2024 User-Experience Design Senior Show Home Page
 

Maurice Cruz dressed in business professional.

Maurice Cruz

About: I'm a change-maker who designs to recognize the needs of underserved and overlooked communities. At the heart of my design journey is advocacy: design lets me amplify the voices of people often left out of the narrative. I wear many hats as a UX student with minors in Art History and Urban Policy and Planning, the owner of a landscaping business in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, and the president of the Black Student Union at the University of North Texas.

What makes me curious? Perspectives other than mine. Learning about other people’s journeys is fascinating, even if they hold different opinions or beliefs. By asking questions like: “What color do you think the number 4 would be? Why?” I can learn a lot or at least start a conversation.

Website: Maurice Cruz

 

Maurice Cruz, UNT CVAD User-Experience Class of 2024

 

Three mobile screens of the Lemons app next to an image of an African American couple smiling at a credit card. A banner along the top reads "Winner of the Chase 2022 Pitch Competition."

Lemons – The Debit Card That Builds Credit. Winner of the Chase 2022 Pitch Competition.

A rough sketch of the WidgetWall idea that fades into an image of a real-life classroom. There is text that reads "How might we utilize familiarity to empower teachers when setting up their classrooms?" An African American teacher is holding up double peace signs. This is Maurice's mom.

WidgetWall – Empowering teachers with hassle-free classroom setup, using Velcro technology to make their walls more robust at a lower cost.

An African American teen holding a case of water over his shoulder. There are two mobile screens and an H2O branded water bottle underneath the words "Empowering entrepreneurial youth to turn their hustle into an opportunity."

Hustle 2 Opportunity – A case study investigating safe ways for disadvantaged youth to develop their entrepreneurship skills by raising money selling water.

Two columns of mobile screens tilted to the right are spread off of the image. A statistic is shown that reads "An estimated 331,000 Americans are a part of cults." The eyeball logo for CultWatch is on top of the words "Awareness + resources for those vulnerable to cult induction."

CultWatch – This website exposes psychological tactics used by cults and provides resources for those who are vulnerable to induction.