Tag: human-centered design

Generative AI for Visual Communication: Designing Human-Centered, AI-First Pedagogy

An introduction to foundational concepts such as training data, bias, authorship, and algorithmic influence.

Adonis Durado
Associate Professor
Ohio University

VICO 3456 / VICO 5456: Generative AI for Visual Communication is a vertically integrated studio course that brings together undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students in a shared learning environment. Designed as a yoke course, it intentionally collapses traditional academic hierarchies to create a collaborative space where emerging and advanced designers learn alongside one another. The course reimagines how artificial intelligence can be taught within design education by positioning AI not as a shortcut or productivity tool, but as a collaborative system that reshapes authorship, decision-making, and creative responsibility.

The course was developed in response to a widening gap between the rapid adoption of generative technologies in professional practice and the limited pedagogical frameworks available to support meaningful learning with them. Students often encounter AI informally through social media or commercial platforms, without guidance on ethical, cultural, or conceptual implications. By bringing undergraduate and graduate students together, the course leverages varied levels of experience and disciplinary perspectives while modeling how learning communities function in professional and research contexts.

At its core, the course is grounded in the belief that meaningful engagement with AI requires intentional design and critical awareness. Students work with generative image, video, and multimodal tools while examining how these systems shape authorship, aesthetics, and power. Early modules introduce foundational concepts such as training data, bias, authorship, and algorithmic influence. These shared conceptual anchors allow students at different academic stages to engage in layered ways, contributing diverse insights while working toward common learning goals.

Instruction is structured around three scaffolded projects that move from exploration to authorship to public-facing communication. Early projects emphasize experimentation and inquiry, allowing students to test tools within defined constraints while observing their limitations. Subsequent projects demand increasing conceptual clarity, ethical reasoning, and intentional design decisions. Graduate students are challenged to operate at a meta-level, articulating frameworks and critiques, while undergraduate students build foundational fluency and confidence through guided practice. This vertical integration fosters mentorship, peer learning, and shared accountability across experience levels.

The culmination of the course is a public exhibition titled Generative Sparks, which serves as both a learning milestone and a platform for community engagement. The exhibition features work developed across all three major projects and invites audiences to reflect on authorship, ethics, and creativity in the age of generative AI. By situating student work in a public context, the exhibition reinforces professional standards and positions students as contributors to broader cultural conversations around emerging technology.

Reflection functions as a central design practice throughout the course. Students regularly document their processes through written and visual reflections that examine how AI influences their thinking, choices, and creative identity. These reflections support metacognition and allow students to trace their evolving relationship with generative tools. Peer critique further deepens this process by encouraging dialogue across experience levels, fostering a studio culture grounded in mutual learning and critical exchange.

Pedagogically, the course integrates experiential learning, studio critique, and inquiry-based practice. Students learn through cycles of making, testing, revising, and reflecting. Guided constraints prevent overreliance on automation and encourage engagement with the affordances and limitations of generative systems. Faculty guidance emphasizes authorship, accountability, and ethical responsibility, reinforcing that AI-generated work remains a human-centered practice shaped by values and intent.

A significant outcome of the course is a shift in student mindset. Many enter viewing AI as either a threat to creativity or a shortcut to production. Over time, students develop a more nuanced understanding of human–AI collaboration, recognizing both its possibilities and its limitations. This shift is evident in reflective writing, process documentation, and increasingly sophisticated visual outcomes that demonstrate intentionality rather than automation.

The course has produced strong and visible outcomes. Students generate portfolio-ready work that demonstrates conceptual depth, technical experimentation, and reflective authorship. Projects have been exhibited publicly through Generative Sparks and shared in academic and professional contexts. Students report increased confidence navigating emerging technologies, and many leverage coursework for internships, interdisciplinary collaborations, and advanced research.

Beyond individual outcomes, VICO 3456/5456 functions as a transferable pedagogical model. Its structure, assignments, and assessment strategies have informed broader curricular conversations around AI literacy, ethical design, and experiential learning. By bringing undergraduate and graduate students into a shared learning environment, the course models how design education can cultivate mentorship, complexity, and critical engagement across levels of expertise.

Ultimately, VICO 3456/5456 positions design education as a space for intentional experimentation rather than technological reaction. Through its vertically integrated structure and the public-facing exhibition Generative Sparks, the course demonstrates how educators can guide students to engage emerging technologies thoughtfully, creatively, and responsibly within contemporary design practice.

Durado_Documentation__Evidence

Biography

Adonis Durado is an Associate Professor in the School of Visual Communication at Ohio University, where he teaches design, storytelling, and generative AI–driven creative practice. His work centers on human-centered pedagogy, ethical technology use, and the thoughtful integration of emerging tools into design education. He developed one of the university’s first AI-first courses, positioning generative systems as collaborators in learning rather than replacements for human judgment. His teaching emphasizes reflection, authorship, and critical inquiry, preparing students to engage creative technologies with intention, accountability, and agency. Durado’s pedagogy bridges theory and practice through experiential, project-based learning and community engagement. His work has contributed to curricular innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the development of AI literacy frameworks in design education. He is also an award-winning designer and writer whose research explores authorship, visual culture, and the cultural implications of artificial intelligence.


This project was the 2025 Design Incubation Educators Awards runner-up recipient in the category of Teaching.

Designing for Mental Health and Wellbeing: Integrating Mental Health Support into UI/UX Design Course

Collaborative work, peer feedback and positive psychology were integral to the whole process, fostering a supportive learning environment.

