How can society continue to engage in the shared pursuit of truth within the context of social-media fueled mis-information and socio-political fragmentation?
Liese Zahabi Assistant Professor University of New Hampshire
What constitutes truth? How can society continue to engage in the shared pursuit of truth within the context of social-media fueled mis-information and socio-political fragmentation? This collaborative, experimental project combines the creative forces of a Communication Professor who is also a songwriter and musician, a Design Professor who is also a motion designer and writer, and three dance students—resulting in three video-based artworks and a short documentary that examines the themes of truth, media, information, and current events. The project sits at the intersection of creative praxis, performance, and visual communication, weaving together multiple forms and modes of content. This presentation aims to briefly describe the project and connect it to the nascent but growing practice of Arts-Based Research (ABR).
In the second edition of her book Method Meets Art (2015), Patricia Leavy describes the concept of ABR: “Arts-based researchers are not ‘discovering’ new research tools, they are carving them. And with the tools they sculpt, so too a space opens within the research community where passion and rigor boldly intersect out in the open.” (p. 21) ABR offers ways for scholars in various disciplines to explore their research questions through an array of creative, visual, audible, performative, and written practices. Come Back Home is a strong example of ABR, showcasing creative research and making rooted in communication, visual, and performance practices, exploring the messy nature of information in our contemporary world.
As design educators and researchers grapple with the forms their scholarship ought to take, ABR offers innovative ways to reconsider the formats of rigorous academic work. This project demonstrates how disciplines might collaborate around a set of questions, generating meaningful research that bursts out of the traditional mold of the formal academic article, creating work that can be published in more accessible venues, speaking to a more diverse array of audiences.
R. Brian Stone, Associate Professor, The Ohio State University Leah Wahlin, Senior Lecturer, The Ohio State University, Editors
The Theory and Practice of Motion Design: Critical Perspectives and Professional Practice is a collection of essays offering an expansive, multi-platform exploration of the rapidly-expanding area of motion design and motion graphics. It takes into account both theoretical questions and creative professional practice. The contents of the book span interaction design, product interfaces, kinetic data visualizations, typography, TV and film title design, brand building, narrative storytelling, history, exhibits, and environments. Comprised of an interdisciplinary academic essays and professional interviews – together form a dialogue between motion design theory and professional practice. Written for both those critically engaged with motion design as well as those working or aspiring to work professionally in the field, the book features a range of international contributors and interviews with some of the best-known designers in the field, including Kyle Cooper, Karin Fong, and Jakob Trollbäck. The Theory and Practice of Motion Design seeks to illuminate the diverse, interdisciplinary field of motion design by offering a structured examination of how motion design has evolved, what forces define our current understanding and implementation of motion design, and how we can plan for and imagine the future of motion design as it unfolds.
An accompanying online resource site, www.motionresource.com, contains the actual motion based visual examples described in the text. The Forward and First Chapter are available for review on Amazon.com.
“Stone and Wahlin have produced the best book on designing for motion since Peter von Arx’s classic Film Design. Their new book The Theory and Practice of Motion Design should be required reading for anyone concerned with how words and information move on screen and how movement contributes to meaning.”
Notable Yale University Professor Christopher Pullman writes
“Instead of a how-to book, this is a ‘how-to-think-about’ book that delivers on its title, combining the history and intellectual underpinnings of motion design with the insights of contemporary design professionals… a thoughtful response to the profession’s shift from the mute flat-land of print to today’s rich, multi-dimensional options for communication.”
Outcomes: The Theory and Practice of Motion Design: Critical Perspectives and Professional Practice is collection of essays offering an expansive, multi-platform exploration of the rapidly-expanding area of motion design and motion graphics. It takes into account both theoretical questions and creative professional practice. The contents of the book span interaction design, product interfaces, kinetic data visualizations, typography, TV and film title design, brand building, narrative storytelling, history, exhibits, and environments. Comprised of an interdisciplinary academic essays and professional interviews – together form a dialogue between motion design theory and professional practice. Written for both those critically engaged with motion design as well as those working or aspiring to work professionally in the field, the book features a range of international contributors and interviews with some of the best-known designers in the field, including Kyle Cooper, Karin Fong, and Jakob Trollbäck. The Theory and Practice of Motion Design seeks to illuminate the diverse, interdisciplinary field of motion design by offering a structured examination of how motion design has evolved, what forces define our current understanding and implementation of motion design, and how we can plan for and imagine the future of motion design as it unfolds.
R. Brian Stone is an Associate Professor of Design at The Ohio State University, USA. His award-winning work and teachings are centered in the areas of motion design, interaction design, information visualization, and user experience. Professor Stone is the co-organizer of the Motion Design Summit conferences [MODE] and is editor of a collection of essays entitled, The Theory and Practice of Motion Design: Critical Perspectives and Professional Practice published by Routledge (2018). Professor Stone has held visiting appointments at the National University of Singapore (NUS), Escola Superior de Desenho Industrial (ESDI) in Brazil, and Universidad Americana Managua, Nicaragua (UAM). Apple Computer recognized Professor Stone’s teaching with the Apple Distinguished Educator award. He is also a recipient of the Ratner Distinguished Teaching Award, The Ohio State University Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching, and the Order of Omega Faculty Recognition Award.
Leah Wahlin’s background in English Literature and composition pedagogy is layered with extensive professional experience in content development, copywriting, and project management. She brings her interest in the intersections of technology, visual design, and strategic communication to the classroom, creating assignments and activities to help students develop the professional communication skills that are most relevant in today’s workplace. She has led development of two e-textbooks currently in use in the Department of Engineering Education, and she co-edited a collection about Motion Design with R. Brian Stone.
Renée Stevens Assistant Professor Multimedia Photography & Design Department S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications Syracuse University
The future of AR and mixed realities are here. With Apple’s introduction of ARkit launching this fall, I was able to design and develop an app concept to use inside this new space called tagAR. An app that will help enhance social networking and empower those who struggle to remember people’s names in a crowd. I will share my concept, workflow, limitations of the technology as it changes and finally show how AR is going to advance the power of design for social good, specifically those who have a learning disability or are dyslexic, like myself.
Mark Zurolo Associate Professor Graphic Design, UConn Storrs Liz DeLuna Associate Professor Graphic Design, St. John’s University
Motion design has evolved into a discipline that requires a complex skill set including, but not limited to, an expert command of typography and illustration, technical ability including expertise in software, understanding of narrative structures, an animator’s sense of motion, timing and sound, and formal design acumen. Whew! That’s a lot. Motion graphics emerged from graphic design with pioneers like Saul Bass, trained as a traditional graphic designers who saw graphic design not as static compositions, but kinetic orchestrations captured in a moment of stasis. New technologies have created not only the potential for new visual languages, but entirely new skill sets. Who is best equipped to wield these languages? What should they learn and how should they learn it? Taste or Technology? Software or gestalt? Is the horizon endless or ending? This presentation will explore techniques and briefs that investigate strategies for creating thoughtful and articulate skill sets driven by the principles of graphic design in the context of motion.
