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 … Continue reading “Reconstructing a BA Graphic Design Program: Scalpel or Sledgehammer?”
Abstracts
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 … Continue reading “Thinking Like a Forest / Ecological Empathy”
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 How human can the machine become in relation to the craft of moveable type and modern printing technologies? The letterpress has been an instrumental aspect of typography for centuries. The mechanical process of raised letterforms transferring ink to paper has a humanistic quality that … Continue reading “Making the Machine Human: Embracing Printing Technologies in Crafting a Present-Day Moveable Typeface”
Unforeseen Structures: Chaos, Materials, and Emergent Process
Mitch Goldstein Assistant Professor School of Design Rochester Institute of Technology My research focuses on the examination of form and methodology using darkroom photography techniques, specifically the photogram. Photograms use no cameras or lenses — instead, objects are placed on or near unexposed photographic paper and briefly exposed to light. This process results in abstract … Continue reading “Unforeseen Structures: Chaos, Materials, and Emergent Process”
Zika and Public Health Guidelines: Prototyping Models for Different Personas
Courtney MarcheseAssistant Professor of Interactive Media + DesignSchool of CommunicationsQuinnipiac University : In graphic design, models are material prototypes that help synthesize research into testable forms. Through experimentation and testing, many rounds of revisions are made to culminate in a visual that can effectively speak to its audience. In an age of infinite information, data … Continue reading “Zika and Public Health Guidelines: Prototyping Models for Different Personas”
Racism Untaught
John O’Neill Assistant Professor of Graphic Design University of Minnesota Duluth My presentation will speak to the legacy of how the graphic design industry throughout history has reflected racism in mass communication, shaping the attitudes and behaviors of the general public. Teaching graphic design students the racial impact of design is as important as instructing … Continue reading “Racism Untaught”
Drawing Type, Drawing Connections
Joel MasonProfessor Emeritus Department of Communication Design New York City College of Technology, CUNY In 1979, as a full-time member of the Communication Design department at NYC College of Technology, I was assigned Lettering and Typography, a first semester course teaching students to draw three basic alphabets: Caslon, Bodoni and Helvetica using the “built-up” method … Continue reading “Drawing Type, Drawing Connections”
Visualizing Mental Models
Joshua Korenblat Assistant Professor Graphic Design State University of New York at New Paltz Visual communicators can work at the center of ideas by understanding mental models. A mental model is an abstract representation of reality that enables thinking, understanding, and knowledge sharing. In his book Visual Complexity, Mapping Patterns of Information, researcher Manuel Lima … Continue reading “Visualizing Mental Models”
Reading Design: An Introduction to Critical Theory
Dave Peacock Associate Creative Director, LiveAreaLabs Faculty, Vermont College of Fine Arts What is theory? How does theory relate to graphic design? In short, theories are frameworks for understanding and making sense of the world. Further, they allow us to ask specific kinds of questions and follow particular lines of reasoning. For designers, theory is … Continue reading “Reading Design: An Introduction to Critical Theory”
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 Multi-modal visualization has long been considered important for design communication through representation and presentation, yet it has not been explored through an interface. In this presentation we discuss the … Continue reading “Multi-modal Interface Design: Communicating Design Through Presentation and Review”