Personal Statements allows second-year design graduate students the opportunity to combine a physical product that is imbued with their emotions and values with a shared user experience. Here Shawn Smith shares his path to the d.school and his 2026 Personal Statement project in his own words.
“Come and Stay a While” by Shawn Smith
“Design as not just a skill, but a way to take a stand.”
Coming to the d.school represented a large shift for me both personally and professionally. Right before Stanford, I was the Head of a Data Science department at a very large organization. On all accounts, I had built a great career and done all of the things you might consider the “American Dream.” The only problem was, I felt like I was living out somebody else’s dream.
One benefit to my career as a technologist was that I was very early to the rise of AI, and I had developed a strong enough intuition to know that life and work would be fundamentally changed. But when I talked to peers and colleagues, I only heard one of two things—either “oh no, what happens if AI takes all of our jobs?” or “how can I strike gold and become a billionaire with this tech?” This didn’t sit right with me. I believed this emerging technology could be designed to fundamentally improve people's everyday lives, and I didn’t want to sit around hoping someone else would see that too.
So I came to Stanford to do exactly that—learn design not just as a skill, but as a way of taking a stand for what you want to see in the world. And I’m building AI tools and systems that don’t just capture people's lower-level impulses, but instead support their higher-order needs.
Finding My “Who” at the d.school: Identity, Community, and Creativity
My experience at the d.school so far has been all about identity shifting. And I mean that in the best way possible. I came to this program with very strong intentions, but also high expectations. The MS Design program has met and surpassed anything I could have imagined. The first thing that the program gave me was confidence in my creativity and ability to make things. But then it also gave me the skills and sensitivity to hear what kinds of things need to be made. It’s not a place that just encourages you to put “slop” out in the world; we want to design for real human needs.
But the greatest gift that the program has given me is a community. From my cohort, my fellow classmates in the Loft, my instructors, and advisors — these people are some of the most generous and thoughtful people I could ever ask to be surrounded by. I keep saying this, and it might sound cheesy, but I thought I was coming to Stanford to find my “what,” and instead, what I found is my “who.”
Shawn’s Cafe: A Grandfather’s Legacy
For Personal Statements, I wanted to face the reason why I had chosen a stable life that eventually made me feel lifeless, rather than the creative life that I felt called to. When I dug deep, I realized that I needed to examine my relationship with my Grandpa, the person who helped my Mom raise me.
My Grandpa was a master-level portrait artist, and yet throughout my childhood, we were always on the brink of poverty. Late bills, eviction notices, the whole “starving artist” thing. And yet I grew up exceptionally loved, and they always found a way to put food on the table for me. The way my Grandpa did that was by “window painting” — those cute little cartoons and ads that businesses will have on their storefront window.
I know why I chose stability, and I’m happy that I did. I was able to caretake for him until his final years. But with his passing, I also appreciated how short life could be, and if I were to live my dream, it meant embracing creativity. And so for my Personal Statement, I decided to do a window painting dedicated to my Grandpa.
The fun really emerged when I decided what the window needed to sit in front of. Another thing I credit to my Grandpa is that I have a huge love of coffee. My favorite places to be are in a café holding a cup of coffee, doing some work, talking to a stranger, and chatting up my favorite barista. So the magic really took hold when I went from, “I’m doing a window painting” to “I’m installing an entire café into what used to be my workspace in the Loft.” I built a facade storefront wall and painted a fun cartoon of my grandpa and me on the entry window. Put seating in and created an interior aesthetic. And then laser-cut a special menu on wood that people could order from the night of Personal Statements.
Serving Up Gratitude and More on Personal Statements Night
At Personal Statements Night, a showcase of the work of all 2nd-year MS Design students at the d.school, my partner and I ended up serving about 90 cups of coffee and cocoa in just 2 hours! People told me there was a line to get in like a Disneyland ride, but I was so busy serving coffee and talking to people that I didn’t get to see it!
My favorite part of the experience design was the menu. It read “Grandpa’s house coffee,” and people pulled out their phones ready to pay. But I got to stop them and say, “No, no, the '3' isn’t dollars here, you need to tell me three good things that happened this week, or three things you’re grateful for, or share three compliments to the friend you brought”. The transition of people's faces from confused to happy is something I’ll hold with me forever.
The greatest compliment that I received was “the cafe is going to stay here, right?!?” I truly designed something from a place of joy that I hoped could serve the community for a night. What I didn’t realize was that I built something that may even serve the community after I’m gone. “Shawn’s Cafe” is now a space for coworking, meeting with groups, serving coffee to visitors, and really just a place where people can feel like they belong.
You can keep up Shawn via his personal website or on LinkedIn.