Enrichment Scholarship Recipient
Kate Matsumoto – University of San Francisco

Designer’s Statement

I have found in my twenty-one years of life that the world is an astonishingly boring place. More often than not, everything looks the same, or is at least presented to look similar or familiar to what we already know. However, there are those rare moments in which we, the consumer, audience, or viewer are astonished to find that yes—there is more than one way to package something, to send a message, or to sell a product. These revelations are almost always brought about because of good design.

Design challenges us to be smarter and to look forward. It is the catalyst for the advancement of our society because it is an inherently critical and perpetually changing field. To me, good design will always have a sense of humor and demand more of its viewer by finding new ways to surprise them.

I have three goals that I would like to achieve with my design degree: the first is to avoid becoming a soulless robot and slave to a client. The second is to create something that changes someone’s daily routine; and the third is to eradicate the font Comic Sans from all functioning computers.

Ideally, I would like to start my design career learning about branding and identity, how to change the public’s perceptions of a preconceived name or product. Eventually I would like to pursue a career in researching human interaction and behavior so I can help improve design and functionality.