Author: Design Incubation

Teaching the History of Graphic Design to Visual Learners

Solution: add a significant drawing component to the curriculum

Ingrid Hess 
Assistant Professor 
University of Massachusetts Lowell

I teach the History of Graphic Design to art and design students. Most of them are visual learners. I find it an exciting challenge to teach in a way that inspires learning among these students. Below are excerpts from an article I wrote for the international journal Visual Inquiry in 2013 entitled, “How Drawing Helps Keep History Present”.

When I was an art student, one of my favorite classes was art history. I remember my professor’s lectures to be fascinating yet I remember almost nothing about art history itself. The information she shared with the class didn’t stick with me. Two decades later I was asked to teach a History of Graphic Design class. I was thrilled and terrified. How could I teach a class as interesting as the one I took years before yet help my students retain the information they were learning? My solution was simple: add a significant drawing component to the curriculum. By having students create work based on the lectures I presented they put their knowledge into immediate use. The results were astounding. On tests throughout the semester, questions relating to the drawing assignments were much more likely to be answered correctly than other questions.

A pleasant surprise—regardless of a student’s inherent drawing skill, using drawing was an effective tool. My class consisted of both art majors and non-art majors. I graded not on the expertise of the rendering, but rather on how each student integrated new knowledge of graphic design history into the drawing assignments.

The most rewarding part of the course was seeing how much the students loved the drawing assignments. At the end of the class when I asked the students what they thought they would remember from the semester, all of them stated a lesson that went along with a drawing assignment.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 5.3: Merrimack College on March 30, 2019.

Using Icons to Encourage Visual Literacy on Campus

The role of design in instructional materials to engage a broad spectrum of student abilities.

Lance Hidy 
Accessible Media Specialist 
Northern Essex Community College

The academic administrators at Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill, Massachusetts, are considering adopting Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a new methodology for improving student success and retention.

Having had disappointing results from other applied strategies, they are taking a fresh look at the role of design—especially for making instructional materials more accessible and engaging for a broad spectrum of student abilities. One important facet of UDL that the college is currently investigating is expanding the use of image content in text documents

To illustrate this idea, the Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs asked me to develop a system of icons to represent every degree and certificate offered by the college, along with icons for the six academic divisions, and the nine athletic programs—87 in all. Many of the faculty who were invited to participate in the process of icon development for their disciplines said that it was an eye-opening experience, being the first time they had engaged in a visual thinking exercise.

As the collection of icons was finalized and distributed, employees were invited to use them to promote their disciplines. Additionally, a colorful poster of all 87 icons is circulating on campus and off, providing not only a useful recruiting tool, but also a new way for employees and students to understand what the college is

It is too early to assess how persuasive this icon project will be in shifting the college culture toward UDL and improved visual literacy. But it is providing a popular, concrete example of UDL that is already being used by everyone, and is being cited as campus committees begin debating the role of UDL in the next strategic plan.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 5.3: Merrimack College on March 30, 2019.

The Value of Impermanence in Design

Designers should consider the balance between documentation and impermanence and ask what is permanent versus what is ephemeral?

Christopher Previte
Associate Professor
Franklin Pierce University

Many spaces on the web (social media, photo sharing, genealogy sites, etc.) ask us to document so much of our lives. From photographic evidence of what we eat and who we are with to digital dog-ears of our favorite music, political leanings, and familial connections, we willingly and slavishly create collections in an effort to connect with each other and prove that we matter. There is an implied permanence to these collections and they are used as currency in maintaining social hierarchy and relationships. This reliance on documentation creates an imbalance and denies the value of impermanence.

Buddhists, for example, believe that impermanence brings us hope and embodies the spirit of freedom and shatters the concept of predestination. Science teaches us that old cells in our bodies die and yield place continuously to the new ones that are forming. Technically speaking, no individual is ever composed of the same amount of energy. Impermanence and change are thus the undeniable and essential truths of our existence.

Therefore, while online culture and mobile connectivity continues to grow, it must also evolve. 

Designers should consider the balance between documentation and impermanence and ask what is permanent versus what is ephemeral? Snapchat, for example, sought to convey what made face to face conversation special. The notions of impressions and deletion by default were baked into its user experience. At its best, user experience design focuses on the intangible and speaks to concepts such as atmosphere, personality, familiarity, and comfort—remembering that “users” are, in fact, humans. Given that, should not more research and discussion be dedicated to finding that balance and uncovering the value of impermanence?

Here we will begin that discussion and ways we can incorporate it into our design practice.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 5.3: Merrimack College on March 30, 2019.

Enter and Exit

Temporary built environments and events that provide deliverable outcomes that served to inform, educate and engage.

Cheryl Beckett 
Associate Professor 
University of Houston

For over a decade, the faculty of the University of Houston Graphic Design Program spearheaded site-specific collaborations to move students beyond the classroom to address real world and community-based issues including environmental sustainability, neighborhood empowerment, and educational programming. The results of these investigations are temporary built environments and events that provide deliverable outcomes that served to inform, educate and engage.

