Patrick Foster—Process Books, 2010/2011

process

mdes 2010/2011

patrick foster

summer/fall 2010

6030 1.1 Tania Harrison

6030 1.2 Karen Cope

6030 1.3 Marlene Ivey

6030 1.4 Denise Saulnier

6030 1.5 Arlene Gould

6030 1.6 David Peters

6200 2.1 The Balmond Dilemma

2.1.1 The Ammann Chair (poster)

2.1.2 The Ammann Chair (object )

6200 3.1 Field Agents

3.1.1 Mapping the Object Experience

3.1.2 Mapping the Environment

Experience

3.2 The Georges Island Project

THESIS

4.1 Conceptual thinking

4.2 Abstract

4.3 Bibliography

1.1: Tania Harrison

6030

An introduction to the NSCAD library services

and resources; use of periodical and reference

databases; and to RefWorks.

8 9

A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, decision making, and writing.

TANIAHARRISON introducing the library

10 11

A digital object identifier (DOI) is a character string used to uniquely identify an electronic document or other object. Metadata about the object is stored in association with the DOI name and this metadata may include a location, such as a URL, where the object can be found.

Use RefWorks to create/maintain personal database of research materials and bibliography.

TANIAHARRISON introducing the library

6030 1.2: Karen Cope

6030

Reading and writing for research; understanding

that how you read is as important as what you read.

14 15

Project One Introductory Presentation of a Classmate

Ellen Lupton and J. Abbott Miller. “Language of Vision” Design Writing Research. (London & Phaidon, 1996) 62-65

Why does this resonate so with me? Am I so reluctant to consider the deeper meanings behind my work? Or do I feel that consideration of deeper meanings cheapens the actual finished piece—whatever kind of work it is? Why do I feel so strongly that overanalysing my work will reduce its value? Am I afraid of the work not measuring up under scrutiny?

KARENCOPE reading and writing for research

16 17KARENCOPE reading and writing for research

18 19

• patterns—continual repetition of text elements in a building narrative improve comprehension/ recall• humor—keeps people engaged• shift between text/imagery rather than combining for impact ?


20 21

Project Two Repurpose Presentation into 2-page Spread


ELENA VILTOVSKAIAShe is an artist, illustrator and graphic designer and has worked in the field since her graduation. She loves both her dog Juno and her husband Jason , although not necessarily in that order.

(v il t • o f•s k y•ah)

She moved to Canada with her family when she was 19. Always creative and from a family of artists, Elena studied graphic design at the Onatrio College of Art & Design.

Elena was born in Minsk (now the capitol of Belarus ), in the Soviet Union .

Minsk53°52’N,27°30’E

Project Two Repurpose Presentation into 2-page Spread

6030 1.3: Marlene Ivey

6030

Modeling and articulating ideas in 3D.

“…employs visual thinking and design writing as

a method for refining the student’s thesis/prac-

tice idea for postgraduate study.”

24 25

“Go learn it yourself online” and “We’ll do a little demo in class” are specious arguments, but they need to be countered regardless. Consider ways to address the typical educational predisposition to focus on theory rather than practice as a selling point of the whole concept.

Can a digital co-experience cultivate a virtual studio culture? Conducive to

distance design education?MARLENE IEVY modeling ideas

26 27

How will the educational establishment—i.e., anyone older than me—react to the idea that the classroom/studio model is no longer the sole functional option? How can the concept be crafted to reassure and embrace rather than alienate older modeling?

MARLENE IEVY modeling ideas

28 29

Bring into thesis contrast between agile/iterative methodology and waterfall methodology. Some comparison between small business and lumbering larger ones?

!

Remember to stick to your outline and not fall prey to scope creep.

!


30 31MARLENE IEVY modeling ideas

32 33

“…working alone but together, students create 3D models that will serve as scaffolds for design writing.

…The aim is to make a 3D model of what the structure of your thesis/practice paper might look like.”

principles, design ethics, aesthetics…don’t let preconceptions guide work.


We’ve blown so many enormous opportunities over the past several years. In the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, when most of the world had lined up in support of the United States, President George W. Bush had the chance to lead a vast cooperative, international effort to combat terrorism and lay the groundwork for a more peaceful, more secure world.

He blew it with the invasion of Iraq.

In the tragic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we had not just the chance but an obligation to call on our best talent to cre-atively rebuild the historic city of New Orleans. That could have kick-started a major renovation of the nation’s infrastructure and served as the incubator for a new and desperately needed urban policy. Despite President Bush’s vow of “bold action” during a carefully staged, nationally televised appearance in the French Quarter, we did nothing of the kind.

The collapse of the economy in the Great Recession gave us the starkest, most painful evidence imaginable of the failure of

laissez-faire economics and the destruc-tive force of the alliance of big business and government against the interests of ordinary Americans. Radical change was called for. (One thinks of Franklin Roosevelt raging against the “economic royalists” and asserting that “we need to correct, by drastic means if necessary, the faults in our economic system from which we now suffer.”)

But there has been no radical change, only caution and timidity and more of the same. The royalists remain trium-phant and working people are absorbing blow after devastating blow. More than 1.2 million of the long-term jobless are due to lose their unemployment benefits

C O N T I N U E D »

by bob herbert

P H OTO : J o h n S m i t h , A P

P H OTO : C N N

P H OTO : J a m e s M c C a l l , A P

P H OTO : A B C N e w s

New Orleans after Katrina: the first straw?

Food banks are doing record

business—and running our of supplies.

6030 1.4: Denise Saulnier

6030

An introduction/overview and exploration of

document layout, typography, hierarchies, and

information design.

36 37

Can meridian grid lines be used online? Is there a way to work with meridians if the size/shape of your content area continues to vary?

!

Project One A Presentation on Typographic Principles

DENISESAULNIER information design

38 39








by bob herbert


P H OTO : C N N






Project Two Designing on a Found Grid









by bob herbert


P H OTO : C N N






Project Two Designing on a Found Grid

40 41

Project Three Extrapolate a Grid from an Image

P A T R I C K

F O S T E R

2003–present Hired Gun LLC

creative director

2009–2010 Cañada College Redwood City, CA

adjunct professor

2005–2010 Santa Fe Community College Santa Fe, NM

associate professor

2000–2003 Design Coup Atlanta, GA

senior online designer

1999–2000 CommDot Atlanta, GA

creative director

1998–1999 Flagler College St. Augustine, FL

adjunct professor

1998–1999 McIntosh TF, Inc. St. Augustine, FL

senior designer

1996–1998 BOSS Advertsing Palm Coast, FL

lead designer

2007 New Mexico Highlands University

BFA, Media Arts (Communication Design)

1995 Daytona Beach College

1985 Savannah College of Art & Design

P A T R I C K

F O S T E R

2003–present Hired Gun LLC

creative director

2009–2010 Cañada College Redwood City, CA

adjunct professor

2005–2010 Santa Fe Community College Santa Fe, NM

associate professor

2000–2003 Design Coup Atlanta, GA

senior online designer

1999–2000 CommDot Atlanta, GA

creative director

1998–1999 Flagler College St. Augustine, FL

adjunct professor

1998–1999 McIntosh TF, Inc. St. Augustine, FL

senior designer

1996–1998 BOSS Advertsing Palm Coast, FL

lead designer

2007 New Mexico Highlands University

BFA, Media Arts (Communication Design)

1995 Daytona Beach College

1985 Savannah College of Art & Design


6030 1.5: Arlene Gould

6030

Considering the potential of Design Management.

44 45

Consider how Design Management could be explored as a tool for information management in group-learning settings.

!Mind maps represent a more valuable brainstorming tool than initially considered. The ability to consider unforseen alternatives ties in with David’s problem-solving material.

ARLENEGOULD design management

46 47

Understanding your individual process is crucial to articulating it. This seems obvious as the theme of the term, but it bears reinforcing. Understanding why you do what you do is the whole point of this.

Consider where what the designer brings to the table falls in the range of design; the obvious, generic result, or something more expansive. Don’t settle for less than can be wrought.


48 49

What is theValue of DesignManagement?

Design Managementcan harness the

impact of design.

Designmanagement bridges

management and designersin both directions.

DESiGNmanagement

integrates designinto the corporate

environment.

DESignmanagementsupplies-

competitiveadvantages-

socialadvantages-

environmentaladvantages.

design managementaligns business objectivesand social objectives with

design objectives to achievebusiness’s goals.

design managementleads to a better business

model. A supported designculture leads to design ruesand proceedures to support

the greater goals of thebusiness.

design managersintegrate corporateculture with design

processes.

Designis difficult

for competitorsto copy.

“…Design is the only thingthat differentiates one productfrom another in themarketplace…”

Design is acontinuousprocess-

Investing indesigners leadsto a competitive

advantage!

Relationshipswith designers

are-

Dynamic-

Catalytic!

Unique-

only designis original; otherways of differentiationcan be copied.

T H E D E S I G N P R O C E S S

THE DESIGN PROCESS

REPEAT AS NEEDED.

PHASE ONE

Research & Strategy

• Consider the brief

• Research possible competing concepts

• Establish any restrictive parameters

(budgetary, time-based, locative)

• Establish project viability & feasibility

• Consider possible alternatives

to preconceived concepts

• Assess and assimilate—or establish—

client’s design culture

• Establish client stakeholders

• Fully engage client stakeholders in

design process through frequent

iterative consultations and approvals

• If possible, prototype and user test in

real world usage environments

• Consider sustainability goals—does

world need another whatever?

