Author: Design Incubation

Teaching Inclusive Design: Design with Everyone in Mind

Ziddi Msangi
Associate Professor
Graphic Design
UMass Dartmouth

The World Health Organization defines disability as “a contextual variable”. One is more or less disabled by their interaction with a physical environment, social environment, or institutional environment. Inclusive Design aims to “reduce the experience of disability and enhance everyone’s experience and performance.

Universal design standards were developed to guide Designers in addressing disabling environments. The goal is to create accessible spaces for people with functional limitations.

Graphic design educators can integrate these principles in the design studio, providing a generation of students with the tools to improve the quality of life for all citizens.

“A User Expert is a person who has developed expertise by means of their lived experience in dealing with the challenges of the environment. due to a physical, sensory, and/or cognitive functional limitation. User/Experts include, older people with changing vision or stamina, people of short stature, limited grasp, or who use wheelchairs.”-Institute for Human Centered Design

In this model, we move beyond personas, as a way of identifying a users needs when developing a brand. User experts with functional limitations share their lived experience with students. The insight students gain from a User Expert helps guide the design process.

This presentation will share the visual outcome of junior level branding and identity projects, and the impact on student understanding. Over the course of the semester, students were in conversation with four User Experts who helped guide the development of the projects.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 4.0: SUNY New Paltz on September 9, 2017.

Design Incubation Colloquium 4.0: SUNY New Paltz

Design Incubation Colloquium 4.0 (#DI2017sep) will be held at SUNY New Paltz on Saturday, September 9, 2017.

Hosted by Amy Papaelias and Dimitry Tetin

We are launching our 4th year with the Design Incubation Colloquium 4.0 (#DI2017feb) hosted by the Graphic Design Program at the State University of New York at New Paltz. This event is open to all interested in Communication Design research.

Saturday, September 9, 2017
Time: 10:00am–4:30pm
Old Main Building
Room B125
Tricor Ave
New Paltz, NY 12561

Abstract submission for presentations deadline July 15, 2017.  For details visit the Call for Submissions, and Submission Process description.

Venue

Old Main Building B125, SUNY New Paltz

Travel to SUNY New Paltz

Driving directions

If coming from NYC there is a very convenient Trailways bus that leaves Port Authority on the hour and stops 10 minutes walk to the SUNY New Paltz campus. It takes about 90mins and costs $43.50 roundtrip.

Parking

Parking is permitted in university lots without a permit on a weekend. There is Accessible Parking in the loop right next to the Old Main building.

Detailed Campus Map pdf

Coffee, Restaurants in New Paltz (details here.)

Agenda

Morning Session 10:00-12:30

Curriculum and Program Development

Reconstructing a BA Graphic Design Program: Scalpel or Sledgehammer?
Nancy Wynn
Associate Professor
Merrimack College

Rethinking the Capstone in a Graphic Design BFA Program
Regina Gardner Milan
Lecturer
Department of Art & Design
University of Massachusetts Lowell

Facilitating a Culture that Celebrates Experimentation and Addresses the Fear of Failure Through Assessment
Alex Girard
Assistant Professor
Graphic Design
Art Department
Southern Connecticut State University

Bridging the Business Design Gap
Martin Dominguez
Adjunct Professor
St. John’s University, Fordham University

Exploring Innovative Technologies

Augmented Reality Overcoming Learning Disabilities
Renée Stevens
Assistant Professor
Multimedia Photography & Design Department
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
Syracuse University

Making the Machine Human: Embracing Printing Technologies in Crafting a Present-Day Moveable Typeface
Peter P. Bella, Jr
Assistant Professor
Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne

Designing for Autonomous Machines
Alex Liebergesell
Associate Professor
Graduate Communications Design
Pratt Institute

Facets of Design Practice

Experiments in Building Empathy and Revealing Bias
Rebecca Mushtare
Associate Professor Of Web Design & Multimedia
State University Of New York At Oswego

An Archive: The National Museum of African American History and Culture
Kelly Walters
Assistant Professor of Design
Art + Art History Department
University of Connecticut

Lunch 12:30-1:45

Afternoon Session 1:45-4:30

Facets of Design Practice

Towards an Understanding of Cinema’s Impact on Design Education
Jason Tselentis
Associate Professor Of Design
College Of Visual And Performing Arts
Winthrop University

Theorizing Fashiontech as an Emerging Design Practice
Anne Galperin
Associate Professor
Graphic Design
SUNY New Paltz

Visualizing Mental Models
Joshua Korenblat
Assistant Professor
State University of New York at New Paltz

