Shi-Tong Chen

I am a multi-disciplinary creative enthusiast dreaming to bring ethical design to solve real problems. Currently based in Hackney, London.

A seemingly winding path has led me to study Service Design at the RCA. Having studied fashion (BA Fashion Design with Marketing at Central Saint Martins, UAL) and worked in the art and design industry for 5 years, I grew out of interest in pursuing or promoting design that merely focuses on the look or sales. What is the meaning of design? I began my contemplation and seemed to find my answer in the mission of service design: to solve real-world problems.

The 2 years of RCA life felt like a roller coaster ride – hugely exciting, sometimes intimidating. To grasp a new discipline while trying to save the world is not easy. I got stimulated by the endless possibilities of design, yet also realised the constraints of it.

We can’t do this alone. To make any positive change, collaboration is the key. Thanks to the RCA’s nature of interdisciplinary, I’ve really enjoyed my experiments with design so far.

Projects I’ve been involved in during my time at the RCA:

Voorpret, immersive packaged experiences that give you the holiday feeling at your doorstep;
TIMO, a data service charging UK’s transition to electric vehicles;
Shift Happens, an alternative recruitment service bridging the gap between future talent and transforming organisations;
Naturally, an AR-based system enabling a balanced work-from-home day of the future;
PANDA, a platform for educating pandemic preparedness (Grand Challenge 2020);
Hoppot, a decentralised finance platform to fuel pre-seed startups (Entrepreneurship Journey with Imperial MBA);
SPACE, a digital fragrance delivery system for virtual environments (IFF).

Launch Project

Co-creating future jobs that bridge the gap between emerging talent and transforming enterprises

SHIFT HAPPENS is a medium that co-creates future jobs with emerging talent and companies. Our main goal is to create and bring more human values into future jobs by removing the difficulties of the old-fashioned job-hunting into something more mutually respectable whilst eliminating the historical biases during the recruitment process. Making it fairer, reducing inequalities and encouraging a transparent process fit for the needs of the business in the transformation phase and emerging talents.

How might we help hiring managers from a transforming SME to better understand and acquire most-needed emerging talent?
How might we empower future talent to to progress in their career by demystifying their capabilities and job roles?

Our service solution aims to provide a value-driven job platform to grow with the skills one has rather than fit into predetermined criteria that no longer align with an organisation. It benefits people and organisations by supporting newfound transdisciplinary skills to kill the less effective 2-dimensional recruitment process and pushing for a human purpose-driven co-created process.