PHASE TWO

Design

• Establish tangible design parameters

(physical size, production costs,

spatial constraints, delivery challenges,

output formats)

• Consider conceptual options to

initial project ideas

• Engage client in conceptual

discussions

• Offer as wide a range of alternatives

as possible; up to and including

ideas completely different from

initial brief

• Design iterative concepts; solicit

internal and client feedback; repeat

as often as needed/feasible

PHASE THREE

Implementation

• Produce final approved design

• Establish any promotional material

for initial launch awareness as needed

• Release for public/market use

PHASE FOUR

EvaluationConsider released project inany applicable terms:

• Sales figures

• Industry/public reviews

• User feedback

• Usage patterns

• Evaluate success of project against

internal and external metrics

• Explore possibilities for improvement

based on user feedback

• Evaluate internal/stakeholder

response to product

Design ManagerIdeally, design manager and client leadwork collaboratively through the entire process. Client

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Project One Mind Map: What is the Value of Design Management? Project Two The Design Process

Try to refine these process documents as a tool for interacting clients; the more a client understands what you bring to the game as a designer, the more value you have to them and the more value you can bring to the end results. See also David Peters.!


50 51

Project Three The Halifax Project

Narrative in a project personalizes the content to the viewer and emphasizes the connection between the proposed design and the intended user base.


CONCERNS

PROBLEMS

MEA

NING

6030 1.6: David Peters

6030

Problem-solving in design.

54 55

Where to start?

Start here:Certainty is your enemy.

DAVIDPETERS problem solving

56 57

Design is an offer of help.

This is what matters.

Discourse is an evolution of practices. We

can all contribute.

A discourse has distinctions, language

particular to the discourse, to seperate the

knowing from the unknowing.

Distinctions are made for the sake of action.

A definition is insufficient to the task.

Design emerged in humans from awareness

of “future.”

If a user can’t engage with a device, the

failure is in the conversation between user

and device, not in the user’s inability to

manage the device.

What is worth designing?

Design’s job is to propose alternatives.

Problem solving = change.

People hate change with no story to suport it.

Learning is reciprocation, recurrence

and recusion.

The test of a communication is the action

that follows it.

A breakdown is the gap between intent

and outcome. Celebrate breakdowns—that’s

where design begins.

Meaning lies where concerns overlap

practices.

All solutions are temporary.

Consider the problem outside of the

project’s ‘problem’ statement.

Avoid jobs. Jobs have titles and fixed

tasks. Seek a role where you can produce

a situation.

Situations are either satisfactory or

unsatisfactory.

Being an expert doesn’t mean “Do what I

say.” Experts produce situations that bring

about change.

The ethics of problems: who benefits?

Who suffers?

Bring into existence a breakdown in a place

that matters, where people don’t realize a

problem exists, and be part of the story of

fixing it.

Ultimately, designers are offering the

capacity to produce a result. Which may not

be a thing, but a new situation.

Strategy is where we’re going. Tactics is how

we get there.

DAVIDPETERS problem solving

Then she went out and closed the door and I was alone with my soul dwindled to icy stillness at the densely compacted center of myself.

– Robert B. Parker, Valediction

The Ammann Chair is an aperiodic

tile conceived in 1977 by amateur

mathematician Robert Ammann. The

shape is derived from the square root

of the Golden Ratio (1.618),

approximately 1.272. The shape can

be continually divided into two

smaller identical shapes into infinity.

• http://tilings.math.uni-bielefeld.de/substitution_rules/ammann_chair (accessed 3 June 2010)• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ammann (accessed 3 June 2010)

2.1 The Balmond Dilemma

2.1.1 The Ammann Chair (poster)

2.1.2 The Ammann Chair (object)

6200

You’ve got to know why things work…

What is The Balmond Dilemma?

An idea is not enough.

62 63

Exercise One The Ammann Chair (poster) 0.5

THE BALMOND DILEMMA

APERIODIC TILINGAperiodic tiling is a mathematical tiling pattern where the shape tiles a plane with no periodic or repeating pattern.

The Ammann Chair is an example

of an aperiodic tile. Discovered in

1977, the dimensions use the

square root of The Golden Ratio

(or Phi ), enabling the tile to be

split into two smaller tiles of the

exact same shape. Repeated

splitting will create a pattern of

identical shapes, with no

discernible repetition.

64 65


THE BALMOND DILEMMA

Then she went out and

closed the door and I was

alone at the bar with my

soul dwindled to icy

stillness at the densely

compacted center of

myself.

The Ammann Chair is an aperiodic tile conceived in 1977 by

amateur mathematician Robert Ammann. The shape is derived

from the square root of the Golden Ratio (1.618), which is

approximately 1.272. The shape can be continually divided by

two smaller identical shapes into infinity.


ROBERT B. PARKER, Valediction

“Too literal… consider abstracting the figure in favor of the design elements and quotation…”

66



Trying too hard to be designer-yTHE BALMOND DILEMMA

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68 69

Exercise Two The Ammann Chair (object)

THE BALMOND DILEMMA

Building a three-dimensional model of a mathematical concept allows a designer to be aware of how an object interacts physically with its spatial environment. This is the initial reachings towards the ephemeral concept of “feel,” as in, “it feels good in the hand”—i.e., it becomes an object someone is willing to engage with consistently.

3.1 Field Agents

3.1.1 Mapping the Object Experience

3.1.2 Mapping the Environment

Experience

3.2 The Georges Island Project

6200

72 73

Exercise One Mapping the Object Experience (poster)

Naoto Fukasawa

“Good design is born of giving form to intuitive sense. Not overworking the design

means not leaving traces of the design. If you overdo the design it will touch the beholder’s consciousness.”

FIELD AGENTS

STUDY/SUBJECT INTEREST LEVEL COMPARISONSubject received

personal cloth accessory for use/evaluation

Subject doodles Batman on paper

cloth was wrapped around

GROOMINGSubject wipes child’s face with cloth over partner’s objection

Subject’s interest in evaluation/consideration

of human interaction with inanimate devices/objects

Subject user interest scale derived from baseline 100%, subject’s interest in/appreciation of caffeine

BUSBOY FLASHBACKSubject recalls early, horrible job; fold cloth into approximation of

table place setting (ineffective due to struc-

tural deficiencies of cloth)

PARENTAL ISSUESSubject recalls parent’s lifelong use of similar,

albeit less elegant, cloth

ACCESSORY FAILURESubject completely

forgets about cloth and related study; cloth rests comfortably in subject’s

rear pocket

10am 11am 12pm 1pm 2pm 6pm 7pm 12am 4am 10am

Subject’s likelihood of obtaining/using a

personal cloth accessory outside of

scope of study

Subject’s awareness that usefulness of experiment’s

method is not a valid metric for consideration,

and that tactile evaluation of an object is as much a

design goal as the generation of practical

data from study

Subject’s evaluation of experiment as a useful

method for consideration of human

interaction with inanimate

devices/objects

PERSONAL CLOTH ACCESSORY WEAR EXAMINATION& CONSIDERATION OF SCALE

Original & user-generated fold lines

Subject’s Hand(to scale)Desk grime

Unidentified soiling

PERSONAL CLOTH ACCESSORY USAGE PATTERNS IN A 24-HOUR PERIODPERSONAL CLOTH ACCESSORY USAGE PATTERNS IN A 24-HOUR PERIOD

Disjointed, boxy. Not enough integration of data between disparate visual elements; combine data into one cohesive visual narrative.

Subj

ect r

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pers

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clo

th a

cces

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fo

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/eva

luat

ion

GR

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PAR

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SUES

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and

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10am

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Exercise One Mapping the Object Experience (poster)

76 77

Exercise Two Mapping the Environment Experience (Kejimkujik)

List is good idea badly executed

Scale function of map is useless in this instance—so why is it an option?

Text overflow works poorly; extra returns in CMS cre-ate an empty More screen. Also, More text icon is tiny and intellectually conflicts with more info navbar link (which comes and goes without much rhyme or reason anyway.)

Text area scrollbar icons overlay copy!

Clunky graphics—very Super Mario Brothers.

Credit screen cheapens experience. We don’t see credits on websites before we get content.

Iconography—not intuitive. Better a cliche than some-thing incomprehensible.

Photo choices odd

Around Me option: not useful, as half of the options are things like turn right.

Two types of MORE options- which do different things

Aggravating that last line of text on a screen duplicates on next screen.

The invert screen option- why? What value to end user? Plus, photo crops to white screen - ugly, confusing, a little scary (‘here be monsters’).

User effort to page down is too much work for one line of copy. Content writers should test device on ground.

The device goes to sleep without warning—is it bro-ken?

A blank word bubble appears sometimes when tapping icons. (Also, the word bubble bitmapped and jagged and not even symmetrical in its ugliness.)

USER

INTE

RFAC

E

“Its like a website from 1998.”FIELD AGENTS

Device forces path direction, rather than allowing users to walk one way or the other-why?

Quiz: once answered, can only go back to hike through quiz? Which informs you you’ve already taken the quiz. Why no BACK option?

Only used device when it alerts; otherwise engaged with surrounding.

Video is awful; bad res, unclear, hard to watch, no audio controls, hard to exit

Audio seems to be used because they can; not especially enhancing.

What is purpose of device? Its not about not getting lost, as path is very obvious.

If purpose is informative, limited info is more frustrating than helpful. If user is interested, can’t get more info than device provides- we’re used to having access to ALL info online, so this is just frustrating. Presumption by park of foreknowledge of our interest level.

Audio narration at Pale Winged Gray (what?) is frustratingly brief and unclear.

(How much has the iPhone interface affected our perception of mobile devices?)

Currently pointing uphill but GPS says downhill.

Pull content is pathetic- needs to allow more user choice of information.

GPS unit locked up. Didn’t notice until we had passed several waypoints. After restart- lengthy and uncomfortable due to mosquitoes, GPS didn’t recognize that we were on trail and consequently missed another waypoint.

Sound? Why? Doesn’t much enhance experience.

Attempt to be inclusive by having native speaker read the native section a huge mistake, as speaker is ill suited for narration.

Theme (change) of walk not evident, even obliquely.

