Tag: 2015

The Next Wave in Publication Design

Christie Shin
Assistant Professor
Communication Design, School of Art and Design
Fashion Institute of Technology

In response to the massive growth of media consumption in recent years, “Immersive reading” has become the primary focus of the publishing industry. While traditional reading only involves seeing the page, immersive reading spans the spectrum with a more engaging experience that includes multi-media features. Digital publication created with Digital Publication Suite (DPS) is a content-centric application for touchscreen tablets and other mobile devices. DPS truly creates immersive reading experience by combining sophisticated text with video, audio, animation, and other highly interactive elements.

Christie Shin will introduce a newly developed course, Immersive Publication Design, from the Communication Design department at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She will explain the pilot projects from the digital design courses at FIT and showcase her recent digital publication for UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization). In conclusion, she will present Interdisciplinary Digital Publication with the essential editorial design principles and fundamental differences between traditional print and screen-based publications.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 1.5: Rhode Island School of Design on Saturday, March 7, 2015.

Re-Defining Reading

Laura Franz
Professor, Design Department
Head, Graphic Design Option (Major)
College of Visual and Performing Arts, UMass Dartmouth

For decades, critics have predicted the end of the written word: “No one reads anymore!

No one writes anymore!” Yet from birth certificates to gravestones, from T-shirts to text messaging, the written word—and thus reading—is woven into the fabric of our everyday lives.

Throughout history, we have used the written word to record and preserve who we are and what we care about: possessions, laws, commitment, ideas, and memories. Words and characters, once impressed in clay, written on papyrus, and printed with ink, are now manifest in pixels of light.

The use of text messaging for casual conversation has exploded, surpassing phone conversation as the communication method of choice—suggesting that our personal connection to reading and writing continues to thrive.

People may not participate in sustained reading the way they used to (or the way we think they used to), but people read. They text, tweet, and post on Facebook and Instagram. They search for things they need or want to know. They get lost in stories.

People read what is important to them. If we define reading only as a sustained and literary activity, if we acknowledge only one kind of reading, then we measure ourselves against a fabricated truth. We ignore the actual activity and exclude people’s needs and desires.

In Re-Defining Reading I illustrate three common approaches to reading; reflect on how re-defining reading has informed how I use and teach traditional typographic theories and practices within the context of web design; and show how a subtle shift—from user to reader—can help us adapt knowledge from the old (print) to serve the new (web).

The truth is there are different ways to read, and they are all valid and important. As designers, we can support them all.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 1.5: Rhode Island School of Design on Saturday, March 7, 2015.

Small Disruptions

Andrew Shea
Adjunct Faculty
Pratt Institute
Parsons, The New School

Designers are eager to find solutions that are economically inclusive, socially progressive, and environmentally sound. And whether they call it social impact design, designing for social change, socially responsible design, or by another name, it usually implies that design makes some kind of impact. The essence of that “impact” is some kind of behavior change.

In my presentation, I will talk about what it means for designers to make an impact, since the influence of design remains difficult to trace and measure.

My presentation will feature research from behavioral psychology, creative placemaking, wayfinding, and user experience that, along with two case studies, will illustrate an evidence-based design approach that can lead to positive behavioral change.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 1.5: Rhode Island School of Design on Saturday, March 7, 2015.

Bequeath(ed) Type

Liz DeLuna
Associate Professor of Graphic Design
Department of Art and Design
St. John’s University

Cemeteries provide a landscape rich in social, cultural and aesthetic history. They house the dead, but the grave markers designed and crafted by the living, leave a legacy of traditions, styles and preferences. This is especially evident in the variety of lettering styles that are particular to time periods and regions. Some gravestone carvers were more adventurous, others more conventional, and some eclectic, idiosyncratic and seemingly accidental. This lecture explores the process involved in creating a digital type family based on 18th century gravestone inscriptions and includes an examination of the original inspiration, visual exploration and primary research, as well as the use of relevant design technologies.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 1.5: Rhode Island School of Design on Saturday, March 7, 2015.

Too Many Grads Redux

Kathryn Weinstein
Associate Professor
Queens College, CUNY

A startling revelation concerning outcomes for students graduating with graphic design degrees emerged from Steven Heller’s (2005) article, Too Many Grads or Too Few Competencies? The Design School Dilemma. The article estimated that as many as fifty percent of students graduating from design programs quit the field within one year after graduation. Is the fallout due to design programs graduating too many students who lack the competencies for gainful employment in the field or is there simply a glut of graduates relative to the number of entry-level positions?

This study examines whether there are an excess number of graphic design graduates in relationship to the actual number of jobs available nationally. The author compares the number of students graduating from four-year colleges with a degree in graphic design or related fields in 2013 against the number of estimated job openings during the same time period. Additionally, the author estimates the number of graduates from other types of accredited degree programs that may increase competition for the same types of jobs as graduates with bachelor degrees in graphic design. The results reveal the extent to which the field may be over-saturated for entry- level employment in graphic design. This study may be used as a basis for further research for design educators.

