A Plan for a National Communication Design Educator Award

Steven McCarthy Professor College of Design University of Minnesota “How might excellence in the field of graphic design education be honored at a national level?” This question anchors this presentation about the formation of a national graphic design education award. Following our colleagues in architecture, interior, product and apparel design, whose national organizations award educators … Continue reading “A Plan for a National Communication Design Educator Award”

The Art of Mutable Mergers: Collaborations Between Designers, Artists, Curators, and the Plastics Industry, 1960 – 74

Grace Converse Adjunct Instructor of Art History Purchase College, SUNY St. Joseph’s College, Brooklyn In the years leading up to the 1968 exhibition PLASTIC as Plastic at the Museum ofContemporary Crafts, curator Paul J. Smith and the MCC staff asked: “Can industry andthe arts join forces?” In the context of PLASTIC as Plastic, the question … Continue reading “The Art of Mutable Mergers: Collaborations Between Designers, Artists, Curators, and the Plastics Industry, 1960 – 74”

Color, A “Conflict Mineral”

Grace Moon Adjunct Professor Graphic Design, Dept of Art Queens College, CUNY As many artists and designers are moved to take up social practice in their works, considering social, environmental and economic inequalities, have we paused to consider the very materials used to express our values? Our printing ink, paints, and dyes are products produced … Continue reading “Color, A “Conflict Mineral””

Design Practice Intervention: Experimental Approaches to Mapping Different Data

Rachele Riley Assistant Professor University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign As a graphic designer and researcher, I am focused on probing the visual language of maps and developing experimental strategies for representing geographical space, myth, and the dynamics of meaning. In this presentation, I will share two current design research projects in which different methodologies are … Continue reading “Design Practice Intervention: Experimental Approaches to Mapping Different Data”

Alterpodium: Performing Disability

Amanda Cachia PhD Candidate, Art History, Theory & Criticism Department of Visual Arts, University of California San Diego The Alterpodium is a custom-made, portable disability object conceived by curator and scholar Amanda Cachia in order to “perform disability” during international and national conferences, symposiums and lectures. Podiums, like other architectures of an ableist world, are … Continue reading “Alterpodium: Performing Disability”

Teaching Timeless Theory in Interactive Design through a Multidisciplinary Approach

James Pannafino Associate Professor Interactive and Graphic Design Art and Design Department Millersville University Undeniably interactive design is becoming a growing part of design educators curriculum each year. While technology persuades us to think differently about design education, how can we balance theory and the tools that allow designers to solve problems. Is it possible … Continue reading “Teaching Timeless Theory in Interactive Design through a Multidisciplinary Approach”

Conscious Interventions With The Personal Beasties Breathing Mobile App

Marianna Trofimova Adjunct Professor Communication Design Department New York City College of Technology City University of New York Principal at Marianna Trofimova Design Paula Murgia Co-Founder Personal Beasties Group, LLC A common definition of an intervention is to interfere or intercede with the intent of modifying an outcome. To that end, we designed the Personal … Continue reading “Conscious Interventions With The Personal Beasties Breathing Mobile App”

Who Does This Internet Artwork Belong To? A Study on Art Appropriation and Youth Identity in a Digital Age

Laura Scherling GreenspaceNYC, Co-founder The New School, Design Lead Teachers College, Columbia University, Doctoral student This pilot study explores meaning making in art appropriation practices. As practices of appropriation continue to expand with Internet use, the disciplines that fall under the umbrella of visual arts education also widen. Contemporary Internet artists, such as Ryder Ripps, … Continue reading “Who Does This Internet Artwork Belong To? A Study on Art Appropriation and Youth Identity in a Digital Age”

Envisioning South Africa’s Global Struggle Against Apartheid

Steffi Duarte Curatorial Research Assistant Product Design & Decorative Arts Department, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Decorative Art & Design Department, Cleveland Museum of Art How can materiality and visual communication provide insight, however fleeting, into histories of past struggles?  Drawing on the ephemera and visual language of the global struggle against South African Apartheid, … Continue reading “Envisioning South Africa’s Global Struggle Against Apartheid”

The Fine Art of Persuasion: Corporate Advertising Design, Nation, and Empire in Modern Japan

Gennifer Weisenfeld Professor Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies Duke University This book tells the story of the birth of commercial art in Japan from the turn of the twentieth century through its global efflorescence in the total design event of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Until recently, there has been little systematic effort … Continue reading “The Fine Art of Persuasion: Corporate Advertising Design, Nation, and Empire in Modern Japan”