On return to start, devices tries to tell us how to start trail again. Not smart enough to know we’ve been there.

Bored. Not sure why we were told what we were told.

USER EXPERIENCE

78 79

Consider how the app phone model has influenced people’s perceptions of engaging with mobile devices. Be careful not to let device specs limit content —like Explora.

UI/UX design continues to be the primary failing of most mobiles devices. Do not presume familiarity with anything in interface design.

!

!FIELD AGENTS

“There’s an instant when form and behavior

connect beyond consciousness.”Naoto Fukasawa

If “what do we hate?” spawned the iPhone, what do we hate about devices/interfaces used in higher ed?

“Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should.” Never forget this. Don’t add a feature/image/bell or whistle simply because its an option. It must be compelled by mission or content.

!

!

80 81

Exercise Two Mapping the Environment Experience (Kejimkujik)

FIELD AGENTS

82 83

Exercise Three Mapping the Environment Experience (Georges Island)

Island is a drumlin (a mound of glacial drift)

Housed Acadian prisoners in barracks (1755-1763) during Acadian deportation

Officers w/families quarters- tiny, brick; fireplaces and stoves removed

Water brought from mainland by boat

After War of 1812, fort was rebuilt to prepare for conflict with the US. 4th version of fort; still there today.

Fort was tweaked in 1850 to accommodate RML (rifled muzzle-loading) cannons ( Britain again worried abt war with US during US Civil War.)

Manually operated submarine mine system established in 1880-90s

Mines stored in destroyed building at water’s edge

Controlled from island

Lighthouse keepers house built in 1916 (modified since)

Lighthouse built in 1876; current one built in 1919

Remote radar mast 1974

Caponiers lead from inner to outer defense rings

Ammunition storage(?) in underground chambers beneath gun emplacements (echo chambers!)

Intricate network of tunnels- dug first and buried to make underground emplacements

PC wondering how to make the site publicly accessible

How to cope with tourists? food/water/power/washrooms?

Beach dirty with harbor sewage

Weird compared to Keji- while less accessible by people, Georges is much more manmade feeling; interaction with island environment is almost secondary/superfluous

Keji= man interacting with nature; Georges= man reworking nature to his needs

FIELD AGENTS

84 85


Despite the emphasis on usability over all, texture can be used to inform the ineffable ‘feel’ of a thing. Remember Fukasawa.

!

FIELD AGENTS

86 87

Exercise Three Mapping the Environment Experience (Kejimkujik & Georges Island)

Unfocused and too literal all at once. Comparing the two physical shapes not a useful motif for abstract thinking. Just, weak.

THE ENVIRONMENT EXPERIENCE

KE

JIM

KU

JIK

Exp

lori

ng n

atur

e th

roug

h te

chno

log

y

Seriously?

Unprofessional and

irrelevant narration.

There’s supposed to

be a ‘theme’ here

somewhere.

Should we have known

something specific

before we came?

Why do I have to go

this way? Why can’t I

go the other way?

Truly awful UI

Graphics. Merely bad

UX interface design.

Device stops working.

No one notices for

50 meters.

Exercise Three Mapping the Environment Experience (Kejimkujik)

HA

LIFA

X.2

637k

m

HA

LIFA

X F

AR

ME

RS

MA

RK

ET

.812

6km

ATL

AN

TIC

SU

PERS

TORE

.873

7km

TIM

HO

RTO

N’S

.881

km

TIM HORTON’S

3.524km

TIM HORTON’S

5.178km

ZELLERS4.90km

NO

VA S

CO

TIA

CO

MM

UN

ITY

CO

LLEG

E2.

498k

mDA

RTM

OU

TH2.

498k

m

ALD

ER

NE

Y LA

ND

ING

2.75

4km

CFB

SHEA

RWAT

ER

4.37

5km

TIM H

ORTO

N’S

3.608km

TIM H

ORTON’S

25.576km

FORT MCNAB

5.998km

TIM

HO

RTON

’S

6.10

3km

NSC

AD

(DU

KE

STRE

ET)

1.50

6km

GE

OR

GE

S

IS

LA

ND


92 93

Phase B George’s Island Project

Preconceptions kill. Despite initial consideration of a tablet/slate style device, a second visit to the site made it clear that a smaller, lighter device would be more appropriate to the task.

!

What do people expect from a tour guide? What information might they wanto ask a person? Can that be plotted? Can it be built into an application? While we cannot presume to address every concern, a reasonable consideration will lead to a best-case process scenario.

THE GEORGES ISLAND PROJECT

94 95THE GEORGES ISLAND PROJECT

Look for patterns. Where can information be repurposed? How does the user interaction process work? How can design streamline the concern without reducing the experience?

96 97

Phase B George’s Island Project (User Interface Design)

• keep projected audience in mind without rejecting other possible users

• engage user with pull-interactivity

• Repurpose content in youth/family oriented context

• use augmented reality programming with GPS and camera to enhance walking tour

• make secondary information available but not requisite to experience

Remember!weight of devicesize of deviceuse conditions (indoor/outdoor)likely userspossible usersrepeat users

!

98 99

Slides should be succinct. They are there to reinforce what you have to say; not to put extra content in front of the audience to read—and therefore not pay attention to you and what you have to say.

Practice! Rehearse! Read aloud, rewrite and rehearse again. Presentations should seem easy, off-the-cuff, conversational—especially because they are not.

!

!

THE GEORGES ISLAND PROJECT

100 101THE GEORGES ISLAND PROJECT

4.1 Conceptual Thinking

4.2 Abstract draft (11 August, 2010)

4.3 Bibliography

4.4 Project Poster

thesis

104 105

Good design is innovative

Good design makes a product useful

Good design is aesthetic

Good design makes a product understandable

Good design is unobtrusive

Good design is honest

Good design is long-lasting

Good design is thorough down to the last detail

Good design is environmentally friendly

Good design is as little design as possible

Dieter RamsTHESIS

What is my question?

If user interface design will infuence nearly every aspect

of our lives in the future that starts yesterday, why aren’t

we training these designers in school? Why is a job a better

training ground than a school for a UI designer? Does it have

to be either or? Can design craft a system that will offer a

less binary choice for UI designers?

106 107

Thesis Notes

Managing the instructors’ need to engage with theory in the face of having to produce something tangible may be the trickiest part of things here.

!THESIS

“The culture of large educational institutions has, in my

experience, consistently proven itself unable to cope with

the demands of such a varied and fast-moving industry. I

know many good people are trying, but I’ve yet to see

anyone come out of a university program knowing what

they’d need to know in order for us to hire them.”

James Archer

110 111

Abstract How Will an Improved System of User Interface Design Education Link Traditional Design Education with a New Generation of Non-Traditional Design Learners?

THESIS

User interface design (UI design) may be one of the most important emerging design

fields of the 21st Century. The continual engagement of the populace with screens of

one form or another, from phones to bank machines to computers to cars, demands

greater attention from design education. UI designers do not merely craft attractive visual

affordances, but map the patterns of use that both engage and streamline the user’s

conversation with devices and as a result, the world around them.

It is a given that such devices will only continue to integrate into everyday life.

Simultaneously, as a new generation of post-secondary students begins to pursue user

interface design, and the traditional paradigms of design education begin to break down,

design will bring an improved system of communication to bear on these challenges. These

paradigms may no longer serve current models of learning and creativity, or encourage

the expansive thinking requisite to the ever-changing field of UI design. How will the

next generation of teacher cope with and nurture a generation of students whose lives are

so ingrained with multiple disparate simultaneous communication inputs that they can

maintain event-specific awareness without losing focus?

Higher design education, with techniques rooted in the 19th Century, is failing the next

generation of UI designers. Even anecdotally our universities are not able to keep pace with

the tremendous evolution of UI design. UI design is a discipline in its infancy, focusing on

concerns undreamt of a decade ago, and may be the only commercial design field where self-

taught creators and not design research institutions drive advances. While it can be argued

that eventually the pace of the field will normalize and allow for an advanced discourse,

it cannot be assumed that it will happen before an entire generation of designers have

learned their craft not from design institutions but from the reactive and reflexive needs of

business and industry. While user interface design in its infancy could have been argued to

be more tradecraft than design skill, the advancement of the medium into multiple delivery

platforms—traditional computers, phones, tablets, game consoles, and those devices yet

undefined—demands more consideration and inclusion from higher education.

In my own experience, higher education is doing a poor job of engaging and inculcating

UI designers, emphasizing skills and methodologies valuable but not useful on immediate

surface consideration for contemporary needs. Why are design institutions not embracing

the generation of UI designers who forsake traditional skillset models for improvised

learning? How will design institutions reach these students? How does education address the

fact that, according to many professionals, design schools do not teach the skills required to

succeed in UI design? How does higher ed convince the self-taught and successful working

professional that the skills and abilities taught in design school are relevant and valuable to

his field?

Education can already be delivered by a non-localized, asynchronous means. In

addition to current portable computers and modern cellular phones of tremendous

multimedia capacity, the tablet platform seems poised as a viable and useful tool for students

and educators alike. How could content be presented through such devices be made useful to

112 113

learning UI design in the future? Could a design system be wrought to exploit the prevalence

of such devices in the 21st Century?

If we accept the paradigm of current online courses as a stepping stone for the future,

what possibilities occur for student/educator interaction in UI design education? How

could students be directed toward enriching and expanded tangential topics from their

base assignments? How can design educators provide the richest, most expansive range of

subject-specific knowledge to students? Further, what is the future of digital connections

in ever-evolving critique and feedback affordance opportunities? Could such technologies

define and expand a virtual studio culture, exploring new ways to connect students to each

other, faculty to students and the group as a whole?

User interface design education will inevitably embrace the Personal Learning

Environment (PLE) concept, wherein students connect with lessons, research material,

other students and instructors all in a non linear fashion. As a virtual learning experience

might be utilized to expand upon or even serve as replacement for the traditional studio

culture of physical design schools, how could a considered, designed system of information

management enhance the learning environment?

