Author: Design Incubation

Design Incubation Colloquium 3.3: Kent State University

Saturday, March 11, 2017
School of Visual Communication Design
Kent State University
Kent, OH 44242

Design Incubation is excited to announce our first excursion to the midwest.  We have been invited by Kent State University, School of Visual Communication Design to hold a day of design research presentations and discussion.

Saturday, March 11, 2017
10:30AM–4:30PM
School of Visual Communication Design
Kent State University
Kent, OH 44242

Visit back for more details. We are accepting abstract submissions now until February 18, 2017.

Hosted by
School of Visual Communication Design, Jessica Barness (jbarness@kent.edu) and Sanda Katila (skatila@kent.edu)

Venue

Cene Lecture Hall, Center for Architectural and Environmental Design, Kent State University.

This venue is across the street from the Kent State Hotel in downtown Kent, where there are also many restaurants, shops, bars, etc. Parking is available (campus lot, street, and downtown parking ramp).

Travel to Kent

Kent is located in the Cleveland-Akron metro area and is easily accessible from I-80 (Ohio Turnpike) and I-76. Two airports serve the area: Akron-Canton (CAK) and Cleveland Hopkins International (CLE).

Parking

Parking: Kent Central Gateway parking ramp ($5/day).

Directions to venue from parking: After exiting the parking ramp on foot, walk to the left and across Haymaker Parkway to the KSU campus gateway. Look for the large, brand new brick-and-glass building just ahead on the right – roughly 1 block. Entrance is at the far end of the building: Center for Architecture and Environmental Design (CAED).

Accommodations

The Kent State Hotel is located across the street from the colloquium venue. Contact the hosts for other accommodation recommendations in the area.

Schedule

10:15 Presenter setup

10:30 Introduction

10:45 Morning Presentations

Grafik Intervention: Sparking Urban Revitalization Efforts Through Graphic Design
Brit Rowe
Associate Professor of Art & Design
Department of Art & Design
Ohio Northern University

Re-Inscribing History
Yoonkyung Kim
Assistant Professor of Visual Communication
OU School of Visual Arts
University of Oklahoma

Hearing What Isn’t Said: Visualizing Non-Verbal Responses In Data Analysis
Sanda Katila
Associate Professor  
School of Visual Communication Design
Kent State University

Science Rules: Why Design Research Needs Scientific Research Classifications
Dennis Cheatham

Assistant Professor of Graphic
Design 
Graduate Director, Experience Design MFA 

Miami University

Framing Metaphors in Visual Identity Design
Jason E. Murdock

Undergraduate Instructor

School of Visual Communication Design

Kent State University

Evaluating a Socialization and Companionship Augmented Reality System
Yi-Fan Chen
Experience Design MFA candidate
Miami University

Video Games Help to Prepare Girls For a Competitive Future In Stem
Leigh Hughes
Adjunct Instructor
School of Visual Communication Design
Kent State University

11:45 Q&A / Discussion

12:30 Lunch in downtown Kent

1:45 Afternoon Presentations

Featured Presentation:

Critical Practices as Design Scholarship: Strategies and Opportunities

Jessica Barness
Assistant Professor
School of Visual Communication Design
Kent State University

Steven McCarthy
Professor
College of Design
University of Minnesota

Presentations:

Uncovering Classical Painting Through Design Process and Artifacts
Zachary Winegardner

MFA Candidate 

Ohio State University

Place Into Words: An Unconventional Approach To Communicating The Story of Human Space Flight

Alan Walker
MFA Candidate & Adjunct Instructor
School of Visual Communication Design
Kent State University

Alex Catanese
MFA Candidate & Adjunct Instructor
School of Visual Communication Design
Kent State University

Jordan Kauffman
MFA Candidate & Adjunct Instructor
School of Visual Communication Design
Kent State University

Reveal, Empower, Propel: Design Education for a Tenacious Community

Herb Vincent Peterson
Associate Professor of Design: Coordinator of Graphic Design
Co-Founder of Marion Design Co.
Division of Art + Design
Indiana Wesleyan University

