AI Summary
5 min readRinat Sherzer was standing in line at MoMA when she overheard three women discussing an article about a woman who teaches organizations to work inspired by the female egg, blending feminine and masculine energies into the workplace. As she listened, she realized they were talking about her. That moment crystallized something she had already begun to suspect: once you put a creation into the world, it takes on a life of its own, and you never fully know how it will land or when.
Sherzer, a biotech engineer turned transdisciplinary designer and artist, joined the AIGA Design Podcast to discuss her ongoing research into hope, which she defines not as wishful thinking but as a vital resource that arises from deep crisis and calls us into action under conditions of deep uncertainty. Her argument is that hope is a complex, embodied construct that designers are uniquely positioned to ignite and sustain—but only if they move beyond cognitive, goal-oriented models and engage the full sensorium.
The history of hope: from vice to vital resource
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:00) **MOMA Eavesdrop Story** - Rinat overhears strangers discussing her own work, illustrating how a project takes on a life of its own
- 2 (01:26) **Guest Introduction and Background** - Rinat Sherzer is welcomed back as a biotech engineer, transdisciplinary designer, and PhD candidate researching hope through multi-sensory design
- 3 (03:11) **Defining Her Practice** - Rinat describes her mission as shifting broken social paradigms using design, science, and technology
- 4 (04:15) **Scientific Training in Design Practice** - How her background in biotechnology engineering informs her design work
- 5 (06:18) **Update on "What Would the Egg Do?" Project** - Recap of the biomimicry project inspired by the menstrual cycle and the pandemic's impact
- 6 (11:09) **Unpredictable Ripple Effects** - The project's impact unfolded over years, not immediately, with people reaching out long after
- 7 (14:37) **Why Hope? The Personal Origin** - Rinat's PhD focus on hope was born from a devastating personal experience during the October 7th attacks in Israel
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Show Notes
In this episode, hosts Lee-Sean Huang and Giulia Donatello welcome back Rinat Sherzer—a biotech engineer, transdisciplinary designer, artist, and adjunct professor at Parsons School of Design whose work sits at the intersection of science, technology, and social justice. Together, they discuss the deep human construct of hope, unpacking how it differs from mere wishful thinking and exploring how designers can act as vital conduits for it. Rinat shares her journey from scientific training to social innovation, the unpredictable ripple effects of her global projects, and how she balances multi-sensory design, teaching, and motherhood through an intentional quarterly focus.
In This Episode
The logic of the backward glance. Rinat shares her journey from biotechnology engineering into tech and ultimately to design for social innovation. Mirroring Steve Jobs' famous sentiment, she notes that the dots of a multidisciplinary career can often only be connected in hindsight.
The history and bad rep of hope. When researching the framework of hope for her PhD, Rinat was struck by its historical negativity. From Plato viewing it as an unreliable guide to Nietzsche labeling it the worst of all evils, it wasn't until Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning in 1946 that hope was structurally recognized as a vital resource for human survival.
The three dimensions of hope framework. Moving beyond Richard Snyder's purely cognitive, goal-oriented approach, Rinat's framework treats hope as an embodied, immersive experience. It breaks down into three dimensions: the extreme moment (crisis or joy) where hope is born, the greater social good if that hope comes to fruition, and the concrete, physical action an individual can take.
Breaking bread and multi-sensory co-design. Rinat breaks down her immersive project, The Rebirth of Hope, which utilizes sound and taste to tap into primal, nonverbal memories. By choosing raw ingredients that resonate with their personal dimensions of hope, participants create a literal "bite of hope" to consume collectively, bridging the deeply personal with the universal synergy of a group.
Translating data into human music. The Rebirth of Hope project actively translated participant choices into real-time visual musical scores. By mapping hope attributes to chords, rhythm, and melody, a live band performed the collective, experimental music of the exhibition's audience.
The accountability gap in design education. As a faculty member at Parsons, Rinat addresses the split between the theory of "design for good" and the messy reality of execution. She argues that standard academic design thinking often leaves prototyping and testing to the very end, missing the vital skills of real-world implementation, business case development, and multi-team collaboration.
The organizing cadence of a year. To juggle
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