design pedagogy – Design Incubation

Drawn Together: Exploring the Intersection of Image-Making and Community-Building

The Center was “founded” in response to a lack of design student cohesion and camaraderie.

Grace Preston
Professor
Texas State University

My paper recounts a collaborative initiative between myself and a cohort of undergraduate design students that we named the Center for Drawn Togetherness. The Center was “founded” in response to a lack of design student cohesion and camaraderie as our institution transitioned back to a fully in-person model post-pandemic. To address these issues, we conceptualized a series of interlocking illustration events that culminated in an exhibition. Each event asked participants to work together, challenging the idea that drawing is a solitary activity and exploring how drawing together could strengthen bonds among participants.

In the first event, a risograph workshop, participants collaboratively designed and printed an official “currency” for the Center. The second event allowed participants to earn “money” by contributing to a collaborative mural, asking them to respond to prompts that could be completed with a partner. The culminating event allowed participants to spend their “money” in a student-run illustration pop-up shop. All happenings were housed in an exhibition that doubled as a gathering space for design students, with student collaborators facilitating the events.

Event planning sessions emphasized Sasha Constanza-Chock’s principles of Design Justice, particularly their assertion that communities should co-lead and control design projects intended to benefit them (2020). Since I was concurrently teaching my student collaborators, planning sessions also challenged the traditional roles of teachers and students, proposing that we can operate as equals.

The workshops received positive feedback from participants, which was gathered through surveys and interviews after the events concluded. The Center plans to use this feedback to develop new initiatives in this upcoming school year. We will continue to investigate how in-person drawing events can potentially promote empathy among students, advocate more collaborative relationships between teachers and students, and encourage young designers to feel ownership over their educational experience.

This design research is presented at Design Incubation Colloquium 11.1: Boston University on Friday, October 25, 2024.

CFP: 2024 Design Incubation Communication Design Educators Awards

Call for Nominations and Entries for the 2024 Design Incubation Educators Awards Competition.

Design Incubation announces a call for nominations and entries for the 2024 awards for communication design educators in the areas of scholarship, teaching, service. The aim of the awards program is to discover and recognize new scholarship (creative work and publications), teaching, and service in our broad and varied discipline. We hope to expand the design record, promote excellence and share knowledge within the field.

Nominations and Entries

We ask colleagues and mentors to identify outstanding creative work, publications, teaching, and service being created by design educators in the field communication design and to nominate these individuals for an award. Nominations will be accepted until December 15, 2024.

Entry Guidelines

Entries will be accepted until December 31, 2024. Nominations are not required to enter in this scholarly competition. Complete the online entry form (https://designincubation.com/design-incubation-awards-competition-entry-form/) with the following:

Title: Description of project and outcomes (not to exceed 500 words.)
Supporting Materials: (limited to 5-page medium resolution pdf of artwork; web links to websites, videos, other online resources; published documents or visual documents.)
Biography of applicant/s (150 words per applicant.)
Curriculum vitae of applicant/s.
Entry fee: $20.

2024 JURY

Steven McCarthy (Chair)
University of Minnesota

Douglas Kearney
University of Minnesota

Doug Barnett
University of Alabama at Birmingham

Basma Hamdy
Virginia Commonweath University—Qatar

Kali Nikitas
University of Southern California in Los Angeles

Douglas Kearney is an acclaimed poet, librettist, performer and book designer. His work is widely awarded and anthologized, and his book Sho was a finalist for the National Book Award in poetry. He is a professor of creative writing at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities where he is a McKnight Presidential Fellow. Kearney earned a BA from Howard University and an MFA from CalArts.

https://www.douglaskearney.com

Doug Barrett is a professor of graphic design at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who has over 20 years of professional graphic design experience. His practice combines client-oriented commercial work, community-focused “design for good,” and experimental design authorship. Barrett has received an Alabama State Arts Fellowship in Design and a Sappi: Ideas That Matter grant. He has an MFA from the University of Florida.

https://www.dougbarrett.com

Basma Hamdy is a professor of graphic design at Virginia Commonwealth University–Qatar campus where she teaches across the undergraduate and graduate curricula. Her scholarship ranges from visual documentation of socio-political activism in Egypt to exploring Arabic typography and calligraphy. Hamdy has an MFA from MICA and is currently a candidate for a PhD at Leiden University and The Royal Academy of Art in The Netherlands.