Wendy Puffer
Assistant Professor: Coordinator of Design for Social Impact
Co-Founder of Marion Design Co.
Division of Art + Design
Indiana Wesleyan University

INPLACE: Innovative Plan for Leveraging Arts Through Community Engagement

Robert J. Thompson
Assistant Professor
Graphic & Interactive Design
Department of Art
College of Creative Arts & Communications
Youngstown State University

Terry Schwarz
Director
Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative
Kent State University

The Process Of Exploring the Next Urban Condition

Adam Fromme
MFA Candidate 
Department of Design
The Ohio State University

Participatory Design Research and Social Practice: Postcard Exchange as a Generative Design Research Tool for Eliciting Stories
Hemalatha Venkataraman
MFA Candidate
Design Research and Development
The Ohio State University

Two Implications of Action-Centric Interaction Design
Ian Bellomy
Assistant Professor Communication Design
Myron E. Ullman, Jr. School of Design
University of Cincinnati

Multi-modal Interface Design: Communicating Design Through  Presentation and Review
Peter Lusch
Assistant Professor of Graphic Design
College of Arts and Architecture
Penn State

Danielle Oprean
Post-Doctoral Research Scholar
Stuckeman Center for Design Computing
Penn State

3:45 Q&A / Discussion

5:00 Drinks and conversation, location TBA in downtown Kent (optional)

Light Switch Graphically-Assisted Nudges

Niyati Mehta
Adjunct Lecturer
New York City College of Technology
Nassau Community College
Lehman College 

Aim

The aim of this nudge is to demonstrate how Visual Design combined with Behavioral Science can have a positive impact on user (kids’) behavior through the unknown creation of choice architecture. Parents told us that an often-encountered irritant was the necessity for them to remind their young children (aged 5-10) to switch off the light. We took this cue to develop a nudge to encourage children to use the light switch when leaving a room. The aim of this nudge is to reduce electricity consumption to save money, promote the practice of sustainability and to mitigate parental stress.

Description and Development

The graphically-assisted nudge developed is a cutout template that is printed on a home computer printer and then affixed to a light switch plate. Parents access the graphically-assisted nudges via the Nudging for Kids website (nudgingforkids.com). Step by step instructions are included in the downloadable pdf package.

In the ‘fish and bowl’ template, children understand that the fish is, “out of place” and they want to help it get back to where it belongs (the fish bowl). Two alternate templates were developed using ‘basketball’ and ‘bug’ motifs. The bug motif, uses the “cognitive learning effect” where the child remembers to switch off the light by associating it with the bug’s color or a name it has given the bug. The basketball template, with its requirement to pull down the string holding the basketball, uses a child’s desire to explore and understand by exercising her/his manual skills.

The nudges also take advantage of the, “IKEA Effect”–the tendency for people to place a disproportionately high value on objects that they have partially assembled themselves (regardless of the quality of the result).

Preliminary Small Sample Size Try-Out

In an initial proof-of-concept try-out, all three graphic nudges were installed in ten homes near Westchester, New York (USA) in December of 2016.

The preliminary results are promising, but the sample size is too small to draw conclusions.

A larger sample size test is in the planning stage.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 3.2: Parsons Integrated Design on Thursday, Feb 16, 2017.

Data Visualization Research: How It Informs Design and Visual Thinking

Joshua Korenblat
Assistant Professor, Graphic Design
SUNY New Paltz

Design research aligns with the process of researching a data visualization project. Data visualization maps numbers to visual variables; many design projects, meanwhile, have concerns other than numbers and statistics. Yet the research process that contributes to a sound data visualization can offer valuable insights into visual thinking and storytelling. Data visualization is the end result of data analytics, an exploratory process that cultivates a mindset familiar to designers.

Curiosity guides this mindset: observational, descriptive methods allow the creator to understand a topic from multiple angles, ultimately honing clarity in communicating an idea. The process might at times proceed from details to a big picture; other times, from a big picture to details. This data analytics mindset dovetails with emergent processes in design thinking. In both processes, small sprints often yield results more optimal than a grand master plan.

