Parsons School of Design
BFA Communication Design
Thesis 2020

Cope
Natashia Lee

Cope is an app that helps people cope with and navigate through microaggressions in their everyday lives. Microaggressions are ways in which verbal and non-verbal behavior reveal implicit biases, hidden prejudice and discriminatory attitudes towards marginalized groups. Quite common in today’s society, they hold a lot of power as they are often subtle and can manifest in a variety of contexts. Unfortunately, this can create and enforce uncomfortable, unsafe and even volatile environments for people belonging to marginalized groups. Hence, the aim of this project is to create a portable guide that would equip people with a set of tools and strategies that would allow them to resist, cope with and confront sexism, discrimination and biases in their everyday lives.

Focusing mainly on gender microaggressions, Cope is separated into two modes: Advice and Learn. In the advice mode, users can pick specific scenarios from the categories of Family, Workplace, Friends and Public and rate their level of discomfort. Based on those factors, the app would generate a selection of suggestions on what they can say or do in those situations. The learn mode acts as a supplement and provides more detailed information and further resources for each category, such as where and how to seek external support in delicate situations. The goal is for people to feel safe and be able to empower themselves in the moment and ultimately learn how to recognize these transgressions and combat them in the future—whether that is through de-escalation or confrontation.

Yehia Abouseif

Nia Acosta

Kamal Adisa

Sakshi Agarwal

Sejal Aggarwal

Lily Saeli

K.C. Amable

Sulamita Javier Balanutsa

Emily Baro

Emily Bergerson

Xiujie Bi

Sonja Briney

Kayla Van der Byl

Dahee Byun

Kimberly Chan

Krish Chandiramani

Militza A. Rodríguez Charr

Julie Yu Chen

Xingman Cheng

Habin Cheong

Kristen Chik

Paloma Corrigan

Misha Dhanoolal

Vicky Fan

Vincent Garcia

Cyril Gordon

Yangchen Maya Gruben

Maria Guardazzi

Gideon Gulko

Esra Gumrukculer

Aanya Gupta

Arani Halder

Bobby Hill

Jinghan Hu

Olivia Hunter

Sejung Hwang

Geddes Alexander II

Jyudeh Maximilian Russ Jarrett

Madison Jennings

Won Kyung Jung

Inga Kan

Ayse Yaren Kaya

Prithi Khalique

Shanjida Kibria

Celine Kim

Seowon Kim

Suah Kim

Youjong Kim

Rasheka Krishan

Eli Lederberg

Grace Ledoux

Alicia Lee

Hyunseo Suzy Lee

Natashia Lee

Rachel J. Lee

Yoo An Lee

Tiffany Leung

Emily Li

Sinong Li

Qiyao Lin

Jiayi Liu

Sichao Liu

Morella Tovar M

Ares Maia

Sophia Marinelli

Julia McGillicuddy

Sanika Mehta

Eleni Mentis

Anthony Muchai Muiruri

Daniel Mullins

Meredith Nelson

Ruowen Niu

Catalina O'Connor

Hyun sun Ohm

Carolyn Olaguivel

Lorna Oppenheim

Kyle Palma

Anastasia Contos Papakonstantinou

Brendon Park

Jimin Park

LeeJun Park

Sanha Park

Tommy Park

Tunchanok Patana-anake

Sean Phan

Delaney Poitras

Vincent Privitera

Jhoenny Ramirez

Taylor Sade Raschillo

Zhen (Yoomi) Ren

Elizabeth Richards

Rachel Rudolph

Leoder Sanchez

Maria Sanchez

Simon Sciacovelli

Shreya Shah

Seth Sharbono

Cindy Shi

Mimi Shih

Avni Shivkumar

Arunima Sinha

Shivam Sinha

Jason Decker Sloves

Bailey Storms

Tingyu Su

Yuchen Su

Kelt Tobunluepop

Kiana Toossi

Shivani Toshniwal

Jeanette Tran

Valerie Trisnadi

Yi-Chieh Tsai

Manasi Vashi

Emil Waldron

Isabella Wang

Jingyi Wang

Yuzheng Wang

Sophie Westfall

Ellie Wolfond

Jiapei Wu

Andy Yang

Xinchen Zhang

Yujing Zhang

Evelin Susan Fung Zhong

Evgeniya Zykova