Unforeseen Structures: Chaos, Materials, and Emergent Process
Mitch Goldstein
Assistant Professor
School of Design
Rochester Institute of Technology

Drawing Type, Drawing Connections
Joel Mason
Professor Emeritus
Department of Communication Design
New York City College of Technology, CUNY

Looking Outward to a World View

COIL & Preparing Global Designers
Sean Nixon
Associate Professor of Art
Program Coordinator, Design Program
Art, Design, Fashion, Music, Theater & Communication Dept.
SUNY Ulster

Graphic Design for Science
Gokhan Ersan
Assistant Professor
Department of Art & Design
SUNY Binghamton

Thinking like a Forest / Ecological Empathy
Jason Dilworth
Associate Professor
Visual Arts + New Media
SUNY at Fredonia

Zika and Public Health Guidelines: Prototyping Models for Different Personas

Courtney Marchese
Assistant Professor of Interactive Media + Design
School of Communications
Quinnipiac University

Teaching Inclusive Design: Design with Everyone in Mind

Ziddi Msangi
Associate Professor
Graphic Design
UMass Dartmouth

5-7pm Informal mixer following presentations at Huckleberry, 21 Church Street New Paltz, NY, 12561

Design Incubation Colloquium 4.1: San Jose State

Design Incubation Colloquium 4.1 (#DI2017sep2) will be held at San Jose State University on Saturday, Sept 30, 2017.

Design Incubation is going to the Bay Area! We are excited to announce our first trip to Silicon Valley, and we hope that the West Coast will be regular destination for discussions in design thinking and collaboration in academic design research and scholarship.

Hosted by John Delacruz

Design Incubation Colloquium 4.1 (#DI2017sep2) will be held at San Jose State University. This event is open to all interested in Communication Design research.

Saturday, September 30, 2017
Time: 10:30–4:30
Dwight Bentel Hall 117
School of Journalism and Mass Communications
One Washington Square
San Jose, CA 95192-0000

SanJose-campus-map

Abstract submission for presentations deadline August 5, 2017.  For details visit the Call for Submissions, and Submission Process description.

Agenda

10:30-12:30 Morning Presentations

Featured Presentation

Reading Design: An Introduction to Critical Theory
Dave Peacock
Associate Creative Director, LiveAreaLabs
Faculty, Vermont College of Fine Arts

Presentations

Lines
Tina Korani
Assistant Professor of Media Design
School of Journalism and Mass Communications
San Jose State University

Racism Untaught
John O’Neill
Assistant Professor of Graphic Design
University of Minnesota Duluth

The 45th City: Visualizing and Experiencing Fake News
Jonathan Hanahan
Assistant Professor, Communication Design
Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts
Washington University in St. Louis

Safe Niños: A Co-Creation Case Study
Susannah Ramshaw
Associate Director
Designmatters
ArtCenter College of Design

Agents of Change: Inspiring the Next Generation of Art Directors 
James Wojtowicz
Associate Director of Art Direction and Industry Development
School of Advertising
Academy of Art University
San Francisco, California

Moderated Discussion

12:30–1:45 Lunch provided, courtesy of host.

1:45–4:30 Afternoon Presentations

When the Process is the Product: Pollock, Gehry and the Illusion of Randomness
Craig Konyk AIA
Assistant Professor
School of Public Architecture
Michael Graves College
Kean University

Beyond the Page: InDesign for Rapid UI/UX Prototyping
Dave Gottwald
Assistant Professor
Art + Design
College Of Art And Architecture
University Of Idaho 

Basic Web Design as Foundation of Publication Design
Bruno Ribeiro
Assistant Professor of Graphic Design 
Department of Art and Design
California Polytechnic State University

Be Good To Me: How Advertising Students Made San Jose Think Twice About Illegal Dumping
John Delacruz
Professor of Advertising
School of Journalism and Mass Communications
San Jose State University

Designfulness: Teaching Designers To Mindfully Create A Sustainable Future
Rachel Beth Egenhoefer
Chair, Department of Art + Architecture 
Program Director & Associate Professor, Design
University of San Francisco

Teaching Sea Changes
Andrea English
Lecturer
Department Of Design
San José State University

Moderated Discussion

New Design Incubation Initiatives: Design Survey and Ask the Editor

Experiments in Building Empathy and Revealing Bias

Rebecca Mushtare
Associate Professor Of Web Design & Multimedia
State University Of New York At Oswego

When left to our own devices, we unconsciously design for the audience we know best—ourselves. Although some traditional-aged college students have had travel opportunities or exposure to diverse cultures and communities, most still have limited life experience, which magnifies this tendency.  If inclusivity is an ethic we want our students to adopt as professionals,  we need to do more than read and talk about empathy and bias in the classroom. These values need to be embedded in our curriculum including how we frame assignments, the way we talk about design during critique, and our evaluation systems.