While the main objective is to give voice to a community, it also provides an opportunity to immerse the students into the community, the locality of the site, and messaging. It is not always obvious to students that design can be a vehicle for social good. Through involvement in local efforts and neighborhoods, we hope to instill the potential for design to transform places and provide people with a public forum for expression.

While the outcomes of these one – two semester projects were successful in the short term, the colloquium presentation would examine long-term social impact. Three case studies would serve as talking points for discussion:

  1. The Park at Palm Center Pavilion: a hub in an active community garden
  2. Marfa Voices: a project by a design graduate student who felt discomfort in walking into and out of the lives of the locals
  3. Encounter: a series of short-term site-based installations which encouraged communities to shape development along the bayou.

The follow-up on these projects would look at assessments by students, community members and project stakeholders. The goal is to determine qualities for long term success within project constraints and to have a dialogue on case studies by other attendees to the colloquium.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 5.3: Merrimack College on March 30, 2019.

Visual Synthesis: Temporal and Expressive Exercises

Synthesis allows us to process qualitative research, investigate existing conditions, services, and experiences, and envision and orchestrate future frameworks.

Ann McDonald
Associate Professor
Northeastern University

Visual synthesis is one of the primary methodologies that designers use to analyze and understand human-centered research and make meaning. Synthesis allows us to process qualitative research, investigate existing conditions, services, and experiences, and envision and orchestrate future frameworks. Jon Kolko has long called attention to the critical and often under-valued role that design synthesis plays in human-centered design research.1 Experience and touch-point mapping models2 and narrative storyboard models3 have evolved to enable collection and synthesis of research observations regarding user experiences. But these templates and models do not fully engage the power of visual communication and information design to express evocative stories that read at multiple levels to best expose narratives, patterns, and relationships across time frames.

Design teams could benefit from the use of more rigorous information design methods to offer more nuanced representations of complex experiences that occur over varied time frames. We need to develop further diverse ways to represent complex services, shifts in points of view, narratives and time frames. This presentation will share in-progress pedagogical design explorations in three settings; 1) a STEM high school student half-day workshop introducing the value of design methods, 2) an entry-level undergraduate Design Process class and 3) a graduate-level Notational Systems for Experience design class exploring the use of information design strategies across multiple fields as a methodology for research synthesis and envisioning. In all three cases, in-class exercises were used to encourage students to experiment with the depiction of different time frames and expressively visualize data gathered in participation/observation of defined experiences occurring over time. Using a collaborative process of visual synthesis exposed multiple points of view, increased understanding, and offered insight into the value of visual artifacts in consensus building.

As designers, we need further study in how the process of prioritizing, editing, identifying relationships, forging connections and applying visual organization and hierarchy can help make explicit the importance of visual synthesis in the understanding and envisioning of conditions and frameworks for experiences. This work is part of a broader investigation of notational systems and historical and innovative mapping of experiences across multiple fields.

1 Kolko, Jon. Exposing the Magic of Design: A Practitioner’s Guide to the Methods and Theory of Synthesis. Oxford University Press, 2015.

2 Kalbach, James. Mapping Experiences: A Complete Guide to Creating Value through Journeys, Blueprints, and Diagrams. O’Reilly Media, 2016.

3 Lupton, Ellen. Design Is Storytelling. Smithsonian Design Museum, 2017.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 5.3: Merrimack College on March 30, 2019.

Type Drives Culture Conference

Love Type More Than Ever!
Save on the Type Drives Culture Conference!
Tickets Now Reduced 20%

The theme of this year’s Type Drives Culture Conference is
Type: More ______ Than Ever. Our interactive theme prompts presenters and conference attendees to fill in the blank about the present and future of type.

Type is more global than ever, more accessible than ever, and more exciting than ever. This one-day conference brings together designers and thinkers to share their diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and opinions through provocative talks and panel discussions.

Rich Tu, the vice president of design for MTV, will serve as the master of ceremonies for an exciting day, featuring our keynote speaker type designer/educator and TDC Medalist Fiona Ross.

Other award-winning designers presenting during the day include
E Roon Kang, Nontsikelelo Mutiti, Wael Morcos, Natasha Jen, design reporter Anne Quito of Quartz, Yotam Hadar, and Ksenya Samarskaya.

Among the day’s highlights will be a live-taping of Debbie Millman’s influential podcast Design Matters, where she will interview Kris Holmes of Bigelow & Holmes.

We will also have a panel discussion with Dan Rhatigan of Adobe Fonts, Irin Kim of Google Fonts, and Charles Nix of Monotype moderated by Juliette Cezzar, and two other panels that you won’t want to miss, moderated by Jason Pamentel and Gloria Kondrup of the Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography in Pasadena.

Tickets include a two-hour reception with the speakers.