Ting Zhou
Assistant Professor
University of Connecticut

The mental health crisis is a significant challenge currently affecting college students. According to data from the Healthy Minds Study, which surveyed 76,406 students across the country, 41% of college students experienced depression, 36% experienced anxiety, 14% experienced eating disorders, 14% had suicidal ideation during the 2022-2023 academic year. The main barriers to help-seeking are “no need for services” (35%) and “not enough time” (24%).  (HMS National 2022-2023 Data Report) Given that 97% of Americans ages 18-29 own a smartphone (Pew Research Center, 2021), the mHealth (mobile Health) application has been one of the primary tools for wellness management, especially during COVID-19. It expands accessibility to support mental health and coping skills, helping students flourish on college campuses. Design thinking (DT) is the fundamental theory in UI/UX design that helps people to become more innovative and creative (Brown T., 2009).

This study aims to explore the integration of mental health support into design education by teaching students to design mHealth applications. The focus is on utilizing human-centered design principles to address mental health challenges among college students. Design students were guided through the design thinking process (empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test) to develop mHealth applications targeting mental health and wellness. Projects were based on students’ personal interests and experiences in mental health, addressing conditions such as ADHD, bipolar disorder, anxiety, sobriety, seasonal affective disorder (SAD), and dissociative identity disorder (DID).  Collaborative work, peer feedback and positive psychology were integral to the whole process, fostering a supportive learning environment.

Through the human-centered design process, students gained profound knowledge of mental health issues on campus and developed innovative solutions tailored to specific user needs. The collaborative approach promoted a culture of empathy and understanding, making students more comfortable discussing mental health and recognizing the importance of self-care. This method normalized help-seeking behavior and integrated positive psychology into their daily lives. It not only prepares future designers to create accessible mental health support tools but also promotes their own mental well-being and professional development.

References

  1. Pew Research Center. (2021). Mobile fact sheet. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/mobile/ on 6th of August, 2021.
  2. Brown, T. (2009). Change by design: how design thinking transforms organizations and inspires innovation. [New York], Harper Business.

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

Interdisciplinary Human-Centered Design Research – Overcoming Practical Challenges Before and During The Pandemic Time – A Pragmatic Approach to Design Education and Practice

A project to improve VA technology for veterans with spinal cord injuries

Sam Anvari
Assistant Professor
California State University Long Beach

This presentation proposal covers the practical approach and various pedagogical measures taken to form a team of fourteen students and two faculty from Graphic Design and Psychology to improve VA technology for veterans with spinal cord injuries. This multidisciplinary project is ongoing research between California State University Long Beach, the Spinal Cord Injuries and Disorders (SCI/D) Center at the Long Beach VA Hospital, and the device manufacturer, Accessibility Services, Inc. in Florida. The project’s goal is to improve the design usability of the Environmental Control Unit (ECU), which patients with SCI/D use to complete everyday tasks such as making a phone call, calling the nurse, controlling the TV, adjusting the bed, etc. The project started in 2019 by performing heuristic evaluations on the ECU device with a team of seven students and faculty from psychology, health science, and graphic design. Findings from this work identified system elements needing improvement for better user experience and visual interfaces design.

Despite the pandemic and its associated lockdown conditions, the research team successfully transitioned to the project’s next phase, design A/B testing, online. The faculty leaders scheduled virtual weekly meetings with the team and developed an alternative plan to continue the project. In 2020, students worked tirelessly to a digital prototype of the device that is accessible remotely online within the safe space of the home. The ECU device’s online prototype made it possible for the research team to apply design changes and prepare for remote user testing. In the meantime, the research team grew more extensive, with five students from the graphic design program, eight students from the Psychology Human Factors program, and another two students from the university’s undergraduate research opportunity program (UROP). This presentation will discuss various tools and methods for human-centered applied design and networking with the industry.

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 8.2: Annual CAA Conference on Thursday, March 3, 2022.

Adaptation in Design Research: Combatting Social Isolation in Older Adults

Our need to socially connect is the strongest evidence of our shared humanity.

Christine Lhowe
Assistant Professor
Seton Hall University

At the core of human-centered design are people. Grounded in empathy and driven by human needs, HCD has the power to improve quality of life for individuals and society. As our communities, environments, and global structures change, especially now during the COVID-19 pandemic, design must adapt to serve people within new contexts.

Our need to socially connect is the strongest evidence of our shared humanity. We are so highly interdependent on each other that isolation not only affects mental well-being but contributes to physical decline. In older adults, a population largely affected by loneliness, social isolation is associated with a 50% increased rate for dementia and other serious medical conditions.1

As a design practitioner and educator, my research focuses on cultivating meaningful connections through experiential design. With Me, an intergenerational toolkit was created to integrate older adults deeper into the fabric of society. As an analog kit, the fundamental purpose is to encourage people to spend time with one another.

In February 2020, With Me was in the last stages of production before implementation at a non-profit serving older adults across New York City. Social distancing requirements in mid-March put it indefinitely on hold. Caregivers were no longer able to do home visits. Family members were strongly recommended against visiting their loved ones. Loneliness in one of the most vulnerable populations to COVID-19 was magnified. When connection was needed most, With Me had to transition to a virtual solution.

This presentation is a case study on adaptation in an ongoing research project. It asks if we can replicate the benefits of physical time together while in a virtual world. It experiments with technology in a population that is often hesitant with using it. It explores how experiences may be designed for meaningful interactions across varying communication channels.

  1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Loneliness and Social Isolation Linked to Serious Health Conditions. https://www.cdc.gov/aging/publications/features/lonely-older-adults.html

This research was presented at the Design Incubation Colloquium 7.2: 109th CAA Annual Conference on Wednesday, February 10, 2021.