Should a UI design-centric PLE could embrace such advantages as peer-to-peer

connections and social networking to foster structured learning, serving to enhance rather

than supplant the already widespread ad-hoc network of peer-made tutorials already

online? This continually evolving network of tutorial and training data is the starting point

for learning for many working professionals. A UI design PLE would furthermore give

formal credibility to online creative learning and begin to engage already technologically

savvy students with more structured design learning, while embracing the craft-and-theory

approach of traditional schools in an entirely new way. How much value could be placed on

the ability to bring traditional design theory in a new way to to a new audience not limited by

geographic or scheduling constraints?

By accepting the possibilities for user interface design education through portable

devices and the contemporary concepts of remote or low-residency education, it should be

possible to design a system of improved data exchange and review, focused on user interface

design education. Without addressing educational techniques or evolving curricula, such

a designed system could enable an improved learning process for UI design. That system

could then be applied to a future discoursive model of learning, to address challenges in

the delivery and analysis of user interface design education for the benefit of both future

students and educators.

THESIS

Anderson, E., DeBolt, V., Featherstone, D., Gunther, L., Jacobs, D. R.,

Jensen-Inman, L., et al. (2010). InterACT with web standards: A holistic

approach to web design New Riders Press.

Blog the web | teach the web. Retrieved 7/4/2010, 2010, from http://

www.teachtheweb.com/blog/

Bounce – A fun and easy way to share ideas on a website. Retrieved

7/4/2010, 2010, from http://www.bounceapp.com/

Elearnspace. learning management systems: The wrong place to start

elearning. Retrieved 7/4/2010, 2010, from http://www.elearnspace.org/

Articles/lms.htm

Forget design thinking and try hybrid thinking | fast company. Retrieved

7/4/2010, 2010, from http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/dev-patnaik/

innovation/forget-design-thinking-and-try-hybrid-thinking

From toy to tool: Cell phones in learning. Retrieved 7/4/2010, 2010, from

http://www.cellphonesinlearning.com/

The ideal collaboration toolset for distributed workers. Retrieved

7/4/2010, 2010, from http://www.ferris.com/2005/01/02/the_ideal_

colla/

Johnson, S. (2006). Everything bad is good for you Riverhead Trade.

A list apart: Articles: Elevate web design at the university level. Retrieved

7/4/2010, 2010, from http://www.alistapart.com/articles/elevate-web-

design-at-the-university-level/

The web standards project. Retrieved 7/4/2010, 2010, from http://www.

webstandards.org/

Bibliography to date

Thesis Project Proposal Poster

process

mdes 2010/2011

patrick foster

fall 2010

6112 4.1 Timeline

4.2 IDEO’s 5 Whys

4.3 On Glimmer

4.4 Thesis plan presentation 1.0

4.4.1 Thesis plan presentation 2.0

4.5 Thesis surveys

6114 5.1 Modernism 2.0

5.3 Design in Crisis

5.4 Multiverso

5.5 Midterm: On the readings

5.6 New Reading Spaces

5.7 Work Ethics

5.8 Slow Times

5.9 Patronising Prada

5.10 Speach, Writing, Print…

5.11 After Digital…

5.12 Boredom, b’dum b’dum…

6600 6.1 Dérive

6.2 Four Days in Halifax

6.3 Calendar

6.4 Personal Spaces

6.5 Self-portrait

THESIS 10.1 Conceptual thinking

10.2 Abstract

10.2.5 Rationale

10.3 Bibliography

10.4 Project Poster

APPENDIX

Specified Outcomes Document

4.1 Timeline

4.2 IDEO’s 5 Whys

4.3 On Glimmer

4.4 Thesis plan presentation 1.0

4.4.1 Thesis plan presentation 2.0

4.5 Thesis surveys

6112

8

Timeline Fall 2010

6112 thesis research proposal

9

Managing a timeline is vital. Juggling multiple projects in multiple classes demands organization and tools. The process by which you do so should be what works for you, not neccesarily for anyone else.

10

IDEO’s Five Whys


11

Methodology drives process. Pay attention to steps, stages.

How will methodology influence research? Should it? Avoid preconceptions!

12

On ’Glimmer’

Buzzwords aside, a great book; makes clear the potential for design to have influence beyond simple communication design (obvious internally but hard to articulate.)

13

The first chapter of Warren Berger’s Glimmer: How Design Can Transform Your Life, and

Maybe Even the World (Random House Canada, 2009) introduces the game-changing nature

of his concepts in ‘Ask Stupid Questions.’ The chapter also introduces the book’s focus,

designer Bruce Mau and the concept of transformation design.

Berger take the reader though a deceptively leisurely introduction to Mau, explaining

what designers really do—“Does it have to be a lightbulb?” (Berger, 2009, p. 23)— and

contrasting that with how designers are perceived as stylists. He explains Mau’s “stupid

questions”, the concept that by asking questions dismissed or ridiculed by experts or the

experienced users designer may then arrive at entirely new ways of perceiving a situation.

Paula Scher of Pentagram says: “From ignorance, you can come up with something that is so

out of left field that it has been ignored or was never considered a possibility” (Berger, 2009,

p. 25).

Berger then explores the very definitions of design, and makes the reader aware of how

designers perceive their work, often in contrast to the perception of the general public.

The “disconnect” between professional and public perception leads to the perceptual gap

between design and style. While style remains vital to design, “design is not only about

appearances” (Berger, 2009, p. 31). The move from “objects o objectives” (Berger, 2009,

p. 36) is the central theme of the work. Berger uses Mau’s work as a microcosm of the

transformation design movement.

Transformation design is the motivation behind Mau, and the driving thrust of the book.

Berger explains transformation design as simply, “the move beyond creating ‘things’ and to

begin orchestrating ‘experiences’.” (Berger, 2009, p. 37.) This attention to experience design

is a new facet of design for the general public, and Berger skillfully presents the conceptual

tenets of the movement without being bogged down in excess detail. If in fact there is a bit

too much glossing over of detail in places, better to fault the author for creating a better user

experience through clarity than for inattention.

Berger is obviously enamored of his subjects—Mau and transformation design—and

that passion is reflected in his writing in this selection. He does a fine job of presenting

discordant viewpoints, although it could be argued he does minimize their impact perhaps

more than one ought. Berger does a terrific job of making both the history of “modern”

design clear and introducing big players—Milton Glaser, Clement Mok, Paula Sher, Michael

Bierut, Mau— and their differing positions on design to the public. Berger also does a

credible job of presenting the opening theme of his work: how can design impact the world?

Citing examples from OXO to Citibank, Berger makes it clear that design can significantly

impact lives from the individual to the collective with equal measure.

Berger’s conclusion to that effect is well-founded, and well-written. His motivating

question (Mau’s really)—”How can a designer make a difference in people’s lives?” (Berger,

2009, p. 44)— promises to be explored in greater depth in the balance of the text. Based on

this excerpt, that text is well worth pursuing.

14

Thesis Practice Presentation 1.0

“It may be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others.”

Drivel. Or at least too dependant on the spoken narrative to work without me accompanying it everywhere to read it aloud.


16

Thesis Practice Presentation 2.0


Vastly improved. While I stand by opinion that presentations shouldn’t stand alone (without actually being presented), I can see argument for the ability to share presentations after the fact for reference. How to reconcile?

Citations! Cite everything; explain everything. NO leaps of logic in narrative; what’s obvious to me isn’t to anyone else.

18 6112 thesis research proposal

19

Marlene saw something she liked in this process slide, although I’m unsure what. Perhaps it should be obvious to me by now, but its not yet.

20 6112 thesis research proposal

Thesis Research Surveys

21

These surveys will—hopefully—let me get some actual hands-on data about people’s reaction online course environments, especially in relation to visual design courses like ‘communication design’ or ‘web design.’

I’m not entirely sure what I’m expecting to find out here—which I guess is the whole point. Preconceptions and all that. With any luck, the reactions I get from people will trigger something unforseen in my head. Like Rudi says, collect data, present it, and see what new presents itself. I already got a few answers from my initial test run that I didn’t see coming. Hopefully the full run will generate more thinking like that.

5.1 Modernism 2.0

5.3 Design in Crisis/Shock & Awe

5.4 Multiverso/This page is no longer…

5.5 Midterm: On the readings

5.6 New Reading Spaces

5.7 Work Ethics

5.8 Slow Times

5.9 Patronising Prada

5.10 Speach, Writing, Print…

5.11 After Digital…

5.12 Boredom, b’dum b’dum…

6114

Shock & AweThe Politics of Consumption

CULTURALZEITGEIST

REFLEXIVE& REACTIVE

DESIGN

TOOLS OFTHE MOMENT(CGI; RapidPrototyping)

USERREACTION

(OFTEN)LEFTIST

CRITIQUE

FINISHEDPRODUCT

CULTURALZEITGEIST

REFLEXIVE& REACTIVE

DESIGN


USERREACTION

(OFTEN)LEFTIST

CRITIQUE

FINISHEDPRODUCTFINISHEDPRODUCT

24 6114 situated design

Modernism 2.0 and its reflective companion, Designers of Possibility, address the

assertions by Nicolas Bourriaud, M/M(Paris) and others that modernism has fallen to

altermodern, or ‘after modern’ an amalgamated blending of cross-cultural input and

design’s reaction to such inputs.

Based, among others things, on Bourriaud’s Altermodern at the Tate Britain, the

authors try to discover how design will manage the great many cultural threads converging

in modern communication and society. This ‘creolization’ of many divergent visual

and textural cultural inputs will lead ultimately to a new visual language or shared

consciousness, similar to—but vastly denser to— the way a brand identity gradually becomes

instantly recognizable the world over– such as Nike, or Apple. for example.