https://qatar.vcu.edu/news/our-faculty/basma-hamdy/

Kali Nikitas serves as MFA Design Academic Program Manager at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She is a former Associate Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Northeastern University and Otis College of Art and Design. Kali served as the Chair of the design departments at MCAD, NEU, and Otis making administration her main focus. Her designs and curatorial projects have been widely awarded and published. In addition to her academic role, she is a “Curator of Moments” designing happenings and events in the creative sector. Kali received an MFA in graphic design from CalArts and a BFA in graphic design from the University of Illinois, Chicago.

https://www.tumblr.com/kali-nikitas

Steven McCarthy is a professor emeritus of graphic design at the University of Minnesota. His scholarship has led to lectures, exhibits, publications and grant-funded research on six continents. McCarthy has published in the field’s leading academic journals and he has been in over 135 juried and invitational exhibits. He has an MFA in design from Stanford University and a BFA in art from Bradley University.

http://stevenmccarthy.design

Colloquium 11.2: CAA Conference 2025 Call for Submissions

113th CAA Annual Conference, Hybrid format.
Deadline for abstract submissions: August 29, 2024.

We invite abstract submissions on presentation topics relevant to Communication Design research. Submissions should fall into one or more of the following areas: scholarly research, case studies, creative practice, or design pedagogy. We welcome proposals on a variety of topics across the field of communication design.

Submit an abstract of 300 words using the Design Incubation abstract submission form found here (indicating preference for virtual or in-person session):
https://designincubation.com/call-for-submissions/

Submissions are double-blind peer-reviewed. Reviewers’ feedback will be returned. Accepted presentation abstracts will be published on the Design Incubation website.

A 6-minute videotaped presentation is required for participation. The video is due on January 15, 2025. It will be published on the Design Incubation YouTube channel.

The 113th Annual CAA conference session will consist of live presentations plus a moderated discussion.

113th CAA Annual Conference
Virtual and New York City
February 12–15, 2025
Live presentations and moderated discussion in a hybrid format.

Presenters are required to follow the basic membership and fee requirements of CAA.

We are accepting abstracts for presentations now until August 29, 2024.

Navigating Web Accessibility: Lessons Learned from a Community of Practice

The American Disability Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination based on disability, its website does not provide legal details on complying with US web accessibility laws, only suggestions.

Dannell MacIlwraith
Assistant Professor
Kutztown University

Our college dove deep into a Community of Practice (CoP) on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in the 2022-2023 academic year. Higher education has embraced CoPs to encourage change and provide opportunities for faculty growth. They build community, enhance cross-discipline collaboration, promote new knowledge, and foster innovation among faculty. Our college asked faculty from different departments and majors to volunteer to meet monthly to discuss improving the DEI in one of their courses or a specific project. In my Interactive Design class, I investigated a website redesign project. My curiosity lay in how much students prioritized accessibility in their designs and their understanding of web accessibility. Our emphasis revolved around acquiring knowledge of practices and tools aiding user accessibility, evaluating internet connection speed, and catering to the needs of the visually impaired. These themes formed the focal points of our group discussions and research.

In the United Kingdom and Canada, web accessibility is required by law. In the United States, the American Disability Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination based on disability. Still, its website does not provide legal details on complying with US web accessibility laws, only suggestions. In the United States, class action suits for ADA violations are on the rise. In 2019, 2285 lawsuits were filed, an increase of 181% from the previous year. Most cases have been settled out of court, with companies agreeing to make the necessary changes to their website. My presentation will demonstrate how my research examined several of these lawsuits (including Netflix and Dominos) and how a better, more inclusive communication design would have avoided these problems.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are recommendations for making online content accessible and more inclusive. The advice is for websites to be:

perceivable,
operable,
understandable,
and robust.

In my presentation, I will detail how a Community of Practice (COP) facilitated my examination of our class project while guiding students to assess their designs using WCAG recommendations. For example, for a site to be understandable, users “must be able to understand the information as well as the operation of the user interface.” To maximize the understandability of text, designers should avoid using pure black (HEX #000000) for text, as it makes the eyes work harder due to the extreme contrast on a white background. Another example is being mindful of colorblind individuals and how websites would appear to anyone with a visual impairment.

I aim to illustrate to designers how minor design adjustments can significantly enhance a website’s inclusivity.

This design research is presented at Design Incubation Colloquium 10.3: Tenth Anniversary, St. John’s University (Hybrid) on Friday, June 7, 2024.

Design Incubation Colloquium 10.3: Tenth Anniversary, St. John’s University

Friday, June 7, 2024
Time: 1:00pm–5:00pm EST
St. John’s University, Manhattan Campus
101 Astor Place, New York, NY

Hosted by Liz DeLuna, Professor, St. John’s University

Presentations will be published on the Design Incubation YouTube Channel after May 29, 2024. This hybrid conference will be held on Friday, June 7, 2024 at 1pm EST at St. John’s University, Manhattan Campus.

