Cellp

If more people were doing

it, I probably would too

il

I think I have some tools

somewhere in my room but I
dont really know

Ema

I wouldnt start buying things

until I knew there was something
coming

Feed
RSS

To be honest, I am not prepared,

and I am kind of OK with that

Which forms of communication do you use?

FastCoDesign

Weaknesses

Strengths

Residents rely more on neighbors

than Government

- Loyal Customers
- Product Knowledge
- Family Owned
- Store Operation
- High Quality Products Experience
- Online Store
- Market Experience

A WELL PREPARED COMMUNITY WILL LEAD TO

LESS PANIC IN DISASTER SITUATIONS
bigstory.ap.org

Opportunities

bigstory.ap.org

FORECASTING HAS BEEN IMPROVED TO THE POINT WHERE

STORM CAn be TRACKED FURTHER IN ADVANCE
SOCIAL MEDIA IS BECOMING AN INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT FACTOR FOR US IN
USA Today
TERMS OF UNDERSTANDING AND SUSTAINING OUR SITUATIONAL AWARENESS

Threats

USA Today

-Emphasis on community
-Ease of Modern
Communication
- Aware Customers
-Religious Affiliation
-Customer Feedback
- Emphasis on Internet
Presence
- Large box stores
- Content with lack of prep
- Rise of competitors
-Negative stigma towards
Prepping
- Lack of dialogue

-Small costumer base

-Poor Website Design
-Lack of Services and
information
-High Price Point

- Poor Customer
relations
- Lack of product
feedback
- No advertising

-- Increase customer experience for loyal

costumers to gain new customer
-- Blend product knowledge with high
quality products to educate customers
-- Utilize Online presence and ease of
modern communication to reach more
customers

-- Ability to hire web designer make

website re-design easy and possible
-- Customers like to share their experience,
able to provide product feedback, trust!
-- Adding customer feedback and
communication will increase customers
relations

-- Loyal customers will chose ASR over

large box stores
-- Family owned could attract customers
because of attraction to small businesses
-- Through product knowledge, online
presence, and market experience ASR
could create more dialogue

-- Re-designing website will modernize

ASR, to become more competitive
-- Bringing ASR into social and community
will help overcome negative stigma
-- Providing other services and products
at lower rates will separate ASR from
competitors

SWOT ANALYSIS

Social Pressure/Everyones doing it

American Self-Reliant

1.

Products

Modernize Website
Social Media Presence
Giveaways and Deals
Customer Experience

2.

These changes will get more people interested and they will use
the new website to explore and buy products. They will probably
tell their friends about what they buy. Spreading the word.

Strong Internet presence and product recognition lead

to growth. People are more like to shop at well-design
websites with a good user interface. Consumers also like
to know about the products, who else has bought it, if
they liked it.

COMMUNITY

Develop Prep slogan and

campaigns to make prep like a
game; competitive and fun.

Begin prep campaigns to spread

awareness and create dialogue and
excitement.

INFORMATION

3.

Breaking the
social norm

Prep Programs with Churches, Schools, Boy and

Girl Scouts, Local Centers
Large Prep Campaign
These programs could include guest speakers, and giveaways at the end. There
needs to be some incentive to get people to go before a disaster is coming.
Create a sense of a prepared community, triple A prepped community, or give
them point they can use as discounts Online. By creating a larger image of
prep people will naturally become interested and buy more products.

Prep Truck
In-store Kiosk
Giveaways and Deals

4.

Prep Points
AAA Prep Town
Most Prepped Family
Social Media Aspect
By including social media and a public image or
preparedness people will want to join the masses and
begin to prep too. If their neighbor is doing it, they
want to as well. Not only are people having fun, they are
becoming more informed and more prepared.

Roadmap

The Design Direction

Able to implement larger scale

changes to continue customer
acquisition

Start with changes that are easy to

implement and effect many people

Creating a connection to products is important for

consumers, whether it be through something they
read online or by physically experience the different
options in person. People are more willing to share their
experiences if they are both positive and get something
out of it such as a discount or freebie. We feel it is
important for ASR to expand their public image with
physical product experiences.

Community

information

Product

To

me

Custo

ce

l Media

rien

Socia

ore Kios
k
In-St

Prep Truck

o ns a nd
elati
Ex
R
r

pe

p Campaign
Pre

dernize Websi
o
t
M

p
Pre

Institutio
and
n
ol

ity Prep Prog

r
n/C

s
am

h Prep Progra
urc

ms

Our design direction is to create a larger

scale campaign for preparation. We want
individuals and communities to understand
the importance of being prepared for all
situations large and small. We plan do
to so by using ASR in conjunction with
other existing relevant platforms to inject
a positive image of self-reliance and its
products to the market. We plan to start with
simple small change to improve the image
of ASR and move to larger changes to spread
awareness of being prepared and of ASRs
products and services.

When doing our research we noticed information

surrounds everyone and everything. People felt
they were more willing to trust companies with
a social networking presence because they feel
they are more connected to others and their
needs. Developing a stronger internet presence
could increase ASRs general outreach.

Sc h
o

The Design Direction

We noticed community places play a large role in

peoples lives. By integrating a sense of community
into preparation through community prep
programs will help excite and educate individuals.
It is important to connect other with those around
them, making prep a larger scale movement. We
are very social creatures that follow and trust our
neighbors, if your neighbors do it, you will too.

Giveaways

Comi-Cam
AN INTERFACE GROUP PROJECT

How do we design a camera that makes people smile?

Target Market

Target Audience

People taking pictures of subjects that feel uncomfortable or are

unnattentive in front of a camera

Parents or grandparents taking pictures of children ages 3-12

People or pet owners taking pictures of their pets or otheranimals,
ages 20-45
Friends taking pictures of friends that feel nervous in front of a
camera, ages 15-30

Comi-Cam uses light and sound to capture

the attention of its subjects

Design Wireframe

Form Ideation

Interaction Style

selection
menu
appears
unactivated

mouse over

selected

Typeface:
Century Gothic - Regular

mode selection

xx
xx

secondary menu

Xx

secondary menu
{when not in selection box}

text

text

disabled

mouse over

preset heading

TEXT
selected

xx

the "xx" changes

to the first two letters
of the selected effect
and remains until
changed to
different effect

Video

Shutter Button

LED Lights

Flash

Lens

Thanks!

swfolger@syr.edu | US: (703) 901-5609 | UK: 07481 179701 | 10512 Samaga Dr. Oakton, VA 22124