Divya Mehra works with text, image, & code
Third Act
UX/UI Design, UX Research, Visual Design & Graphics
Content & Design Strategy
Writing & Editing
Web Analytics
At Third Act, my design and content work spans digital and print graphics, web updates, user testing, accessibility improvements, and style direction for our 70,000+ volunteers. Along with our Creative Director, I provide technical guidance and create resources that help produce consistent and effective experiences.
I also help shape the organization’s visual voice, balancing a grassroots aesthetic with polish that builds trust and with prospective members. I am currently working on the second iteration of the website, providing content audits and UX direction.
Beyond design, I write and edit website content, manage all photo and video assets, and oversee content quality across 34 microsites. Our sites receive thousands of visits daily.
Ries
3D Design (Rendering)
Motion Design (Simulation)
Ries wanted to showcase the functionality of its containers, especially how each component fits together. Ries is also a beauty brand sold at Sephora, not a utilitarian brand. Its feel is luxurious and Ries cofounder, Megan Graham, wanted a way to maintain this prestige while showing the inner workings.
We decided on 3D animations fairly early in the process. Key were exploding the bottle out and back in, locking, closing, and opening. Then we considered beauty shots and a little extra something.
Ultimately, we chose simplistic, natural backgrounds to highlight the elegance of the product and short 3-second looping animations for easy placement in different modules on the site.
Simplify Solar
Illustration (Photoshop, Illustrator)
For Third Act’s Simplify Solar campaign, I proposed illustrations focused on solar energy and growth. The visual style departs from the organization’s brand guidelines to distinguish these pieces as editorial and part of a new campaign.
Rest of World
UX/UI Design
Some Code (CSS)
Data Viz (DataWrapper)
Photo Selection
Rest of World asked me to design and develop their Impact Report, so that it could be templatized going forward.
Using their brand guidelines and assets, I designed and implemented a report format with custom CSS. I collaborated with their photo editor to select photographs, their fundraising director to work with copy, and their designer for support.
With copious amounts of content and long-scroll request, the key was to find a way to display impact information in a visually-engaging way while adhering to platform constraints.
This interactive report is now used as a template to send to potential and existing donors.
Six Emoji Story
UX/UI Design & Visual Design
Code (HTML, CSS, React)
Six Emoji Story is a brief history of the emoji told through six emojis, applying the visual simplicity of early emoji to examine the evolution of the pictographic language.
There are a multitude of things to talk about with the emoji, but I had one objective with this story: to make a fun, interactive, and informative story using the pixel aesthetic of early emojis.
I chose six emojis that best represent pivotal points in emoji history based on my research. I used the six colors Kurita used for his original 176 emojis — a coincidental tie-in to the number six.
The sections feature smooth scrolling and an interactive grid. Each section also has annotations and pictures relating to its specific story.
Teaching
Facilitation & Communication
Design & Code
A Bit of Everything
I teach at Parsons, NYU, and occasional workshops at hubs like Index Space. My classes are a mix of design and code, with special attention to visual curation and design in context.
The Parsons School of Design
Core 1: Interaction, Core 2: Interaction
Digital Product Studio
New York University
Visual Vocabulary
Digital Humanities: Web Development
Index Space
Designing Digital Records
Writing
Moshtari Hilal’s Ugliness, The Brooklyn Rail
Helen Chadwick: Life Pleasures, The Brooklyn Rail
The Language of Abortion in Trump’s America, PRINT Magazine
How Ian Curtis Died, Hobart Pulp
Interview with Kenneth Tam: Rituals of Identity, Adjacent
Interview with Nika Simovich Fisher, The Creative Independent