Overhauling an entire curriculum, or even a course, and starting from scratch is likely not an option for most faculty. Additionally, teaching empathy and implicit bias can be overwhelming for faculty who have not been trained,  and therefore do not have the language to confidently speak on the subject. What we can do, though, is make incremental changes in our classrooms that focus on raising awareness of assumptions we make and how our choices impact our audiences. Small changes can have real impact.

In this session, I will share the successes, failures and limitations of four years of experimentation and tinkering in the courses I teach combined with my own journey to become more aware of my blindspots and biases.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 4.0: SUNY New Paltz on September 9, 2017.

Augmented Reality Overcoming Learning Disabilities

Renée Stevens
Assistant Professor
Multimedia Photography & Design Department
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
Syracuse University

The future of AR and mixed realities are here. With Apple’s introduction of ARkit launching this fall, I was able to design and develop an app concept to use inside this new space called tagAR. An app that will help enhance social networking and empower those who struggle to remember people’s names in a crowd. I will share my concept, workflow, limitations of the technology as it changes and finally show how AR is going to advance the power of design for social good, specifically those who have a learning disability or are dyslexic, like myself.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 4.0: SUNY New Paltz on September 9, 2017.

COIL & Preparing Global Designers

Sean Nixon
Associate Professor of Art
Program Coordinator, Design Program
Art, Design, Fashion, Music, Theater & Communication Dept.
SUNY Ulster

In 2015, the top 225 design firms generated $65 billion in revenue from projects outside their home countries, according to ENR, Engineering News Report. The REAL World Classroom TM Design Program at SUNY Ulster is paying attention and on task with an ever-evolving pedagogy.
The annual capstone project of the program involves creating a client-based campaign, within an international collaboration. Modeling successful business behavior, using free, internet-based communication software with international partners prepares these design students to enter the global workforce experiencing the value of professional behavior working with clients.

Engaging in ubiquitous, internet-based communication software, the student is coached and must learn how to work in a social, familiar public platform, on a professional project internationally. Their challenge is to maintain a professional demeanor, and separate from their private lives, while solving a problem for a client, as well as participating in an intercultural and team building project. Students learn the necessity of process, professional demeanor, project flexibility and reflection. One major outcome is how this pedagogic process motivates and accelerates the learning process.

Here are the structural guidelines defining the components that the REAL World Classroom TM Design Program utilizes in constructing the Program’s capstone project.

  • The Activity is Structured, Intentional and Authentic.
  • The Activity Requires Preparation, Orientation and Training.
  • The Activity Must Include Monitoring and Continuous Improvement.
  • The Activity Requires Structured Reflection and Acknowledgment.
  • The Activity Must be Assessed and Evaluated.*

* Criteria for Approved Applied Learning Activities. SUNY Applied Learning Resources, 2017, https://www.suny.edu/applied-learning/resources/ Accessed 12 July 2017.

The colloquium presentation will highlight the Spring 2017 capstone as a project example of the pedagogy of the REAL World Classroom TM Design Program, complete with student assessment and evaluation. This particular project produced a Transgender Pronoun Awareness Campaign for a client, the SUNY Ulster LGBTQ Club and the SUNY Ulster community.

To research more on the REAL World Classroom TM Design Program, google Sean Nixon with the REAL World Classroom TM Design Program. The SUNY Ulster LGBTQ page does not reflect the project because the campaign will not be launched until a TBD date within the Academic year 2017-18.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 4.0: SUNY New Paltz on September 9, 2017.

Designing for Autonomous Machines

Alex Liebergesell
Associate Professor 
Graduate Communications Design
Pratt Institute


