Frances Tun

“Since I was a child, the arts captivated me. Whereas most children grew out of the glue stick craft projects by middle school, the joy of creating stuck with me. The discovery of industrial design during my freshman year at college opened my eyes to a fascinating world of innovation, purposefulness, and beauty.”

Nearly every waking hour is spent in the studio with my classmates and we have bonded closely by supporting and learning from each other. I feel very fortunate to learn with a group of students with such a diverse range of skills and backgrounds. The seniors and graduate students continue to be fantastic mentors and I strive to reach out to the new design students and maintain the cycle of positive guidance. With the beginning of a new school year comes the re-emergence of club activities, and I keep an activity-filled calendar by continuing to volunteer and participate in any IDSA, AIGA, and IxDA event within reasonable distance.

This summer I took the opportunity to step out of my comfort zone in my hometown of Seattle to travel to places both near and far. I spent half my summer interning in the heart of Silicon Valley at Yahoo! headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. During my off time from being user experience design intern I explored San Francisco with other interns from all over the world. For the remainder of the summer I set foot on the European continent for the first time for a design-focused study abroad program in Italy. Living and breathing in the history-rich city of Rome opened my eyes to the extensive impact design has on everyday living throughout the ages.

To be the recipient of the 2011 IDSA Design Foundation scholarship is an incredible honor and I continue to feel immensely gracious towards all the donors who made the scholarship a reality. Being recognized and supported by professional designers is a blessing like none other for a design student. The IDSA membership is a crucial component of my career thus far and has opened many doors to helping me build professional connections and explore the community of industrial designers. After completing my degree in industrial design I hope to find a job where I can use creativity and problem-solving to benefit the livelihood of others. There is so much opportunity for design to make a positive impact in the world and in that spirit I would like to make my impact as well.