Eventbrite Tickets, in-person and virtual attendance:

Agenda

1:00pm	Liz DeLuna: Welcome
	Evolution in Content Creation: 10 years of The Design Writing Fellowship Aaris Sherin, Professor, St. John’s University
	Cultures of Excellence: Lessons Learned from Eight Years of the Communication Design Educators Awards Steven McCarthy, Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota
	10 Years of Design Incubation’s Colloquium Presentations Camila Afanador Llach, Peer Review Director, Design Incubation Associate Professor, Florida Atlantic University
1:45pm– 2:45pm	Research Presentations
	Navigating Web Accessibility: Lessons Learned from a Community of Practice Dannell MacIlwraith, Assistant Professor, Kutztown University
	Mining for Ideas: Collaborative Collages as Spaces of Opportunity Anna Jordan, Assistant Professor, Rochester Institute of Technology
	Data in Motion: Storytelling with Data and Motion Graphics through a Graphic Design Practice & Pedagogy Eugene Park Associate Professor University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
2:45–3:15pm	BREAK
3:15pm	On the Consideration of a Black Grid Keynote Presentation Silas Munro, Partner at Polymode, Artist, Design Author, and Design Educator
	Practical Tips for Research Success and Remaining Sane Robin Landa, Distinguished Professor, Michael Graves College, Kean University
3:45pm – 4:45pm	Research Presentations
	Federico: Embracing Outside Influences Kyla Paolucci, Assistant Professor, St John’s University
	Fuzzy Modes, Clear Communication – Radio as a Process, Tool, and Language for Graphic Design Matthew Flores, Graphic Design Fellow, School of Design, University of Tennessee-Knoxville
	Revitalizing Symbolic Urbanism: Digitalizing the Vernacular Visual Language of Detroit’s Urban Landscape Dho Yee Chung, Assistant Professor, Oakland University
	Old World, New Forms: Extrapolating 19th Century American Wood Type Javier Viramontes, Visiting Lecturer, Rochester Institute of Technology

Analyzing Local Graphic Design History: A Pedagogical Approach

Students visit local and online archives, and conduct research online to contextualize their artifacts in local and graphic design history

Christina Singer
Assistant Professor
University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Undergraduate Design Research students at UNC Charlotte have been investigating local graphic design history as part of an ongoing project since Fall 2021. What artifacts do students decide to illuminate, and why? This presentation clusters and analyzes 183 local graphic design artifacts and topics that 61 students have chosen to research, write about, and contribute to the People’s Graphic Design Archive. The project teaches students about biases and factors that contribute to who and what has been included in graphic design history. Students visit local and online archives, and conduct research online to contextualize their artifacts in local and graphic design history. Through this process, students research ways of making, social movements, and graphic design history in order to construct and write a story for each artifact. Students review each other’s writing and create a class book, which combines their essays and sources with a collaborative timeline of the local graphic design artifacts they selected to research. The collection of individual choices that students make regarding what they choose to contribute to the PGDA’s effort to democratize design history has become a separate topic of inquiry for both research and pedagogical purposes. This presentation analyzes the students’ choices and the stories they tell.

This design research was presented at Design Incubation Colloquium 10.2: Annual CAA Conference 2024 (Hybrid) on Thursday, February 15, 2024.

Designing Dialogue: Leveraging Technology for Cultivating Inclusion and Belonging in Classroom Critique

CritMoves would allow faculty to create a set of specific prompts that would be randomly assigned to students via student cell phones

Jenny Kowalski
Assistant Professor
Lehigh University

Abby Guido
Associate Professor
Temple University

Peer critique is a tool for formative and summative assessment in art and design classrooms (Motley, 2016). Although some forms of critiques are dominated by the instructor (Barrett, 2000), a framework encouraging peer discussion establishes a collaborative environment and fosters meta-cognitive skills (Topping, 1998).

Two graphic design professors are proposing a tool called CritMoves to enhance participation in classroom critiques. Based on the concept of conversational moves (Nichols, 2019), CritMoves would allow faculty to create a set of specific prompts that would be randomly assigned to students via student cell phones. Students could “execute” prompts during the critique, gamifying the critique experience and encouraging peer communication.

Prompts such as “agree with what was just said and add additional feedback” or “disagree with what was just said and share an opposing view” encourage students to engage in a full discussion. Other prompts such as “discuss the color contrast in this piece” direct students to focus on specific details that can be connected to pedagogical goals. Our intention is that the structure of the curated prompts will lead to more positive feelings towards peer critique and a greater sense of belonging in the classroom.

