POSTGRADUATE  HONOURS WORK

DESIGNING WITH PURPOSE

This year, my Honours project became something far more than a design assignment. It turned into a platform to voice a part of my story that had been quietly shaping my life for years. Through Clots to Clarity, I unpacked my journey of being placed on Warfarin, a lifelong anticoagulant, at the age of 17. But more than telling my story, this project opened a conversation, one about what Warfarin patients really need when navigating their treatment.

The heart of the work lay in confronting the information gap that so many of us face in the healthcare system. The visual narrative offered an emotional and symbolic representation of what it felt like to enter a complex and highly monitored treatment plan with little guidance or understanding. It invited viewers to see and feel that confusion, and to imagine what it means to live day-to-day while adjusting your lifestyle around Warfarin.

But I didn’t want to stop at the visual narrative. As the work evolved, I began developing Warfarin Wise Educational Kits, patient-centered resources that aim to make living with Warfarin a little less overwhelming. These kits were designed to simplify medical information, using plain language and approachable visuals to help people understand how to manage their dosage, dietary restrictions, INR testing, and lifestyle changes. The idea was simple: empower patients on Warfarin through clarity, not more confusion.

What makes this body of work meaningful to me is that it came from a real place. Every design decision was shaped by personal experience. But it was also fueled by a desire to make that experience useful, to turn something difficult into something constructive for others.

The process: more than just a project

Looking back, this last year was intense. Emotionally, creatively, and mentally, I was stretched in new ways. Writing an autoethnographic research paper meant revisiting difficult memories. Developing a design solution from that vulnerability took time, questioning, and reflection. I spent months testing visuals, editing content, refining kits, and constantly asking: Will this make sense to someone who feels like I did at seventeen?

There were moments where it all felt too close, and others where the distance helped me see the value in telling this story. I didn’t just grow as a designer, I grew in how I saw the role of design itself. It can comfort, educate, and bridge gaps when words fall short.

what comes next

This Honours project is just the beginning. Over the next two years, I’ll be building on this work as part of my Master’s research. The foundation laid by Clots to Clarity and the Warfarin Wise kits will evolve into a deeper exploration of how design can reshape communication for patients on Warfarin, a medication that demands constant awareness, adjustments, and emotional resilience.

My Master’s will focus on co-creating with real Warfarin users, collaborating with medical professionals, and developing resources that are not only accurate but empathetic. I want to challenge the current standard where patients are handed cold, clinical leaflets and left to manage this powerful and complex medication alone. Through further research and practical application, I hope to design with, and not just for, those living with the demands of long-term anticoagulant therapy.

This project showed me that design has the power to make people feel seen, supported, and capable. I’m excited to keep following this path.