My first Master's thesis project looked at "modern nomads": post-college, pre-home-owning people that move from place to place . . . often.
This project was primarily research based. I made numerous trips to San Francisco and spent countless hours interviewing young, urban nomads.
The products I designed ended up being less important that the cultural insights I gained from my research. For example, you might think there's a correlation between the size of things and the stress of moving them. Not quite. In fact, your bed, TV and sofa are pretty easy to deal with - you're either taking them or not. Period. What generates much more stress during the moving process are all the "little things": that pile of half-used batteries in your desk drawer, the little sculpture a friend gave you (but that-truth be told-you don't really love), the trinkets you picked up on that last road trip. These small objects and countless others require weighty decisions and ultimately, cumulatively, end up causing much more stress.
