Ruth has always had an insatiable curiosity to understand the world around her, deciphering its patterns and uncovering common themes between seemingly disparate subjects. Her curious nature has not only led to her endless list of interests, but it’s also responsible for her multi-faceted design work. Always looking to break traditional boundaries, Ruth has evolved from a graphic/web designer to a true multi-disciplinarian, by constantly applying design thinking in different fields such as open-source technology, social innovation, and organizational design.

Hailing from Toronto, Canada, Ruth has a background in business, design, and technology. She studied Graphic Communications Management and graduated with a Bachelor of Technology from Ryerson University. Being able to draw knowledge from different disciplines, Ruth was immersed into interaction design during her foray with wearable technology. She spent two years building large-scale interactive exhibitions in public spaces. Most notably, she led a team to build open source wearable technology for ALS patients. The technology was featured in Toronto’s Nuit Blanche and the TIFF Nexus Conference in 2011. Upon graduation, she worked at a web and mobile product startup, applying design thinking in organizational design and education. She is also active in Toronto’s hackathon scene; incubating new ideas and collaborating with designers, developers, and DIYers.

Ruth hopes to push her creative boundaries at SVA by exploring the application of interaction design in social innovation. As a politically minded designer, her goal is to use design not only to craft meaningful experiences but to ultimately help find solutions to real-world problems.

Ruth’s wide array of interests also makes her the ultimate hobbyist—she loves coffee, music, sports, traveling, sci-fi novels, and watching copious amounts of period dramas.