the second shift
Year:
2026
For:
Coursework
Tools:
Figma, Illustrator,
Acrylic, Laser

The Second Shift details the creation of a physical data mobile visualizing the daily tasks of America’s 63 million family caregivers, drawing from the 2025 AARP and National Alliance for Caregiving national study. Inspired by Alexander Calder to mirror the instability of the caregiving experience, the project went through three distinct iterations—moving away from granular survey percentages, literal silhouettes, and clunky wiring that proved difficult to read. The final prototype successfully shifts the unit of measurement so that each acrylic unit represents 2 million people to convey the true scale of caregiving in America. It organizes this labor task by task into an inner ring for instrumental activities of daily living (the logistical work) and an outer ring for activities of daily living (the intimate bodily work), using darker teal units to mark the 29% share of the "sandwich generation" who are simultaneously raising children. Tied together with jewelry rings and crowned with a house at the top, the final piece captures how this immense labor happens quietly at home, after everything else, while allowing light to pass through to create shadows on the wall that represent the invisibility of this workforce.