“The Future of Employment”, published by the Oxford Martin School in 2013, predicts significant displacement of human labor forces over the coming two decades, as computerization and robotics continue to migrate from routine manual to non-routine cognitive tasks. While designers fare well in the study’s susceptibility-to-displacement rankings, we will need to establish new “complementarities” with the creative and social intelligence capabilities of cutting edge robotics if we are to thrive.  The recent acquisition of Google xLab/Boston Dynamics and their proprioceptively advanced robots by Softbank, the Japanese inventor and domestic distributor of the emotionally responsive home companion “Pepper,” is just one indication of how quickly technological, market and social developments are converging to propel smart, autonomous machines into our everyday lives. These machines’ near-future capacity for causal reasoning and insight — and uncanny humanoid presence — will call upon designers’ expertise in shaping language, user experiences and interactions, all unique and generalist meta-cognitive skills that still define specific human advantages. Having shifted from a preoccupation with form to the construction of meaning, design practice — whether in communications, products or space planning — can seek to take additional steps in creating conversations, codifying behaviors, and defining new artifacts and physical ecosystems that are sensible, graspable and navigable to both humans and machines in innumerable settings. Moreover, by modeling positive speech and behavior, shared environments and common social values, designers, when creating and coexisting alongside autonomous machines, will do no less than encourage humans to recognize and cherish reciprocity, civility and labor.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 4.0: SUNY New Paltz on September 9, 2017.

Facilitating a Culture that Celebrates Experimentation and Addresses the Fear of Failure through Assessment

Alex Girard
Assistant Professor
Graphic Design
Art Department
Southern Connecticut State University

At Southern Connecticut State University, it has been observed that students pursuing a design degree are entering the program with a background dominated by a philosophy in which success equals providing a pre-defined, correct answer to a problem. This approach does not prepare students for a design process in which experimentation is paramount, as there is no singular correct answer to a given design problem.

The test-taking model of assessment assumes that information is disseminated by the instructor, retained by the student, and then recalled during a test. In this model, correct answers are consistent across submissions; it does not allow for the synthesis of something new, which is key to a successful design solution. Further, students in this process are often creatively crippled by fear of failure, as failure will negatively impact their final grade. Applying this philosophy of a singular correct answer, students are hesitant to embrace a process that encourages the exploration of ideas with multiple solutions.

While parameters guide a design project, end results are not measured against a pre-defined, correct design solution. In theory, each solution has the potential to be vastly different from another, yet still successful. Developing an assessment model that reinforces this process of experimentation with multiple solutions can be challenging for an instructor.

This presentation outlines a response to the perceived disconnect between the academic background of incoming students and the process required to achieve a successful design solution, utilizing an alternative project assessment model at Southern Connecticut State University. While this assessment model was applied in a limited context, positive results were immediately apparent and lasting; most notably, a marked increase in student experimentation with multiple solutions was observed.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 4.0: SUNY New Paltz on September 9, 2017.

Reconstructing a BA Graphic Design Program: Scalpel or Sledgehammer?

Nancy Wynn
Associate Professor
Merrimack College

In the fall of 2015, as the new faculty member at Merrimack College, I was thrust into this position. A cold dose of reality hit—my senior students’ work was, sadly, a mess. It was clear the design program needed to be rebuilt and renamed. Acting fast became necessary, because moving slowly would continue the problem. Both scalpel and sledgehammer were required (along with lots of coffee) delivering a newly redesigned BA Graphic Design program for approval and implementation by fall 2016. The program bridged both design thinking and making with the skill set of a Liberal Arts education.

The analysis started with the NASAD/AIGA analytical and consultative briefing papers. They were a good starting point, but they did not answer the question of how to build an expanded BA model responsibly? How elastic is the BA model? What beneficial Liberal Arts skills could be integrated into a graphic design student’s education? How could avenues be created for various types of students to be successful? And, where and how should professional engagement enter into the program?

This story begins by sharing methods for responsibly creating a “hybrid” BA model, keeping students’ best interests in mind, and honoring the industry’s professional standards. Topics to be shared include evaluating existing majors and minors; partnering with other majors and departments; which courses to keep vs. which should be thrown out; setting sizable goals for a 4-year BA graphic design program; ideas on future learning spaces and technology; and, understanding what is valuable in a 21st century graphic design education as the industry continues to evolve.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 4.0: SUNY New Paltz on September 9, 2017.

Thinking Like a Forest / Ecological Empathy

Jason Dilworth
Associate Professor
Visual Arts + New Media
SUNY at Fredonia

Since 2013 our organization has worked to respond and understand the forest as an idea generator for the designer. Through a process of exploration, reflection,and action we investigate through objects and questions. We seek to understand how complex forests systems work and sometimes fail. Through our investigations we find connections to the communities and work to build global partnerships while also creating a better understanding of our local bioregions, specifically the forests that live around us.

The presentation will introduce our research into the material and design culture of historic New York utopian communities and how their ideas contributed to, or countered, the ideological thinking that forever altered the region’s ecology and economies. Additionally we will also present our work and research on the reforestation efforts happening in East Iceland and explain the role that design is playing in building community and government support for the effort.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 4.0: SUNY New Paltz on September 9, 2017.