Students
Students come to the Parsons MS SDM program from all over the world. Their experience combines studios, seminars, networking, events, symposia, and more. This page will inform you about student projects like First Year Studio and Second Year Studio, student resources, and other opportunities.
Spring 2026: External Engagement Studio
External Engagement Studio connects MS Strategic Design & Management students with external partners to explore real-world organizational, social, and strategic challenges. The Spring 2026 studio includes client-based projects developed by student teams across research, strategy, systems thinking, and design. Microsoft Student projects developed in partnership with Microsoft. AI for Gig Workers Cristina Patiño, Baran Kirkgoz, Eishaa Verma, Ana Maria Lara This project explores how AI can support creative freelancers and gig workers who often operate as “companies of one,” managing clients, pricing, taxes, legal needs, and community-building without institutional support. The team proposes Folio, an AI-powered community platform that connects…
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Strategic Design Meets Global Markets: The CO:Design Workshop Parsons x JAPAN
Strategic Design Meets Global Markets: The CO:Design Workshop Parsons x JAPAN The CO:Design Workshop Parsons x JAPAN brought together MS Strategic Design and Management students and companies from Japan’s Chugoku region (Hiroshima, Okayama, Yamaguchi, Shimane, and Tottori prefecture) to explore opportunities for U.S. market entry through strategic design. Organized by CO:Design & Strategy, a business design firm co-founded by Parsons MS Strategic Design & Management alumni Sachino Taki and Anne Nestler, in collaboration with Parsons School of Design and supported by JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization), a Japanese government agency that supports small and medium-sized enterprises in global business expansion,…
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What Design Actually Looks Like Inside a Consulting Firm
We hosted two Bain designers for a workshop last week, and here’s what we learnt from them. MS SDM alumni Carlos Salom and Anamika Gopi partnered with the Creative Consulting Club and came back to Parsons to give us the 101 on what it’s like to work as a strategic designer at a top consulting firm. As current consultants on Bain & Company’s AI, Insights & Solutions (AIS) team, they designed a workshop that walked us through team structures, essential skills the role demands, sanitized case studies, as well as an interactive skills tracker for students. More than anything, the…
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Leadership at Scale: Hearts, Trade-Offs, and the Human Future of AI
In conversation with Lara Abrash at the Parsons School of Design with Strategic Design & Management Community Some evenings feel like programming. Others feel like perspective shifts. This one felt like the latter. The School of Design Strategies recently welcomed Lara Abrash, Chair of Deloitte US, for a candid, in-person conversation with students from the MS Strategic Design & Management program and members of the Creative Consulting Club. What unfolded was not a rehearsed keynote or a corporate script. It was an honest exchange about leadership, reputation, innovation, AI, and the responsibility that comes with influencing systems at scale. The conversation began…
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Figaro’s: A Portland Resource Guide
The project was started a few years ago and continues to be distributed in the designers’ hometown of Portland, Maine, both as a hard copy and an online publication under the name Figaro’s Portland Resource Guide. The mission of the publication is to make low-income and no-income residents of the city aware of the wide range of resources available to them, and to provide the information they need to access those resources. The guide includes about twenty different categories, covering everything from where to get free food and medical care to how to obtain a library card and borrow books…
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Ecosquared
Ecosquared, is an alternative economic system that redefines money as a vector rather than a scalar value. Using relational mathematics and the Social Quotient algorithm, Ecosquared measures trust and redistributes resources based on collective valuation. Implemented through the Sqale platform, it demonstrates new models for fair exchange, decentralized coordination, and ecological stewardship—offering a mathematically grounded alternative to conventional market systems and addressing issues of inequality, volatility, and institutional mistrust. Designer: David Pinto RETURN TO GOOD INTERVENTIONS ’25 EXHIBITION
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Design for the UN System, a System Un-Designed: Speculating on the Role of a Charter
This project explored the potential of a UN Design Charter to formalise design’s role across the UN system. Through participatory research with designers and leaders, it developed a prototype charter as a living, open document that frames design intent and identity. By integrating designerly approaches such as cultural probes and prototyping, the research positions design as a tool for institutional transformation and systemic change within the UN. Designer: Finlay Batts RETURN TO GOOD INTERVENTIONS ’25 EXHIBITION
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The Game of War
By utilizing ethical game design and the social shaping of technology in today’s age, create a game that allows people to experience the consequences of senseless violence and war without romanticizing them. This game enables individuals to make decisions and experience the impact and consequences of their actions on others and themselves, fostering a personal and empathetic approach to realistic violence that people encounter and continue to face. Designer: Hyo-In Won RETURN TO GOOD INTERVENTIONS ’25 EXHIBITION
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Coloring The Emoji: An Emotion Training Game for People with Alexithymia
Alexithymia, a condition marked by deficits in emotional recognition and expression, affects over 50% of individuals with mental health disorders. Traditional interventions relying on verbal articulation often fail due to heightened cognitive demands and psychological resistance. Addressing this gap, we present Coloring the Emoji, a gamified coloring intervention designed to enhance emotional clarity through non-verbal, low-cognitive-load interactions. The game employs a three-stage progressive framework: (1) Emotion-Color Mapping via a dual-dimensional “pleasant-unpleasant” and “calm-excited” color gear, translating abstract emotions into intuitive visual symbols; (2) Contextualized Emotion Attribution using 53 high-frequency, sentiment-polarized emojis to link emotions with real-life scenarios; and (3) Free…
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Making Long Connections
A design exploration of alternative public engagement in infrastructure projects that span over long time scales and long distances. It deals with the specific case of the North Bothnia Line in the north of Sweden – a railroad in the making. The final design is a conceptual proposal for an alternative communication platform which focuses on creating public engagement through reflective sharing of personal experiences over long periods of time. Designer: Cornelia Hulling RETURN TO GOOD INTERVENTIONS ’25 EXHIBITION
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