It all started when...

For DubHacks '16, we built a wall. Me, Christy, and Wendy.

No, really, we created designs for a game to educate Americans on the realities of "illegal" immigrants and dismantle — smash — harmful stereotypes. While politically motivated, the project was intrinsically motivated by personal experience with undocumented immigrants.

We wanted our project to have social impact. Considering the political climate of the time with the U.S. elections approaching, we wanted to educate our peers and encourage them to break the wall, not build the wall as Trump frequently advocated. 

Here are some resources for breaking the wall:

• Register to vote.

• Support organizations.

  • American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

  • International Rescue Committee (IRC)

  • National Immigration Law Center

  • Northwest Immigrant Rights Center

• Share the game.

We spent most of our time brainstorming ideas, as we wanted Empathy to be our core theme — but for what? Our teammate shared their story with us. That's when we knew we had to build an interactive app about undocumented immigrants and refugees.

To build this app, I used Figma, an online collaborative tool for creating and commenting on designs. I illustrated people and clouds in Adobe Illustrator, which I then transferred to Figma.

In the end, we didn't win; but we didn't lose either.

The experience renewed my commitment to social causes through technology and design. I hope to work on similar social issues in the future, using my skills in UX/UI design and research.