Vanessa Rementilla
Vanessa Rementilla
Vanessa Rementilla

Vanessa Rementilla’s career-focused work as a multidisciplinary design strategist has always been about solving marketing, user-experience and digital design problems. One of her personal passions, however, is the intersection of informal learning, child development and media — an area of research that working towards a Master of Design in the Strategic Foresight and Innovation program enabled her to delve into.

Beginning with the research question, “how might digital leisure games foster critical thinking and grit?” Rementilla explored the effects of mobile device ubiquity and the growth of mobile gaming on children. Her investigation into the “invisible teacher” role of games led to an analysis of game design, player motivation, child development stages and other factors that influence learning outcomes. She’s also creating frameworks for identifying skills that may help provide direction for parents, educators and game developers in the future.

Along the way, Rementilla enjoyed the challenges of group work and co-creation with her colleagues in the Strategic Foresight and Innovation program: “Successful group dynamics are hinged upon one’s self-awareness and recognition of others’ diverse personalities, mental models, communication styles and creative problem-solving approaches,” she says. She also points out that the program’s methodological focus enhanced the foundational user-experience design skills she brought to her team projects: “It gave me a much deeper and broader knowledge,” she says. “It equipped me with methodologies and tools to design for organizational change and global systemic issues.”

“Coming from a creative background, it was easy for me to integrate design thinking and other human-centred methods into my innovation practice,” Rementilla says of the program’s approach. “[It] allowed me to shift from designing with a small “d” on problems that deal with the traditional sense of design to designing with a big “D” — solving problems that affect a larger group of stakeholders and more complex challenges.”

Rementilla, who received her BFA in Visual Communication from the University of the Philippines has global perspective on the future. She says she plans to use the knowledge she gained from the program to guide organizations committed to lasting transformational change. “Using the power of design thinking and other innovative technologies, I hope to be the catalyst for organizations to explore new possibilities and solutions in an increasingly complex, uncertain world.”

Find out more: http://vanessarementilla.com

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