Sapna Tayal Wins IDSA Merit Award
Sapna Tayal, a senior specializing in Product Design at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Design, was recently awarded the 2025 IDSA Merit Award. Each year, IDSA student chapters across the US nominate one undergraduate senior who exemplifies excellence within the industrial design field. Representing Carnegie Mellon, Sapna will compete at the IDSA district level for national recognition. Seniors Parrish André, Stanley Ip, Veronica Michaels, Sandy Youssef, and Elin Zhou were also recognized for their product design work.
Each of the candidates presented an 8-minute review of their favorite projects, skills, and lessons learned during their industrial design education at the School of Design. At the end of the presentations, a panel of Pittsburgh-based industrial design practitioners, including Col Jones from Becton Dickinson, Justin Adleff from Eaton, Chris Henley & Brandon Link from MSA, and Josh Lederer founder of Lexicon Design, chose Tayal as the nominee for the district-level IDSA competition.
“I’m really grateful to have had the chance to share my work alongside my talented classmates,” said Tayal. “Watching everyone present their work made me realize how much we’ve all grown over the past four years, not just in what we can make, but in how we think about design. It was a really rewarding process and I'm really grateful.”
Sapna Tayal's Featured Projects
Stolas Beetle Magnifier
Magnifying glasses invite discovery but often fade into the background. Through Stolas, Tayal explored how playing with the material and form of an often-overlooked tool can shape our behavior and relationship with it.
Magnifying glasses invite discovery but often fade into the background. Through Stolas, Tayal explored how playing with the material and form of an often-overlooked tool can shape our behavior and relationship with it.
24e Steering Wheel
Carnegie Mellon Racing builds an electric race car from scratch annually for FSAE competitions. Tayal led the Driver Systems sub-team, developing all cockpit systems, from pedals to headrests. She specifically designed the 24e steering wheel to feel intuitive, minimally distracting, structurally robust, efficiently packaged, and elegantly formed.
Carnegie Mellon Racing builds an electric race car from scratch annually for FSAE competitions. Tayal led the Driver Systems sub-team, developing all cockpit systems, from pedals to headrests. She specifically designed the 24e steering wheel to feel intuitive, minimally distracting, structurally robust, efficiently packaged, and elegantly formed.
Tinker
Headphones allow us to create personal soundscapes but often discourage repair and personalization. Tinker breaks this barrier, making the invisible visible and encouraging users to modify and maintain their devices.
Headphones allow us to create personal soundscapes but often discourage repair and personalization. Tinker breaks this barrier, making the invisible visible and encouraging users to modify and maintain their devices.
Flat-to-shape Objects Fabricated with a CNC Sewing Machine
This is an accepted CHI 2025 paper that I fi rst-authored with Dr. Lea Albaugh and Dr. Scott Hudson from HCI, and Dr. James McCann from Robotics. We established a novel rapid, scalable method to fabricate functional objects using a large computer-controlled quilting machine typically solely used to make soft quilted blankets. In our co-creative process, rigid materials like plywood or acrylic are sandwiched between fabric layers and secured through sewing to form soft hinges. These hinges allow smooth transitions into three-dimensional forms with minimal post-processing.
This is an accepted CHI 2025 paper that I fi rst-authored with Dr. Lea Albaugh and Dr. Scott Hudson from HCI, and Dr. James McCann from Robotics. We established a novel rapid, scalable method to fabricate functional objects using a large computer-controlled quilting machine typically solely used to make soft quilted blankets. In our co-creative process, rigid materials like plywood or acrylic are sandwiched between fabric layers and secured through sewing to form soft hinges. These hinges allow smooth transitions into three-dimensional forms with minimal post-processing.
Tayal’s approach to product design has focuses on how things are built and maintained over time and how design can make technical systems feel more accessible and inviting.
“I’m curious about working from a materials first approach, designing with people rather than just for them, and building systems that stay flexible over time,” said Tayal.
“Classes like Design That Lasts with Jonathan Chapman, along with my experience in HCI research and the FSAE racing team, shaped how I think more technically about how objects are fabricated, how they can be opened up or passed along, and how they evolve through use.”
Lately, Tayal has been drawn to projects that invite “slower, quieter forms of interaction.
“I’m excited by design that leaves space for interpretation and participation, where the process doesn’t stop at the point of manufacture and meaning accumulates through context and use,” said Tayal. “I love the process of starting with a broad, sometimes abstract problem and slowly grounding its form through conversations, research, and prototyping.”
Tayal’s approach to product design is readily apparent in her senior capstone project - a 24-hour clock that draws a 365-ring spiral over a year, reacting like a seismometer to environmental activity.
“Inspired by tree rings as a record of time and environmental conditions, the clock reacts and captures conditions in its marks, creating a tangible, evolving artifact,” explained Tayal. “Beyond the conceptual aspect, I’m diving deep into the mechanical and electrical engineering challenges of making a slow-moving yet precise drawing machine which has been really fun and rewarding!”
Tayal credits her education at the School of Design for giving her space to learn, question, and explore what product design can achieve.
“The program’s emphasis on systems thinking, research, and hands-on making has shaped how I approach problems—not just as isolated design challenges, but as part of larger ecosystems,” said Tayal. “I’ve learned to think critically about a product’s full lifecycle, from material choices and methods of fabrication to repairability and how it fits into people’s lives over time. We learn not just how to design something, but why it should exist and how it fits into a larger ecosystem of products and habits.
“Beyond design, CMU as a whole has been an incredible place to be. Whether it’s soft goods, biomedical products, material science or bespoke fabrication software you're interested in, there are so many resources through students, research, clubs or classes you could get involved with to explore your interests further,” continued Tayal. “There’s a strong culture of interdisciplinary work and you’re surrounded by brilliant, driven people who are excited to push ideas further alongside you which is really special.
“It’s really a magical place that values curiosity and has encouraged me to approach design with depth and care.”