Data analytics involves spatial visual thinking skills that designers—all of whom work with points, lines, planes, and color—have the ability to understand. One of the leading visualization packages for the open source statistic package R is called the “grammar of graphics,” akin to verbal and visual language. I will use an accessible information graphic that compares Presidential biographies at the time of first election. This case study will detail how the analytic process conducts along a circular track: gathering data, structuring it, finding an insight, and visualizing that insight in a memorable, authentic, and persuasive way for a specific audience. Designers, and designers interested in storytelling, can identify familiar experiences at each step of the process. For designers who have yet to work in data analytics and visualization, accessible methods of sketching with data can exercise observational skills and visual thinking processes that propel many design and teaching practices—even those unconcerned with data visualization as the end result.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 3.2: Parsons Integrated Design on Thursday, Feb 16, 2017.

Colloquium 3.3: Kent State University Call for Submissions

Kent State University, in the Kent, Ohio will be hosting a Design Incubation Colloquium. Abstract submission deadline February 18, 2017.

Kent State University, in the Kent, Ohio will be hosting a Design Incubation Colloquium on Saturday, March 11, 2017. All are welcome to attend. Details and agenda can be found on the Colloquium 3.3: Kent State University page.
We are accepting abstract submissions for presentations. Abstract submission deadline: February 18, 2017.

We invite designers—practitioners and educators—to submit abstracts of design research.  Presentations are limited to 6 minutes + 4 minutes for questions.
For more details, see the Submission Process description.

Email 300 word abstract to submissions@designincubation.com.  Questions can be directed to info@designincubation.com.

Please RSVP@designincubation.com if you plan on attending. Space is limited.

Hearing What Isn’t Said: Visualizing Non-Verbal Responses In Data Analysis

Sanda Katila
Associate Professor
School of Visual Communication Design
Kent State University

Evidence suggests that people ages 60 and over take at least five different medications daily for distinct health issues, and that subsequent drug interactions create significant health problems. Secondary research shows that few patients can define the phrase, “drug interaction”. Despite this, little is written about what patients understand about drug interactions, and what is written lacks valuable data contributed by patients through nonverbal cues.

This paper examines the process of seeing patients’ nonverbal communication by visually mapping data, and suggests that mapping allows designers to look at data in fresh ways, which will ultimately open doors to further research in the area of drug interactions in an aging population. Visual theorist Johanna Drucker states that, “A basic distinction can be made between visualizations that are representations of information already known and those that are knowledge generators, capable of creating new information through their use.” (Drucker 2014, 65) Such design-generated knowledge has the potential to move the needle toward the reduction of harmful drug interactions.

The mapping process in this research specifically highlights connections between researchers’ questions and patients’ nonverbal responses. 13 non-verbal responses such as confidence, laughs, questioning, pause or deep breath, flat tone, etc. were coded to 31 questions to see if there are correlations between nonverbal responses and answers. Designers then, through visualizing these connections, may provide valuable new pathways in examining the qualitative research. More broadly, this paper will demonstrate the kind of value that designers can bring to qualitative research across a spectrum of data-rich fields.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 3.3: Kent State University on Saturday, March 11, 2017.

Required Reading: A List Compiled by AIGA DEC & Design Observer

Here is a great list of must reads for anyone keeping up with design research and studies…

http://designobserver.com/feature/required-reading/39497

 

Design Crew Course: Human Context and Service Learning in Visual Communication

Mark DeYoung
Professor
Kalamazoo Valley CC

In Rick Poynor’s book on Jan Van toorn, the author lays out the designer’s philosophy for a more inclusive dialogic approach to design. Rather than authoritarian monologue, this re-envisioning of design respects the viewer, encourages collaboration and is dialogic, in pursuit of what German author Hans Magnus Enzensberger would call emancipatory media. This approach is gaining ground in design practice. Indeed, collaborative, iterative processes are increasingly employed in order to develop more complete solutions that are integrative in their approach, taking into account user, client, and community. Design scholars from Davis to Norman, McCoy to Heller, along with industry champions Martin and Brown continue to advocate for a people-focused approach to design through design thinking—coordinating cognitive collaboration with practical facility to solve problems.