Come help us fill in the blank on March 1st.

Group rates available via director@tdc.org

SVA Theater
333 West 23rd Street
New York, NY 10011
+Google Map

Humblebrag: A Game of Influence

A game that uses satire to draw attention to narcissistic behavior in the digital age and invite self-reflection.

Kathy Mueller
Assistant Professor
Temple University

A national study found loneliness to have reached epidemic levels in the United States, and found Generation Z to be the most vulnerable. While built with an intention of creating meaningful connections, social media may accomplish the opposite. Studies have found it increases social comparison and envy. It is especially pertinent for young people, entrenched in behavioral norms of the digital age, to think critically about how they contribute to culture. Humblebrag is a game that uses satire to draw attention to narcissistic behavior in the digital age and invite self-reflection.

In this easy-to-learn strategy card game, 4–6 players compete to earn the most social influence. Players collect influence with point value cards such as “check-in at the gym” and “craft the perfect effortless look.” To get ahead, players must keep others down through the use of action cards, such as “Backhanded compliment,” that steal influence from other players. Five cards in a bank closes the round, and the player with the highest influence wins.

The game uses entertainment to engage with themes of narcissism, selfishness, envy, self-esteem, and empathy. Presenting the behaviors outside of their native digital context exposes frivolous aspects of influencer culture. The presentation will discuss the work-in-progress, spark critical conversation, and examine outcomes—such as a potential shift in awareness, measured in a survey before and after Humblebrag game play.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 5.3: Merrimack College on March 30, 2019.

Information Design and Voter Education: A Reflection on the 2018 Midterms and How to Design for 2020

The goal of the project was to first identify why Millennials weren’t voting as much as older generations, and ultimately attempt to inspire higher turnout in the local university community.

Courtney Marchese
Associate Professor
Quinnipiac University

In the summer of 2018, a design student-professor collaboration produced a 100-page Midterm Election Guide, that set out to tackle the lopsided statistic that millennial voters (18-35 years old in 2016) had a nearly 20% lower voter turnout in 2016’s presidential election, as compared to Baby Boomers (53-71) despite having a near equal portion of eligible voters (each about 30%).

The goal of the project was to first identify why Millennials weren’t voting as much as older generations, and ultimately attempt to inspire higher turnout in the local university community. Through an initial survey of college-aged students, the vast majority noted that they do not typically vote because they feel like they don’t know enough about the issues at stake and are not educated on the purpose of midterm elections. They further noted which issues are most important to them, which are the issues that are focused on in this guide: the environment, the economy, immigration, foreign policy, the treatment of minority groups, gun policy, healthcare, and women’s rights. While these issues surfaced as top priorities to millennials, it was evident that these topics resonate across generations.

Data from the internationally-recognized Quinnipiac Polling Institute, Pew Research Center and a variety of government websites, was used to create an organized system of timelines, key terms, and data visuals to help explain today’s complex politic issues and seeks to help young voters understand their demographic significance in today’s society. This presentation describes the effect that the guide had in the 2018 midterms, and looks at the evolving strategy for how it will educate voters in 2020.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 5.3: Merrimack College on March 30, 2019.

Colloquium 6.1: Quinnipiac University, Call for Submissions

Call for design presentation abstracts. Deadline: Saturday, July 6, 2019.

Design Incubation Colloquium 6.1 (#DI2019oct) will be held at the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University on Saturday, October 5, 2019, 10:00am-5:00pm. Hosted by Courtney Marchese and the School of Communications. This event is open to all interested in Communication Design research.

Abstract submission deadline: Saturday, July 6, 2019.

We invite designers—practitioners and educators—to submit abstracts of design research. Presentations format is Pecha Kucha.

For more details, see the colloquia details and description. Abstracts can be submitted online for peer review.

Affiliated Society Meeting

Drop by for the Design Incubation networking event on Saturday, February 16, 2019, 12:30-1:30pm.

Saturday, February 16, 2019 
12:30 PM – 1:30 PM 
New York Hilton Midtown- 2nd Floor – Beekman

Attendance is free and open to the public.

Come and join us for a casual meet-and-greet networking event at the Design Incubation affiliated society business meeting at the Annual CAA Conference in NYC. Connect with other design educators, and ask questions, tell us your needs, and find out how to get involved.

Some topics of interest are:

  • The Research Fellowship Program at Design Incubation. What academic research are you currently pursuing? Could a series of workshops help you to design, develop, and execute research? What is research in communication design?
  • Promotion and Tenure. How do institutions assess and review your activities for tenure or promotion? What standards exist in the discipline? How might that differ at various institutions? Where can you find external reviewers? How is your research positioned?
  • Getting more involved. Design Incubation is a volunteer organization of design faculty from institutions across the U.S. and beyond. Would you like to get more involved? How can you participate or host an event or colloquium at your institution?

Please drop by if you are in the area and say hello!