But is there value to melding of art and art criticism with design? The authors argue

that design is already absorbing these inputs, to produce design as much as to engage the

viewer. Using M/M(Paris) as an example where “art, design and fashion communities meet”,

they assert that, while the blending of these fields is common, that M/M(Paris)’s conscious

use of these techniques in an overt way may be a new way for designers to consider their

craft. The counterpoint article proposes that this new way of designers will lead to the titular

‘designers of possibility’, enabling new ways of considering design and its implications to

the greater society at large.

The article concludes saying “The art world looks at the way artists answer his questions.

What will happen when the design world asks the same of designers too?” How, the article

asserts, can design ignore the possibilities of this cultural visual creolization to generate new

data in new an unexpected way?

To which I can only respond, enough. I weary so of the unimagined possibilities of yet

another way to consider information, to glean new insight from data collected, from columns

of figures and rows of facts. How much data is enough? Michael Bierut defines design as

“a plan to make something, for a specific purpose, with a specific audience in mind.” If we

accept this as a reasonable definition, than the aggregation of random data, unforeseen and

unconsidered until it suddenly appeared as if conjured from a top hat in this new cross-

cultural visualization, may not only be irrelevant or secondary but a hindrance to design as

well. The line between design and art blurs constantly with no ill effect on either side, but

this blended mix of Bourriaud’s leaves little room for pragmatism or even usefulness, which

I would argue is the ultimate definition of design: to end up with something that is useful.

It could be argued that the surprise data collected from one’s searching may indeed end up

being useful, but it seems as likely it will not be.

Likewise the counterpoint article’s reference to semiotics and ‘semionauts’ seems

disingenuous at best and harmful at worst. Semiotics relies on cultural awareness; the

knowledge that white, for instance, is the color of matrimony in the Western world and the

color of death in the East (which leads to a joke for another day.) If we accept this cross-

cultural pollution that the article endorses then semiotics become useless as a tool beyond

the abstract consideration of a media.

This confusing blended insistence on both cross-cultural absorption and the useful

validity of semiotic theory leads the discussion in two different and conflicting directions.

Which may well have been the point.

Modernism 2.0

Designers of Possibility

Limited Language: Rewriting

Design (2010)

Birkhauser

25

Timeline

Timeline/glossary seems a useful way to force class to engage with unknowns, but eventual use? Hard to see great value beyond superficial.

26

The two readings for this week consider design’s cultural impact in the commercial

world. Design in Crisis reflects simply—and blessed concisely—that design has spread so far

and wide that the simple or necessary workings of the past, such as reconstructive surgery,

have evolved rapidly past what must be done into a realm of what might be done. The

advance of the digital world, driven by the use by and ingenuity of designers, has pushed

the ability of creation far faster than anyone could have foreseen. The adage “Just because

you can do something, doesn’t mean you should,” has never rung more true.

Shock and Awe considers design’s reaction to the (eventually politicized) military tactical

theory advanced in the mid-1990s. The design community embraced shock and awe, both

overtly and theoretically. The simple has given way to the overabundance of things—if one is

good, hundreds must be better. If large is good, then huge must be better!

Design driven by this theory may be perceived, the authors argue, as inherently right-

wing or conservative. The counterargument, though, that the designer’s intent cannot be

divined from the finished piece, is vital if often ignored. The artist must remain separate

from his work; in fact, becoming aware of a creator’s personal views often paints a thing in a

completely different and often unpleasant light.

The authors further state that the intellectual presumption that criticism of emotionally

incendiary objects, such as Suck UK’s 3 Guns Table Vase, must come from a slightly left

perspective, may well be in error. The end user, bereft of foreknowledge of the creator’s

intent, will likely interpret a thing based on their own experiences, rather than according to

some ordained cultural zeitgeist.

Perceptions vary. The designer’s mandate, to create, either for art or commerce, is driven

by their tools and their surrounding. One person’s reaction to plastic toy soldiers—evoking

nostalgic memories of backyard conflicts and comic book ads—may counter completely

another’s—invading real soldiers and bombs and death. How people perceive a thing is on

their own heads; a designer’s work is to craft, not to editorialize.

It seems apparent to me that the work of a designers must be influenced by their

environs and origins, but at the same time, a work must stand apart from the designer and

be judged—and perceived—on its own successes or failings. One can no more separate the

Humvee from the early 2000s than one could remake Dr. Strangelove today. How a culture in

turn interprets, adapts and utilizes the advances of design—either through the advances of

CGI in filmmaking, or the use of rapid prototyping in physical object or interaction design—

can no more be laid at the feet of the innovating designers than can a squirrel be blamed for

acorns on the sidewalk.

Design in Crisis

Shock & Awe


Design (2010)

Birkhauser

6114 situated design

27

Timeline

28

Diagram Shock & Awe

Shock & AweThe Politics of Consumption

CULTURALZEITGEIST

REFLEXIVE& REACTIVE

DESIGN


USERREACTION

(OFTEN)LEFTIST

CRITIQUE

FINISHEDPRODUCT

CULTURALZEITGEIST

REFLEXIVE& REACTIVE

DESIGN


USERREACTION

(OFTEN)LEFTIST

CRITIQUE

FINISHEDPRODUCTFINISHEDPRODUCT


29

This seems to be my term for Venn diagrams and circles; I can’t get the motif out of my head (or my game). Maybe a reaction to my usual boxiness (screen design)?

A decent enough chart, although unclear without explanation or having done the reading. Is that a downside? Or awareness of the audience?

30

These two readings address the implications of technology’s impact on our daily lives.

This page… discusses how language may no longer hold our connections together so much

as the gestures of interaction with a computer do. Ironically, the very gestures referenced—

mouse over, mouse down—no longer apply in touch screen devices, and can be seen as

the next stage in the list of connections the author posits as vanishing under the evolution

of communications. Multiverso continues this argument, examining how the connections

to technology in our daily lives have leapt from the screen and into very connections of

economy, politics and trade. The hyperlink examined in This page… may well have begun

as a connection between two files on a computer, but the contemporary reality is that

everything is hyperlinked in some way—often, it seems by money.

This page… also looks at narrative structure; much like a Choose Your Own Adventure

book from our youth, the internet has broken down our collective agreement to process data

in one direction and freed the mind to consider input from multiple directions, in multiple

directions. It has been argued that this fragmentation of narrative, combined with the

ready access to what seems to be every single fact that has ever been, is rewriting how our

brains process data. While this is beyond the scope of this consideration, the possibility that

technology is forcing an evolutionary shift in our thinking patterns seems both apparent and

a little frightening.

The shifting of global markets as a result of this colossal and unending, ever-updating

stream of data is likewise apparent. As Multiverso considers, the links —hyperlinks?—

between technology and global commerce are becoming more and more entwined—and are

simultaneously made more tenuous through the entwining. The near-instant availability

of data affects commerce–and as a result, design— in ways unforeseen as little as ten years

ago, The idea of a singular experience of design, particular to a culture or nation, is lost

when an IKEA ad aimed at a European market can be seen on YouTube moments after airing

in France.

How does this rapid dispersal of information impact designers? Users of design? The

audience for design? The obvious impact is on creativity. Work inspired by one’s peers is

a common thread in design, but when a critic can immediately cite the original sources of

a concept, what impact does that critique have on the work? How many original ideas can

be wrought without considering the conscious or unconscious sources of inspiration of the

designer? Where does plagiarism begin and homage end?

Likewise, if all the information that has ever been is always available, how do people

learn new things rather than regurgitate the old? How can we reconnect with our spaces,

with our families and friends, our world, when we are always faced with a screen of some

sort? Phones, for example, have gone from being merely phones, to offering the ability to

connect to our online presence, to aggressively pushing online data at us at every second of

the day.

The ability to disconnect—to encourage disconnection— may be the most important

design skill we have yet to master as a society.

Multiverso

This page is no longer on the

server…


Design (2010)

Birkhauser


31

Timeline

32

Improving Distance Education Systems for Learning UI Design; and the Impact of the

Readings

Considering the volume of reading thus far in the term, I’m dismayed to find that not

one of them had informed my thesis to any great extent. I’m even more greatly disappointed

in the book itself. While Limited Language: Rewriting Design purports to bring a new

perspective to design writing and to contemporary understanding of design, the actual text

frustrates. Seemingly a collection of provocative and often contradictory arguments, with no

apparent purpose other than to provoke debate without any sense of real conviction on the

part of the respective authors, the actual book appears to be only the metaphorical argument

for the sake of it.

Let’s examine The Problem with Design (Limited Language, 2010) as an example. The

authors’ contempt for design as problem solving is manifest in quotes like “one person’s

problem is another’s home or fight for freedom or mean’s of transport.” Why such disdain?

Problem-solving is certainly not the only tenet of design; indeed, modern designers address

ethical and moral dilemmas on a regular basis. The idea that designers are merely “cultural

beautician or plastic surgeon” isn’t just disingenuous, its contemptuous as well. Its not,

the authors seem to say, that designers don’t do enough; its more that designers don’t do

enough of what the authors think they should.

Even more dismay is heaped upon design in the name of commerce. Ignoring for the

moment that designers must pay rent and feed their families, just like (apparently more

noble) factory workers or farmers, the authors seem to imply that designers should shoulder

more worthy causes and work less to enrich the corporate coffers. Discounting the heaping

helping of Western liberal guilt implied there, the idea that design for commercial purposes

is somehow unworthy of working designers is frankly offensive. The authors argue that

design should tackle small problems in tiny increments—seemingly ignoring the fact

that many designers wake up every day and do just that. While the giant achievements of

design–the iPad, say—are celebrated in the press, the small steps—little improvements in

everyday things—get no notice at all.