PRESENTATION: TooManyGrads_K_Weinstein_3_2015

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 1.5: Rhode Island School of Design on Saturday, March 7, 2015.

Voice + Space + Place: Black Cultural Expression

Kelly Walters
Rhode Island School of Design
MFA Candidate in Graphic Design

I am a multimedia artist, a critical thinker, and a choreographer who works to understand the construction of black cultural expression in mainstream media. My aim as an artist, is to identify patterns within language, both visual and articulated, as a source from which I can re-frame how American audiences interact and consume black culture today. My work as a critical thinker, heavily relies upon close observation of historical context in racial tension and socio-political frameworks that impact the identity of the black body. As a choreographer, I am instrumental in creating spaces for dialogue, where collaborators can connect and share experiences that counter widely held racial stereotypes. In performing each of these roles, I become a catalyst in any given environmental space. At times these roles blur, and I transition into being an instigator, a narrator, and a facilitator all working simultaneously to create new meaning and context. By renegotiating black cultural symbols, I am able to pose counter-narratives that overturn the dominant perspective. These alternative outlooks allow me assess whether the mediated black images that I am exposed to, align with how I view myself or how society views me. I continually look for validation in these representations, but am often left with mixed emotions. While there are times that my lived experiences parallel that of characters on television sitcoms, I am concurrently faced with black female portrayals on reality television that leave me disconnected and alienated. My beauty standards are called into question as well as my personal attitude and behavior. How should I conduct myself? How should I be speaking right now? What social circles should I exist in? Who am I supposed to be? These questions are rooted in my artistic practice and guide my deeper explorations of how black identity is formed and the complex ways in which it manifests itself.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 1.5: Rhode Island School of Design on Saturday, March 7, 2015.

Modes of Self-Publishing

Minkyoung Kim, Christina Webb
Rhode Island School of Design
MFA Candidates in Graphic Design

Modes of Self-Publishing focuses on ‘zine’, not just as a circulation platform for printed matter, but as an experimental vehicle for visual or verbal content. Within this course, students explored the various potentials of self-publishing: cooperative assembly, collaboration, collective authorship, and distribution.

As thesis students, we wanted to consider a pedagogical way in which to share our areas of research with others in creative practice. This included students of graphic design and other disciplines. For Design Incubation, we plan to present our development and experience of this course touching on: how we dynamically integrated our own theses investigations into the projects and critique, how the class explored collaboration, and how rules can foster a space to experiment.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 1.5: Rhode Island School of Design on Saturday, March 7, 2015.

Publishing Confidential

Aaris Sherin
Associate Professor of Graphic Design
St. John’s University

The author of a number of books and articles, Sherin dives into the mysterious world of design research and publishing. She will give examples of what works and what doesn’t, while highlighting ways of making the writing process productive and enjoyable.

List of Selected Books by Aaris Sherin:

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 1.5: Rhode Island School of Design on Saturday, March 7, 2015.

Design for Dystopia

Amelia Marzec
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Queens College
Hunter College

Imagine a future where the American dollar is worthless. To re-build the economy, citizens must use the only resource available: decades of postconsumer waste. With no way to afford expensive international electronics, but with a deep human desire to connect, they sift through products that have been subject to planned obsolescence for the possibility of working parts. The goal is to build a new communications infrastructure that is community-controlled and far from the prying eyes of any government.

In the global economy, we have enjoyed more connectedness than ever before; but have paid a price in privacy and autonomy. Governments can and will suppress communication, as we have seen during Arab Spring and the Hong Kong protests. Centralized internet and phone systems are not able to survive natural disasters, as we’ve seen during the Tohoku Earthquake and Hurricane Sandy. If roads are closed, gas is rationed and the internet is down, it is impossible to order any supplies. It is time to remove the mystique surrounding the production of telecommunications systems. We must learn to use what is at hand to be prepared for disruptions.

Design for Dystopia traces several projects from concept to outcome: a project that allows people to send messages offline using their mobile phones, bypassing their cell phone provider; a project that re-envisions the structure of electronics manufacturing in America; and thoughts on furthering the design of a more democratic communications infrastructure, using native materials. We need to consider that the devices and methods with which we are dependent on to communicate and receive our content are also political, and we need to address what is actually necessary for basic communication.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 1.5: Rhode Island School of Design on Saturday, March 7, 2015.

My Korea Studies: Gender, Race and Language in South Korea

Yoon Soo Lee, Professor
Department of Design
College of Visual & Performing Arts
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Founding Faculty
Vermont College of Fine Arts

In October of 2012, I started my research into South Korea: the long lost memories, the Korean sentiment, how I am Korean, and how I am not Korean. I started a journal where I wrote exclusively in Korean. New connections were made, and what I thought was going to happen did not happen. Deep seeded experiences of gender and race floated to the top. And the content was negotiated through the study of the Korean language and Korean typography. I would like to share the process of my research and how I ended up on the idea of creating picture books for biracial children of South Korea and the United States.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 1.5: Rhode Island School of Design on Saturday, March 7, 2015.