Shivangi Das

A girl sitting alone in the park spending time by herself.

Shivangi is an Indian-born service designer based out of London with a background in Architecture. This combination of Architecture and Service Design allows her to understand and develop solutions keeping a strategic and tactical view.

Prior to joining the Royal College of Art, Shivangi worked as a Design Strategist in Hong Kong where she immersed herself in varied and challenging placemaking projects. She also positively contributed to a sustainable farm-to-fork hydroponic project in India. This helped her understand and implement a bottom-up approach to problem-solving based on human-centred design.

Education

MA Service Design, Royal College of Art
Entrepreneurial Journey Elective, Imperial College Business School
BA Architectural Studies, University of Hong Kong

Projects at RCA

Spending Sprint: Financial service for Gen Z to build healthy financial habits
Solo-Date: Boosting self-esteem among young people through the practice of self-reflection and normalizing solo time
Freelance Collective: Leveraging the strength of an enterprise to mobilise and support freelancers in their pursuit of creative mastery

I bring a unique lens to my projects and have an inherent eagerness to experiment with new ways to inform the design process. I always take a holistic and human-first approach during my projects. Having worked with cross-functional teams, I find multidisciplinary collaboration to be the core of the entire design process and its importance in projects. The experience of working in diverse cultural settings enables me to understand the context and bring ideas with a fresh perspective.

Throughout my time at RCA, I gained extensive experience by working on various projects across the finance and healthcare sectors which have equipped me with a diverse skillset. This enables me to empathize and engage with users to design services and strategies that would make a difference.

With my innate empathy, curiosity, and vivacity, I aspire to transform services and experiences. I am excited to be part of the journey where we designers are catalysts for change and I believe in the power of design to bring positive impact by addressing pressing issues.

Background

366% million people worldwide are using dating apps to meet new people. However, online dating app usage brings negative consequences, particularly on mental health, such as negative self-image and diminished self-esteem.

For young individuals, the journey of finding the right match often becomes a repetitive cycle of swiping and disappointment, as they struggle to establish meaningful connections due to their difficulty in opening up.

Our project focuses on fostering self-understanding and self-appreciation to boost users' self-esteem, enabling them to form healthier connections.

Insights

Low self-esteem triggers greater fear of rejection from others, holds people back from opening up
Young people with low self-esteem don’t want to face their low self-esteem
Even though young people are digital natives, they prefer building connections in person

Our Approach

Our approach is to boost young people's self-esteem so they can form healthier and more meaningful relationships. We want to help users improve their self-acceptance, normalize “me-time” and provide a space to form connections organically.

Solution

Solo-Dates is a platform for users to self-date, and appreciate themselves while providing a safe environment for cultivating genuine connections with themselves, among people.

Impact

Our vision is to help young people feel better about themselves by turning negative self-image into positive. We want to establish the notion of self-care amongst our users so they engage in healthier relationships. Solo Dates aims to do this by being an early intervention channel to educate young people, empowering them to go on solo dates and reflect on their actions. Solo-Dates helps young people to practice self-care activities in their everyday life which would improve their well-being and mental health

For Partners:

NHS West London

Provide a new way to engage with young people and provide insights on how they prefer to be supported
Solo-Dates acts as a channel to spot young people in need and proactively support them

Let Me Know

Solo-Dates complements the missing piece of education on building healthy relationship on top of their approach of spotting healthy and unhealthy relationship

Partners:

NHS West London, Let Me Know

In Collaboration with:

Jueun Kim

Shivangi Das

In Collaboration with:

Social

About

Royal College of Art