Artist Biography
In Emma Ratner’s design philosophy, she merges creativity with a focus on brand identity, emphasizing a trendy, youthful aesthetic. Through a boutique approach, Emma transforms spaces into dynamic reflections of brand ethos, prioritizing sustainability and design integrity. By blending contemporary design language with timeless values, she crafts chic, innovative, and vibrant environments that resonate with modern tastes. Emma Ratner is an Interior Architecture major and Dance minor from Connecticut, in the New York City Metropolitan Area. Emma draws her most inspiration from the art world and experiences around her. This helps her to create strong design narratives that tell a story. Emma holds pride in being a design leader and has been involved with the Endicott College Architecture and Design Club holding the positions of President, Fundraiser, and Co-Head of Fashion Show. Emma has achieved many accomplishments and been recognized with awards in the DLF Scholarship Light & Transparency and IES Student Fixture Design Competitions. Emma is a part of the Mortar Board Honor Society and the Kappa Pi International Art Honors Society. She has been consecutively on the Dean’s List each semester. Emma is greatly involved in being an IIDA Member. She has participated in the IIDA NE Design Awards and IIDA NE Fashion Show Entries titled, Manhattan Mermaids, and Obsidian. She currently is involved with the IIDA Student Mentorship Program where she is given the opportunity to get feedback and advice. Emma’s love for art has also prompted her to choreograph and perform a solo dance piece. In this, Emma explored conceptual ideas that relate to expressing the movement of paint on a canvas. She has also performed many times with the Repertory Dance Ensemble which has allowed her to perform in beautiful shows. Emma’s current Thesis project, MediaMuse, is such a passionate project that allows her to infuse many different spectrums of people’s energy into one design. Emma says that her mentors for this project, Claire Darwin, Zac Mathias, and Juan Morales were huge inspirations that she could brainstorm ideas with because each are experts in their respective fields. Emma wants her work to resonate with many different viewers and feel lively. Incorporating social media into her work has been very influential to Emma. She has gone the extra mile to uncover the perceptions and meaning of social media and the best ways to incorporate it into her work, whether it is for advertising purposes or to share special moments. By using social media as a platform, Emma reaches a wider audience and shares moments in time in her daily life. She hopes to continue to grow this endeavor. During the Fall of her Senior year, Emma interned at Glen and Company Architecture in NYC, which furthered her passion for hospitality design. Emma gained hands-on experience working on projects that fulfilled her with inspiration and fascination. During this time, Emma collaborated with designers to curate environments geared towards each client’s aesthetic needs through renderings, finish specifications, and even got to visit BDNY to gain insight into what is new in the industry. Next, Emma will be continuing her education in NYC as she gets her MFA in Interior Design. Emma hopes to create more in depth projects and showcase her work to a larger audience. Emma would like to thank her mentors Claire, Zac, and Juan for all of their kind words and dedication to seeing her Senior Thesis come to life. She would like to thank the faculty for their commitment to her creative pursuits. Emma would also like to thank her family for pushing her to follow her dreams. She would like to especially thank her twin sister, Kelly Ratner, for being a creative mind she can bounce ideas off of and being an essential part of her creative process and journey.
Thesis Abstract
With her many hours spent on Instagram being fascinated by the world that social media influencers depict, Emma Ratner hones in on the topic that utilizes much of her spare time: social media. Emma Ratner, (BFA Interior Architecture) has curated an interior space to answer: How can design facilitate a branded experience and create valuable resources for media influencers to enhance career opportunities? Emma finds that tailoring customizable studio and social spaces to suit the lifestyles and preference needs of influencers actively promotes essential branded experiences, which provides media influencers resources for content curation and social engagement. In this, a brand identity will be developed which will support more influencer careers and engage a growing community. As the social media platforms: Instagram, Youtube, and TikTok continue to gain prominence, media influencers emerge as cultural tastemakers, arbiters of style, and personalities for aspirational living. Influencers need meticulously designed spaces not just for functionality, but also to tell their visual narratives through a curated backdrop. These environments tell the realities of the influencer’s daily life by presenting a message that resonates with their audience. By consolidating all the essential elements for influencers into one space, influencers can become industry leaders. Emma Ratner is the Creative Designer behind MediaMuse, located in NYC. MediaMuse welcomes influencers, professionals, and socials to the content creation location. With MediaMuse influencers can be their authentic self and craft their content. Emma promotes the concept of “Be You Muse,” which means that everyone is a muse connecting a community of influencers together regardless of their specialized niches. She brings in the ideas of DesignMuse, FashionMuse, BeautyMuse, FitMuse, and TravelMuse to emphasize that these are areas in the field that will be benefited and promoted from the space. MediaMuse combines all the spaces that influencers need to socialize and work: community content editing spaces, private content studios, and an onsite PR event space. The interior design to be functional for the users and photogenic for content is important. Emma uses the city skyline concept along with brand colors and graphics to achieve this. Just like influencers, the city skyline blends together liveliness, bright and vivid imagery, and social interaction to attract attention and influence culture. Keeping these influencers in mind, Emma is adding that special touch—creating spaces that not only have an acquired style but also help careers and brands flourish. Emma Ratner led this Thesis project with the guidance of her Thesis Mentors: Claire Darwin, Architectural Designer, Zac Mathias, Social Media Influencer and Interior Designer, and Juan Morales, Professor of Graphic Design. The exhibition will be on View through May 18th, 2024.
LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/emmaratner
Instagram:
@emmaratnerdesign
Portfolio: issuu.com/emmaratner/docs/emma_ratner_portfolio