Pratt: How Important is having a presence on the web for you as a designer?

Christina Chong: I think in this day and age you need to have some presence on the web whether for prospective employers or to just promote your work generally. I think it also demonstrates that you’re familiar with a wide range of design mediums and are up-to-date with technology.

Pratt: How has your online behavior changed in the past couple of years?

Christina Chong: I use the web for many different purposes and much more frequently than before. With all the social networking sites and chatting programs it’s a lot easier to keep in touch with people. Also it’s so convenient and quick to get a broad range of information (i.e. news websites) right in front of you.

Steven Heller's Citizen Designer Inspried Christina to use her thesis to create an online collaborative for designers

Pratt: Your Thesis is about creating a web base community for designers, I believe could you talk a little about that project?

Christina Chong: Sure. I’d like to create an online collaborative for designers who are interested in using their skills and talents to create positive social change. The website would have several different facets. It would provide information on other designers currently engaged in this kind of work, offer a space for designers to brainstorm and connect with one another, and be a tool through which non-profits could find designers looking to do pro bono work. I’d like there to be a real sense of community and energy where designers could find inspiration to use their particular abilities to do good.

Pratt: Why did you choose to take on this concept for your thesis?

Christina Chong: I was inspired by an article in Steven Heller’s Citizen Designer book about WorldStudio Foundation. It discussed the concept that designers can actually DO and be active participants in creating social change – we don’t have to just comment from the sidelines. WorldStudio for example offers scholarships to economically disadvantaged students. And other groups such as Project M gather small groups of designers and writers to tackle a different project each year ranging from creating informative books, to converting an ambulance into a mobile design studio for designers uprooted by Hurricane Katrina.

Pratt: What are you trying to create with such a site?

Christina Chong: I want the site to be THE place designers can turn to when they want to learn more about what they can do with their skills to help improve conditions they see in their communities and the larger world. Whether they’d just like to see what others have done already or they’d like to sign up to help a non profit, the website would be the “one stop shop” for designers looking to do good. The big picture vision would be for designers to take on some pro bono work and see it as integral to developing themselves as professionals and to giving back to the larger world.

Pratt: Do you think it’s important that PRATT COMM D has a virtual community like you see on other schools like SVA? Do you think as an student you would use a site like this?

Christina Chong: Yes, an online community would be great for keeping in touch with classmates, networking and getting leads on jobs, and for general support. So many things are moving online and particularly since design is very much a high-tech field, it makes sense.

Pratt: Do you think a site like CCWebworking, that gives people a free space where they can show they’re work and connect with other students would be helpful to you personally as a current student?

Christina Chong: Yes. It’s all about networking and getting yourself out there!