In my thesis, I’m exploring how design, in all the meanings of the word, can be used to

create better non-localized learning environments, for teaching design. Does my thesis meet

the authors’ standards? Or would it be more worthy if I was crafting a learning environment

to teach science to children using the OLPC laptops in sub-Saharan Africa?

Probably. But everything I know about science I learned from Mr. Spock. On the other

hand, if I can create a model of distance learning that’s fluid enough to be repurposed,

maybe someone who does know something real about science—or math, or engineering, or

medicine—can use it to create those learning experiences. Swinging for the fences makes for

dramatic television, but terrible baseball.

The authors say: “If only designers could stop measuring the impact of design solely on

how big the problem is. Instead, wouldn’t it be better if they focused on how important the

question is?” (Limited Language, 2010, p. 23)

What tripe. It’s not how important the question is that matters. What matters is who the

question is important to—the individual or group that design affects should be the focus

of design, along with how the design in question will impact that group. That’s what the

authors miss, and that’s what my thesis will focus upon.

Midterm: On the readings


34

I’m certain that Max Bruinsma’s New Reading Spaces was well-thought out and

contemporary about ten minutes ago, but it’s the future now: you can’t stand still that

long. Facetiousness aside, the reading makes a good argument for essentially everything

that web developers, the advent of HTML5, CSS3 , @font-face web fonts and Apple’s iPad

have brought to bear in the last 6 months. Bruinsma’s case for a truly interactive reading

experience, rather than the point-and-click/mouseover interaction of the early web is so

eerily prescient as to make one believe in time travel.

The interactive typographic design of material published for Apple’s iPad, such as the

brilliantly clever Alice in Wonderland (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gew68Qj5kxw),

or the pleasant reading experience of any of the e-ink readers, like Kindle, Nook or Kobo,

make it apparent that end users—is reader still the right term?—are willing to embrace

variable degrees of designerly cleverness in enhanced experiences with text. I take issue,

though, with the conceit that readers will only embrace this sort of blinking, whirling

engagement with text. The idea that Shakespeare can be expanded upon by embedded video

of performances or referential annotations can be taken as a given—but is it truly enhanced?

Does anyone really think that the original work needs bells and whistles? Or is the sort of

interactive design postulated by the author the text-based equivalent of cruise control, air

conditioning and leather bucket seats?

As a life-long reader, I can see the advantages of expanded annotative material in text,

especially historical or non-fiction works. I can also see the advantage of forcing user

interaction as a way to expand user engagement with a text they’re reluctant to read, as

anyone who plowed thought A Tale of Two Cities in 8th grade will attest. But as a designer

and a reader, I object to the idea that future readers—by which I mean, next year—will only

engage with the written word through this sot of A/V stimuli. The argument in Print vs.

screen for a “wreader” that “is a welcome guest of hypertext” (Limited Language, 2010, p.

270) is glib 21st century argument in favor of Choose Your Own Adventure books. Expanded

content is not always enhanced content.

As demonstrated by IDEO’s The Future of the Book conceptual presentation (http://

vimeo.com/15142335), there are tremendous advantages to expanded and enhanced books

delivered electronically. Its equally possible that a well designed printed book can be argued

as an even more enhanced experience for the reader. Can an iPad or a Kindle replicate the

smell of paper and ink or the tactile sensations of a physical book? I think not—but I can also

see a generation in the not too near future for whom physical books are as quaint as vinyl

records or video cassettes, a sort of “pre-digital data storage and retrieval unit.” The future’s

engagement with digital content—text, video, art or some combination of all three—is

inevitable. Its up to designers to make it worthwhile, and not merely the next gimmick.

New Reading Spaces

Print vs. Screen


Design (2010)

Birkhauser


35

Timeline

36

Mario Moura presents yet another essay in this book that can’t quite figure out what

it’s talking about. Is it about the ethical considerations of design and designers? or about

the manipulation of designers by the needs of business? Is it an indictment of designers’

carefully guarded ability to segregate work and conscience? Or is it a warning call, a siren to

alert us as designers that the business community is controlling us?

Who can tell? And frankly, who cares? Moura’s work is unfocused and pretty obvious to

any designer who’s worth the name.

I’m fascinated, though, by the consideration of ethics in design—by which I mean, quite

clearly, the need for designers to balance their own consciences with the needs of their

client. Where is the line? Should a designer refuse work from Smith & Wesson? Or Hustler?

Or the U.S. Democratic Party?

How does a designer balance the needs of his craft—to create—and his life—to create

for profit—with his own sense of self worth? Are ethics in this context sliding scale? Do you

accept work you’d rather not when you’re starting out? Does the sheer quality of your design

work for Smith & Wesson offset the fact that someone’s going to look at your portfolio and

cringe that you did a gun ad? If not for the portfolio piece, how about the money? Is the fact

that the rent is due enough for you to swallow your personal considerations and design an

ad for a device designed essentially for killing? How about a website that could be argued to

exploit women?

What role should your personal convictions play in the work you accept or refuse? At

what point do your own objections to a client or their product outweigh your need to work?

Should a designer’s gender, or religion, or political views impact their work? Obviously

those views will impact the sort of clients a designer can attract, but does the need to be

comfortable with the work you produce make an impact in a designer’s business dealings?

How a designer addresses this dilemma is worth consideration. Everyone needs to make

a living, pay rent, buy food and gas, and at the same time, everyone needs to be able to

look at themselves in the mirror without flinching. A designer has the ability to detach from

their work—I’m not promoting violence, I’m advertising a well-machined product—but they

must also be willing to consider their own views, not in the design itself but in the project.

If a designer has ethical issues with S&W or Playboy, don’t take the work—it ought to be

that simple. There’s a solid argument that indifference or unawareness of a product makes

a better environment for a designer; some of my best work starting out was for a Christian

church, to which I remain more or less hostile on a conceptual level. However, I was able to

respect the passion and honesty of the people involved and take on the work.

It seems ultimately that a designer should have some level of comfort with the client

and their product before accepting the work. What hat level is remains up to the individual

designer. If you wouldn’t want to stand next to your client in a photo, you probably

shouldn’t accept the project. The time to take a moral stand is before you cash the check.

Work Ethics

How much of this can we take?


Design (2010)

Birkhauser


37

Timeline

38

This week’s reading addresses—in a way—addresses the inevitable outcome of mankind’s

progress: as the industrial age gave way to the digital age, data, even life itself comes too

quickly at us, past us and away without time to reflect or often, even participate.

While the reading compares the pressure of the onscreen existence with the more

naturalistic perception of time through the daily sun cycle, the argument is made that

the advent of railroads not only formalized times, to maintain schedules, but quickened

our perception of life, with vistas speeding by us. The reading further argues that as the

mechanical ability to move things—either by train, car or in a factory assembly line—has

shifted our awareness of time, making us more and more connected not to the now but to the

infinite possibilities of next.

The argument is made, of course, that people should slow down, experience life in a

more harmonious way, and the reading mentioned the Slow Food movement as an example.

The reading doesn’t necessarily make a compelling argument that quickened perceptions

of reality is a bad thing, except as seen through the eyes of someone who perspective

includes a slower time. Do children born in 1990, coming of age in the internet age, react the

same way to sensory input? Is it as hard for them to parse the “one thousand” suggestions

for restaurants in Athens as it is for the woman cited in the example? While generations

obviously have baseline reactions founded in their initial experiences with life, is it possible

that the evolution of our awareness of time/speed simply cannot ever keep pace? Did Cro

Magnon man awake to the rising of the sun to somewhere in his small brain bemoan the fact

that he didn’t have time to hunt for meat yesterday and will now have to add it to today’s list

of goals for survival? It could be argued that we are always affected by our perceptions of

time, and the only shift generationally has been the starting point; that is, what we consider

to be the “normal” speed in our formative consciousness.

If only there were more time to consider this.

Slow Times

The Slow Fast


Design (2010)

Birkhauser


39

Timeline

40

Can art sponsored by a corporation—or any entity—be critical of that entity? Or does the

art become co-opted by that entity as a means to its own ends? That’s the question posed by

this week’s reading.

The starting positions presuppose several things. First, that art that utilizes corporate

imagery must in fact be engaging with that corporation critically. Second, that a corporation

cannot sponsor art without influencing the artist, and by extension, the artist’s end

product. And third, that the viewers of said art will be influenced by the art to look upon

the corporation’s end product in the manner that the corporation prefers—most likely,

favorably.

The public viewer of art is likely to describe themselves as a savvy connoisseur, able to

perceive the artist’s twist of the corporate imagery and appreciate the ironic nose tweak

of the poor corporation helpless to prevent its imager from being co-opted for the sake of

art. That may be the perception, but in the age of focus groups, psychographic profiling

and Google, isn’t it just as likely that the art patron—and perhaps the artist as well—has

fallen victim to a LeCarré-style bit of manipulation. Isn’t it just as likely that corporate

image makers have suborned the artist—and through them the audience—to generate more

publicity for the corporation, this time reaching the previously unreachable “too hip to be

manipulated by advertising” crowd?

Maybe.

Which leads us to the question of whether an artist’s work must be critical. While it can

be argued that art that uses corporate imagery as its foundation must be forming some sort

of commentary upon the source material, it does not necessarily lead to criticism of that

source. And isn’t art that features a corporation’s logo that isn’t critical in some way just

advertising?

Does Thom Sachs’ Prada Toilet make a critical statement about Prada? Or is it tacitly

endorsing Prada? Or both? Or neither? Who can say with certainty? Even Sachs is likely to be

uncertain of his original intent by now. The argument that any art that features corporate or

commercial iconography must be critical in some way of the entity seems specious.

Can a corporation sponsor art that is conceptually segregated from its own interests?

While it seems possible to do so, through grants or foundations, it seems less likely that a

corporation would gladly write a check to an artist who would paint—metaphorically—the

business in a bad light. The blending of corporate interests—the idealized “good corporate

citizen”— and art seems a problematic and tricky business, and probably one best avoided

by the average business.