This presentation will discuss the early stages of this research and the development of a prototype through an interdisciplinary collaboration of students in Computer Science and Graphic and Interactive Design programs. We are interested in engaging in a conversation about how best to utilize technology to foster human interaction and connection in art and design classrooms.

This design research is presented at Design Incubation Colloquium 10.2: Annual CAA Conference 2024 (Hybrid) on Thursday, February 15, 2024.

Design Is Not Neutral

A podcast featuring design educators discussing gaps in design education

Grace Hamilton
Assistant Professor
Baruch College City University New York

This project confronts design and design education’s historical exclusion of marginalized voices due to Eurocentric, capitalist, and patriarchal biases. It champions a feminist, practice-driven approach for an anti-patriarchal and post-capitalist design pedagogy, challenging the notion that design is confined to formal structures.

The “Design is Not Neutral” podcast is central to this initiative, featuring design educators discussing gaps in design education. It reveals the entanglement of design education with corporate capitalism, especially in the United States, while dismantling the division between craft, design, and art. This scrutiny exposes oppressive structures sidelining craft-based design, aiming to broaden design education’s horizons.

In the following phase, a knitting workshop was introduced to confront power dynamics and reintegrate “low design” or craft into the classroom. This hands-on workshop encourages everyday creativity, collaborative learning, and questions gender-based hierarchies in design curricula, empowering what’s traditionally labeled “craft.”

Aligned with scholars like bell hooks, Louise Schouwenberg, Paulo Freire, and Cheryl Buckley, this feminist intervention emphasizes “design in the margins” in education. The project’s podcast serves as a centralized resource, ensuring accessibility for educators looking to integrate feminist curricula.

This initiative reimagines design education through a feminist lens, challenging craft-based design stereotypes and engaging with design education’s historical ties to capitalism. Its aim is to create a more inclusive, equitable design pedagogy, centering marginalized perspectives and subaltern forms of making, contributing to a diverse, accessible, and just society.

This design research was presented at Design Incubation Colloquium 10.2: Annual CAA Conference 2024 (Hybrid) on Thursday, February 15, 2024.

Design Incubation Colloquium 10.2: Annual CAA Conference 2024 (Hybrid)

Presentations and discussion in Research and Scholarship in Communication Design at the 112th Annual CAA Conference 2024

Recent research in Communication Design. Presentations of unique, significant creative work, design education, practice of design, case studies, contemporary practice, new technologies, methods, and design research. A moderated discussion will follow the series of presentations.

The colloquium session is open to all conference attendees.

Design Incubation Colloquium 10.2: Annual CAA Conference 2024
Thursday, February 15, 2024
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
Hilton Chicago – 8th Floor – Lake Michigan (Hybrid)

CHAIRS

Camila Afanador-Llach
Florida Atlantic University

Heather Snyder Quinn
DePaul University

Discussants

Jessica Barness
Kent State University

Liz DeLuna
St John’s University

Dan Wong
New York City College of Technology, CUNY

PRESENTATIONS

A Plural Pedagogy for Graphic Design History
Kristen Coogan
Associate Professor
Boston University

Design Is Not Neutral
Grace Hamilton
Assistant Professor
Baruch College City University New York

From Bricks to Pixels: The Evolution of Banna’i Kufic
Sajad Amini
Assistant Professor
DePaul University

Convergence of Science and Art to Support Climate Resilience in Central American Smallholder Communities
Qiuwen Li
Assistant Professor
Santa Clara University

Sara Wheeler
Undergraduate Student
Santa Clara University

Designing Dialogue: Leveraging Technology for Cultivating Inclusion and Belonging in Classroom Critique
Jenny Kowalski
Assistant Professor
Lehigh University

Abby Guido
Associate Professor
Temple University

Assessing Student Learning Outcomes in an Interdisciplinary, Experiential Course
Denise Anderson
Assistant Professor
Kean University

Analyzing Local Graphic Design History: A Pedagogical Approach
Christina Singer
Assistant Professor
University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Uncanny Ways of Seeing: Engaging AI in Design Practice and Pedagogy
Drew Sisk
Assistant Professor
Clemson University

CFP: 2023 Design Incubation Communication Design Awards

Call for Nominations and Entries for the 2023 Design Incubation Educators Awards Competition.

Design Incubation announces a call for nominations and entries for the 2023 awards for communication design educators and graduate students in the areas of scholarship, teaching, service. The aim of the awards program is to discover and recognize new scholarship (creative work and publications), teaching, and service in our broad and varied discipline. We hope to expand the design record, promote excellence and share knowledge within the field.