MixedUp Radio
Have you ever felt like you had no community? Like you couldn’t truly embrace your culture because you were expected to be one thing or the other? This is a reality that many third culture kids face. We are too white to be in a different culture or to different to be considered white. We have no motherland.
MixedUp Radio helps third culture people find and connect with others who have experienced similar things through the power of storytelling. I invite third culture people to share their experiences on their own radio episode as well as encourage conversation while we are on air through a chat room. This has resulted in various in-person events being arranged which have slowly built a small community.
Visit the site at www.mixedupradio.net
AdvisorsBrian Beavers, Phillip MertensFieldsInteraction Design, UX/UI Design, User Research, PrototypingYear2016
01
Why?
Third culture individuals are people like me who have more than one culture. For example I had Mexican culture at home but American culture at school but wasn’t exclusively one or the other
72% of Third Culture Individuals reported they had attempted to abandon one of their cultures during grade school but 63% attempted to reconnect with their roots during their twenties.
58% of Third Culture Individuals reported they felt like they had no motherland due to experiences that made them feel like a cultural outsider
50% of Third Culture Individuals reported that they felt like they had no community due to their cultural diversity and lack of exposures to others who were culturally alike
There are more than 9 million Third Culture Individuals in the United States and the numbers are increasing
02
Process
I began this project with getting an in-depth understanding of my problem area by launching 3 surveys and conducting 30 in person interviews, five of which, were professionals in the field. This led me to launch four directional prototypes that informed my direction later on.
Directional Prototype 2
Another concept I explored was an after school program for third culture kids (specifically Mexican-Americans) where I could provide a space for them to express themselves through music.
Directional Prototype 1
My first prototype was a children’s book that showed you how to hide your culture in order to better fit in with your peers. Of course, this was a critical design piece that made me realize that rather than hiding someone’s culture I wanted them to feel proud of being different. This led me to create a series of screen prints that reclaimed culture but it wasn’t quite exposing people to culture like I wanted to.
CASA from Uriel Zarate on Vimeo.
Directional Prototype 3
This prototype explored how music could help connect people by bringing the sounds of different continents together. I encouraged participants to find someone who they did not know in order to create a dialogue about the prototype. Once the participants had created a melody it would be uploaded to SoundCloud to attempt and carry that dialogue online.
03
Current Solution
MixedUp Radio is an online radio that helps third culture individuals like myself, build community and foster connections with others who have experienced similar things, through the power of storytelling and music.