The idea of a corporation co-opting artistic “criticism” as a tool of marketing, however,

may be a clever way to engage a market unserved by traditional advertising practices. The

line grows ever thinner.

Patronising Prada

Critical Effects


Design (2010)

Birkhauser


42

Does typography serve content, or is it an element on its own? Speech, Writing, Print...

by Michael Clarke considers the impact of the written word versus spoken word, but its

consideration of typography as design element is what makes for fertile contemplation.

In an idealized world, typography could seamlessly serve both masters, being a

wonderful design element, carefully conceived and lovingly rendered; and as invisible

conduit of information, delivering content in an appealing yet unseen way. In practicality,

the line betwixt the two is very thin and easily trampled.

Hoes does a designer address typography? In school, designers are taught to subordinate

typographic design to the written word, forcing a focus upon content delivery. In this

way, type itself is suborned to the intent of the author, not the designer; ideal type in this

scenario will encourage the reading of the content without overtly alerting the reader to

the type design. Experimental type design shifts attention to the type itself, where the font

face is deconstructed and becomes a visual element that draws its support from the content

instead of vice versa. Made popular by David Carson and Ray Gun magazine, distressed or

deconstructed unconventional typography lent an air of fresh thinking and new ideas to

design layouts, where the type itself is the primary element on the page irregardless of the

written content.

How does typography influence perception of content? From the erratic stylings of Ezra

Pound to a modern newspaper, typographic design at its simplest takes the spoken word and

preserves it for a larger audience. Arguments in favor of less or more design in typography,

from Eric Gill to Gyorgy Kepes, are useful only in the abstract. Ideology will never sway

the masses when technology has already done so: the advent of the desktop computer and

desktop publishing software tools, following close on the heels of the electronic typesetter,

has already broken typography from the hands of the artistes and delivered it for general

use. While obviously this has brought some horrific work to the printed page, it has also

increased awareness of typography and its principles to a larger audience than ever before.

This consciousness of typography can only benefit design, and all of these stylings—good or

ill—give readers more cognizance of the impact of typography on their environment.

Eric Gill argues that the failure of the printed page to leave a physical impression on the

user is a failure of culture. Despite this, the physical printed page has been joined in the

information delivery market by ebook readers, tablets and computers. Rapidly moving away

from their egregious typographic origins, onscreen type of all sorts has blossomed in recent

years, embracing its printed page origins and promising an enhanced data experience as a

sort of consolation for their lack of true tactile haptics.

Traditionalists will continue to bemoan the ever-evolving use of type, and the failings

of desktop publishing to adhere to traditional and classical standards of typography.

Regardless, the evolution of type has moved from solely content delivery, to design accent,

to some combination of the two. As readers continue to engage with the written word in

multiple ways, through multiple means of access, the ability of type to convey both the

literal and symbolic meaning of the words in question will continue to evolve to benefit us

all.

Speech, Writing, Print…

Serifs and Conduits


Design (2010)

Birkhauser


43

Timeline

44

The arguments that the new “digital”—which is still an adjective, no matter how much

the authors wish it were a noun—is both untested and unstoppable, that we have no idea

of how it will impact our lives, or our children’s lives, and that the implications for both the

creative industry and the general public are unforeseeable, seem, well, obvious.

The parallels drawn with the Victorian age’s discomfort with the Industrial Revolution

are well considered. And given the state of industry today, the authors’ arguments that

the digital revolution will eventually go poorly seem valid on the surface. However, prior

performance doesn’t predict future outcomes. The digital revolution—or evolution, rather—

have wrought tremendous change in a very short time, but the idea that it will go awry, or

that the evolution is middle-aged is simply unsustainable.

Change, however unpleasant or uncomfortable in the moment, is inevitable.

Consideration of change while it occurs is tricky at best and unrealistic at worst. It is

impossible to critically analyze a change while it occurs; time must pass and the impact

of the change must be made clear in order for reasoned thinking and writing to occur.

Part of the reading is the authors’ reflexive response to the fact that the digital evolution

changed so much so quickly—from how we shop for books to how we consume music and

share photographs—that real critical awareness of the impact of these changes is as yet

unavailable; and worse still in their eyes, the change continues at an ever increasing pace.

While the authors wail and gnash their teeth at the rapidity of the growth of a digital

ubiquity in our everyday lives, they also seem to be reluctant to acknowledge that that same

evolution isn’t being driven by the digital cognoscenti, the elite, but by the masses, the

people who don’t bemoan the ever speeding pace of change but simply roll up their sleeves,

see what’s available to them and think, “Look, I can send photos to my family on Flickr!

Cool!” Its almost as if the hue and cry over the impact of the digital evolution is being raised

partly because the authors feel their positions as authoritative arbiters of cultural technology

has been usurped by Joe Public.

However digital technology impacts out lives in the future, for good or ill, it seems

obvious that it certainly continue to do so. Equally obviously, the possibility exists that

the authors are correct: that the digital evolution will have unforeseen and unintended

consequences, for users or for the technological infrastructure, or even for our very

biological existence. Regardless of this possibility, the tide will not turn. The changes will

continue apace, and as the community most connected with the digital evolution, design has

some responsibility to be aware of the possible outcomes—good or ill— and try to mitigate

the ill in favor of the good. Design is inextricably interconnected with digital, and this

consciousness of possibility that empowers design thinking can also be directed to control or

at least alleviate possible impacts of digital evolution on the world at large.

After digital…

Sense making?

Digital glass

Digital behaviours


Design (2010)

Birkhauser


46

David Crowley’s lament about the visual noise that clutters our lives, coupled with his

paean to boredom as a reflective creative tool, is a compelling if not wholly original work.

Even in his essay he cites an earlier work on how mass communication creeps into our

subconscious until we are unaware of the origins of our own thoughts. Am I opposed to the

war in Afghanistan, or do I think its a good idea? It would seem, in this example, to depend

on where you get your news.

Crowley does hit a solid point: “words and images seek us out.” (Crowley, 2010). We

are inundated daily by visual stimuli. Worse—arguably—this stimuli isn’t the glory of a

mountain or the vista of the sea, but carefully calculated marketing communications, word

or imagery or both. How calculated these inputs are depends on their intent, but the art of

creating a cultural paroxysm—the proverbial watercooler moment—is well mastered in the

centers of modern media.

So what does this do to us as a culture? How can we embrace the boredom that Crowley

thinks we need? As cited in Boredom to freedom, the world is designed to keep us from

stillness: “Even when we are alone, we are worrying about what…what we’re missing.”

(Limited Language, 2010) The prevalence of the “smartphone” is a prime example of the

incessant—created?—need to be distracted. Despite studies that show the brain desperately

needs moments of calm to process information, the modern smartphone is the current

evolution of personal technologies that began with the Walkman. The Walkman began as

a way to entertain ourselves privately; the smartphone not only entertains us in solitude

but provides a never-ending stream of data we can use as a wall between ourselves and

the rest of the world. How many times have you seen people in public, sealed in their own

bubble of data by their white earbuds? One could lament the iPhone, with its huge library of

applications for distraction, but the new Windows Phone goes one step further and presents

a continuous stream of data without the user even needing to request it. The designers of

phone software simply can’t conceive that the user wouldn’t want this information.

How will we connect with people in realspace in the future? How can boredom be

embraced and not rejected as a waste of time? How much multitasking is enough? Already

our brains are rewiring to process information the way Google presents it. What will become

of our ability to think?

Crowley argues that graphic design should “operate as a system to slow down

perception…create silences in the noisy media.” (Crowley, 2010). He’s correct; while design

doesn’t bear all the responsibility for this sensory chaos, design is certainly in a position to

affect it henceforth. While the demands of commerce would ostensibly call for greater and

greater “noise,” there is no question that design is not simply the art of making things blink.

When presented with a blinking, spinning, flashing piece of advertising or information,

could it not be argued that a stronger piece of still design might better capture attention? As

designers, the obligation to culture is to try.

Boredom, b’dum, b’dum…

Boredom to freedom


Design (2010)

Birkhauser


JANUARY FEBRUARY1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

MARCH

2011.4.APRIL

APRIL1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

1 2 3 4 65 7 8 9 10 11 1312 14 15 16 17 18 2019 21 22 23 24 25 2726 28 29 30 31 1 32 4 5 6 7 8 109 11 12 13 14 15 1716 18 19 20 21 22 2423 28 29 30 7

2011.3.MARCH

2011.4.APRIL1 2 3 4 65 7 8 9 10 11 1312 14 15 16 17 18 2019 21 22 23 24 25 2726 28 29 30 31 1 32 4 5 6 7 8 109 11 12 13 14 15 1716 18 19 20 21 22 2423 28 29 30

2011.3.MARCH

M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T

6.1 Dérive

6.2 Four Days in Halifax

6.3 Calendar

6.4 Personal Spaces

6.5 Self-portrait

6600

50 6600 graduate design studio

Exercise Dérive

In situationist texts, a dérive is an attempt at analysis of the totality of everyday life, through the passive movement through space. It is translated as drift.

— http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dérive

51

Another collaborative project that came out better than I thought. A little dense if not backlit; no clue how we could have done this without backlighting. At least, not time to think of a clue, anyway.

A good exercise in production, though. Rule #1: find a maleable print guy.

52

Project Four Days in Halifax

6600 graduate design studio

How is space defined? What makes a space common/pubic or private? How does noticing empty spaces inform their use? How much of life goes on around us unnoticed?

53

Astounding how much empty space a seemingly congested city presents.

Weird to go from the consideration of all of Halifax’s emptiness to the confinement of Breakhouse’s presentation parameters. Good to have a concrete logistical challenge, though.



Last iteration.

A suprisingly succesful collaboration. Had no idea the group could produce something this polished.

