Tag: publication design

Accessibility and Creative Authorship in Design Theory Through Multimodal Learning and Metacognitive Reflection

A course that engaged a cohort of international first-semester masters students in complex theoretical concepts encouraging self-reflection and creative authorship.

Molly Haig, Lecturer & Dr. Till Julian Huss, Professor
University of Europe for the Applied Sciences
Berlin, Germany

The study of media ecology offers design students vital insights into our culture, but like any detailed framework of ideas, these should be approached with precision, care, and scaffolding. Ecological thinking engages with the interconnectedness of complex systems, from the environment to technology and culture (Hörl 2017). Using ecological thinking as a conceptual entry point and typography as a visual one, we built a course that effectively engaged a cohort of international first-semester masters students in complex theoretical concepts by encouraging self-reflection and creative authorship.

The theoretical branch of the course involves lectures and discussions, engaging with theories of media ecology from their early anticipations (Kiesler 1939) to their defining approaches (McLuhan 1967, Strate 2017). Design is understood through the environment, or as transformation of lived environments (i.e. the Future Ecologies series ed. Löffler, Mareis, & Sprenger since 2021, and in a historical perspective Busbea 2020). Gibson’s (1979) concept of affordances, which Don Norman (2013) translated to a key principle for user-centric design, offers a bridge to design practice, and the theory of metaphors is introduced as a foundational mode of creative thinking.

The practical branch of the course frames typography and publication as tools for conceptual analysis, integrating excerpts from the theoretical texts into increasingly complex visual assignments. Students also keep a scrappy physical journal or “commonplace book” with 30 entries, each linking an in-class idea to an external one. Each student’s final publication is an “autobiographical user manual” guiding the “user” through the course based on the student’s subjective experience.

Student work revealed unique representations of theoretical content and strong metaphorical thinking, and many projects were reflective of students’ fresh experiences of a new environment during their first semester in a foreign country. Publications ranged from a hand-bound dictionary of terms, to ChatGPT’s “diary,” to directions through a distorted Berlin, to thirty existential questions posed by a whimsical humanoid peach. We heard from many students who found the course structure engaging and welcoming.

Our theoretical/practical approach is supported by an abundance of research on the educational benefits of multimodal learning, or engaging with more than one “mode” of accessing information (i.e. Moreno & Mayer 2007, Serafini 2015) especially when studying in a second language (Yi & Choi 2015), as well as metacognitive reflection (understanding one’s own understanding of a topic, i.e. Cummings 2015).

Our course offers an example of how explorations of ecological thinking and typography can support each other, but more broadly how collaborations across disciplines can be mutually beneficial, and increase the accessibility of both.

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

Chicano Independent Publication Masthead Design

Made during research visits at university libraries in Texas and California, hubs of the Chicano movement.

Joshua Duttweiler
Assistant Professor
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Alexandria Victoria Canchola
Assistant Professor
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

We demonstrate how the design of Chicano independent publication mastheads from the 1960’s and 1970’s in the United States used the visual language of the Chicano community to engage directly with their audience. In publication design, mastheads serve as the reader’s first indication as to a publication’s purpose and credibility. Our analysis of these independent publications is based on observations made during research visits at university libraries in Texas and California, hubs of the Chicano movement. Based on our research, the mastheads used typography, icons, and organization symbols to attract readers in service to the publication’s goals of raising awareness on local issues such as labor inequality and racial violence. The efforts made by these publications not only mobilized their audience to fight for social justice but utilized visual means as a way of uniting their readers toward a cause.

These Chicano publications, not typically referenced in the traditional white graphic design canon, provide an opportunity to learn from past designers in a parallel time of societal unrest and analyze their successful methods of advocacy and activism. The political climate of the time cultivated diverse printing practitioners; far different than the editorial staffs we see today. Activists, many without formal design training, worked to combine text and images into design that would speak to their audience. By observing the evolution of masthead design throughout the Chicano movement we can observe the progress of the publication designers’ skill as they sought to increase their audience and ability to communicate.

By understanding the role and unity of the visual language of independent Chicano newspapers, we encourage designers, historians, and students to further investigate the design semiotics of community-focused publications both within its historical context and contemporary practice.

This design research was presented at Design Incubation Colloquium 9.2: Annual CAA Conference 2023 (Virtual) on Saturday, February 18, 2023.

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.