Working in this direction, this paper reflects on the pedagogical and theoretical underpinnings of a media-independent, visual communications course, Design Crew. The Design Crew is a merit-based, advanced-level design course that provides students with the opportunity to work with real clients in the non-profit sector. The course engages students through an experiential learning method, integrating meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich and deepen the learning experience in design, encourage lifelong civic engagement and strengthen relationships that create community. Student designers use design thinking processes as they collaborate with their clients: researching and defining the problem; choosing appropriate media and prototyping solutions; developing final designs and evaluating the success of the solution. Successes and challenges of collborations and design projects are featured.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 3.2: Parsons Integrated Design on Thursday, Feb 16, 2017.

Type Thursday Interview With Liz Deluna and Mark Zurolo

Read the interview with Thomas Jockin of Type Thursday, Liz Deluna and Mark Zurolo.

View at Medium.com

From Design as Artifact to Design as Process: Applying an Open Model to Community Engagement in Social Design

Cat Normoyle
Assistant Professor
Memphis College of Art

In recent years, we have seen a significant shift in the field of design, from design as an artifact to design as a process. This shift challenges the designer to think strategically about the entire process, examining the design artifact as a single component within a much larger, more complex system of parts. This presentation introduces the designer as strategist and systems thinker in the context of social design projects, while the community takes on the role of participant and maker through an open model of community engagement. This central idea, inspired by the DIY (do-it-yourself) and open-source mentality of residents creates a workforce of critical makers, especially useful in locale endeavors with limited budgets.

The open model includes the roles and responsibilities for all phases of work including research, strategy, development, engagement, implementation, and management of both designer and community member. Designers serve as strategists, systems thinkers, and activists for social change; community members serve as makers, which empowers them as they find ownership and authorship in the work they produce. Applied to multiple community development projects in Memphis, TN, the model will highlight these case studies, examining how processes, methods, and outcomes were applied in local contexts.

In all the examples provided, the design is process, while the artifact is an artistic intervention in the community. Although each artifact is different in its creation, duration, audience and experience, the process is consistent and methods similar. The results share commonalities such as how to engage the community, recruit stakeholders, and distribute information and scale projects. Challenges face the designer, the most evident being the ability to relinquish control of aesthetics of the final artifacts. Findings reveal key insights and implications that may be applied in global contexts. Conclusions expand on ways to implement this model in different types of communities, integrating it into standard practices.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 3.2: Parsons Integrated Design on Thursday, Feb 16, 2017.

The Avant-Garde of Iranian Graphic Design

Pouya Jahanshahi
Assistant Professor of Graphic Design
Department of Art, Graphic Design and Art History
Oklahoma State University

The advent of the Apple Macintosh brought about a rapid flow of technological change which affected almost every part of visual communication arena, in one way or another. Since the start of this digital revolution, most graphic design communities around the world succeeded in maintaining their national identities, while implementing the technological changes into their industries, hence joining the global world of graphic design. However, because of challenges related to mark-making and the specifics of calligraphic-based scripts, Iranian typography – and by extension graphic design – struggled to maintain and its rich historic traditions and visual aesthetics, as Perso-Arabic characters necessitated a process of digitization for use in dominant graphic software applications of the time.

Furthermore, during this global digital revolution, various socio-political and technological circumstances resulted in the isolation of the Iranian graphic design arena from the global culture, for more than a decade. More recently, the dusk of 20th-century, brought forth an impenitent generation of innovative thinkers and designers, keen to define their lost identity. Through inwards nationalistic perspectives as well as technical and conceptual innovations, this generation made giant leaps and set forth a trajectory toward joining the global graphic design arena.

This research delves into the nuanced traditions of Iranian calligraphy and the struggle for its adaption to western printing technologies. Specifically, it focuses on the process, and the eventual arrival of what may be referred to as a hybrid graphic form – one comprising of the traditional eastern calligraphic forms and nuances, merged with the characteristics found in western typographic structures and letterform design.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 3.2: Parsons Integrated Design on Thursday, Feb 16, 2017.