Printing could have been a little slicker; could have used a second run after a proof if this was a longer-term installation.

55

Couldn’t love the touch/sound/smells posters any more. Great executions of great concepts.

57

The weakest of the set, although not through effort or finished product. It just seems so literal compared to the rest of the posters.


Exercise Calendar

Can you render time as a series of variables from a fixed NOW point without it being a personal/subjective view?

Probably not.

Well, I can’t. Not in 3 weeks, anyway.

59

Subjective time. Loooong Wednesdays; long Fridays. The interminable wait for Christmas. Subjective perception of time must have some shared commonalities. Chase that…


Exercise Calendar 0.5

JANUARY FEBRUARY1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

MARCH

2011.4.APRIL

APRIL1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

1 2 3 4 65 7 8 9 10 11 1312 14 15 16 17 18 2019 21 22 23 24 25 2726 28 29 30 31 1 32 4 5 6 7 8 109 11 12 13 14 15 1716 18 19 20 21 22 2423 28 29 30 7

2011.3.MARCH

2011.4.APRIL1 2 3 4 65 7 8 9 10 11 1312 14 15 16 17 18 2019 21 22 23 24 25 2726 28 29 30 31 1 32 4 5 6 7 8 109 11 12 13 14 15 1716 18 19 20 21 22 2423 28 29 30

2011.3.MARCH

M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T

Good feedback from initial pinup. Explore some sort of illusory depth to days, like folds of a fan? On the right track, anyway.

61

Exercise Calendar 1.0

2011.1.JAN

Two Thousand Eleven

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

2010.12.DEC 2011.2.FEB

2011.3.MAR 2011.4.APR 2011.5.MAY

2011.5.MAY 2011.6.JUNE 2011.7.JULY

2011.8.AUG 2011.9.SEP 2011.10.OCT

2011.11.NOV

2012.01.JAN2011.11.DEC

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27

8

31 1

9

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1314 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 826 2728

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1112 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 2526 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 11 12 13 14 15 18 19 20 21 22 2324 25 26 27 28 29 30161710

28 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Second crit iteration. Noticed that I missed some holidays, added others (Halloween, for instance.) Also, green-to-gold- gradient creates weird hotspots. Explore clearer data, diff color scheme.

62

2011.1.JAN

Two Thousand Eleven

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

2010.12.DEC 2.FEB

3.MAR 4.APR 5.MAY

6.JUNE 7.JULY

8.AUG 9.SEP 10.OCT

11.NOV

2012.01.JAN12.DEC

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27

8

31 1

9

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1314 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 826 2728

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 2526 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 11 12 13 14 15 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30161710

28 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Exercise Calendar Final


63

2011.1.JAN

Two Thousand Eleven

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

2010.12.DEC 2.FEB

3.MAR 4.APR 5.MAY

6.JUNE 7.JULY

8.AUG 9.SEP 10.OCT

11.NOV

2012.01.JAN12.DEC

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27

8

31 1

9

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1314 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 826 2728

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 2526 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 11 12 13 14 15 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30161710

28 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Resolved color scheme. Differentiated statutory holidays and cultural ones. Fiddled with subjective time spans, mostly focused on my early perecptions of time (ie, 10-year-old).

Pretty cool.


Project Personal Spaces

I’m really into Venn diagrams this semester. I feel like the Halifax exercises have made me more aware of the overlapping “circles” of life and environment. Everything’s connected—but if so, what’s important and what’s not? How to emphasize importance of school, say, vs relative unimportance of the shop where I buy drinks?

65

Halifax

PATR

ICK

FOST

ER :

LIFE

IN H

ALIF

AX

N400Seminar RoomLiving

Room

BathRoom

Library

Sobey’s

HalifaxWaterfont

EmpireTheaters

Ian’sRoom

MyApartment

MerkinGallery

N400Design Studio

NSCAD

First pass. Well received at crit. CK labelled it suprisingly personal and impersonal at once, which I kind of like. Not entirely sure where to go from here.

66

Project Personal Spaces


67

First pass too physical and too literal. Encouraged to explore non-structural shapes and metaphorical spaces—family, school, work, media— to see how I fit into the center of those.

68

Project Personal Spaces (final)

NSCAD

MEDIA

FACULTY/STAFF

RELATIVES IMMEDIATEFAMILY

STUDENTS

TELEVISIONMOVIES


69

NSCAD

MEDIA

FACULTY/STAFF

RELATIVES IMMEDIATEFAMILY

STUDENTS

TELEVISIONMOVIES

Second try. The connections I have with my spaces and the entities within are revealed—the point of the whole class—to be largely mediated.

Where does that take me, then?

70

Project Personal Spaces (final revised)

FAMILY

SCHOOL

WORK

PERSONAL C

ONTA

CT

MY ZONES OF COMMUNICAT

ION

CONTACT THROUGH TECHNOLOGY


71

FAMILY

SCHOOL

WORK

PERSONAL C

ONTA

CT

MY ZONES OF COMMUNICAT

ION

CONTACT THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

Final final. How I connect to my spaces—largely second-hand or via some means of communication rather than face-to-face—seems both clearer and a little scary.

The finished piece seems succesful, altho it seems a very ‘commercial’ piece of art; should try for more subtlety in my design next time.

72

Project Self-portrait

Bert Pulitzer90% Polyester 10% Wool48R Dryclean Only

Timbuk2

L.L. Bean

MacBook ProWrangler

Wilson LeatherLevi

Leatherman33CTX

Leatherman Kick™

PENSTIX No. 3015-EF 0.5mm

A black “India Ink quality marker” for graphics,

technical drawing and all fine writing. Recapwhen not in use.

Pentel Ener-GelLiquid Gel InkM

etal Tp 0.7mm

ballM

ade in Japan

Moleskin

Hanes

Raya by Thermos

Nalgene

TimberlandTimberland

TimberlandGore-Tex®

MossimoHanes Comfort-T XL

HTC

XL Machine Wash Cold Tumble Dry Medium

11.5M Genuine leather uppersManmade lining and outsoleMade in ChinaMens www.gore-tex.com

Nova Scotia / Nouvelle-ÉcosseCAN NSDriver LicensePermis de conduireDD/Réf 0000000000000000000000

NSCAD UniversityNAME Patrick Foster

IDENTIFICATION NO 000000ISSUE DATE 06/05/2010

AFFILIATION StudentSIGNATURE

RBC Royal BankRBS Rewards

0000 0000 0000 00000000

Expiration: End of 06/14 Month/YearPatrick Foster

Halifax Public Libraries00000000000000

Nova Scotia Health0000 000 000

Birth 1967Dec21Effective 2010May02

Expiry 2014Nov30

Canada Ten • Dix DollarsBanque du Canada • Bank of Canada 10 OttawaThis note is legal tender / Ce billet a cours légalSir John A. MacDonald Prime Minister/Premier Ministre 1867-1873, 1878-1891La Bibliothéque du Parlement • The Library of Parliament

RBC Royal BankClient Card0000 00 00000000 00Patrick Foster 03

Robert MitchelRM 901 BK 52-16-135


73

6600 081210

Considering I put a lot of effort into not being a walking billboard for clothing manufacturers, a little unnerving to see exactly how branded I am. And to become aware of what image I present to the corporate world.

Am I this? Or is this just the surface?



10.2.5 Rationale (7 December 2010)

10.3 Bibliography

10.4 Project Poster

thesis

76











Dieter RamsTHESIS

77


Design practices for onscreen interfaces and

engagement continue to evolve at a rapid pace,

demanding a greater connection between the

demands of the profession and the advantages of

higher education. Given that, how can a better system

for online/non-localized course delivery be designed

to facilitate improved “screen design” courses?

78

Thesis Notes


!THESIS

79







James Archer

82


THESIS

83


fields of the 21st Century. The continual engagement of the populace with screens of one form

or another, from phones to bank machines to computers to cars, demands greater attention

from design education. UI designers do not merely craft attractive visual affordances, but

map the patterns of use that both engage and streamline the user’s conversation with devices

and as a result, the world around them.






























his field?





84

























the ability to bring traditional design theory in a new way to a new audience not limited by










THESIS

86

Rationale 7 December 2010

THESIS

87

Current online/distance-education software environments are not designed with visual

design courses in mind as their primary use. The focus of such software has been to deliver

coursework geared toward the traditional university lecture course, encompassing reading

and critical writing. This focus has well served traditional academic subjects, but the need for

greater engagement between design instructor and student, greater give-and-take between

students in the critique environment, and the need to share and comment upon visual files

has showcased the limitations of these softwares as tools of design education.

“Screen design,” a term coined by renowned designer Jason Santa Maria (2010), can be

considered the modern evolution of the traditional art of graphic communication design,

with a focus solely on actual “screens,” such as laptops, tablet computers, phones and

similar devices of modern technology. Much as previous generations of designers needed

to understand and engage with the complexities of the printing and production processes,

the screen designer requires not only a mastery of visual design skills but a commanding

grasp of possible access points of their designed result, the variables and limitations

thereof, and likely user-engagement and interaction patterns. The ability to manage these

disparate inputs to produce a cohesive whole, all the while staying reasonably abreast of the

technological advances—lest one misses an advancement that will drive the next innovation—

requires learning and mastering a dramatically new skill set.

While traditional design schools are beginning to adapt to this new paradigm, the

professional industry is disappointed in the outcomes currently produced by institutions

of higher education. Working professionals have been dismissive or even critical of the

outcomes generated by design education institutions (Rutledge, 2010). As many as fifty

percent of working professionals do not feel their postsecondary education has been of value

to them professionally (A List Apart, 2010), and many entering the field are encouraged to

take it upon to themselves to learn as they go, from the wide array of written and recorded

instruction available to them (Rutledge, 2010). In doing so, however, these new learners

embrace technologies without any formal training; they can craft “stylized” work but have no

understanding of the strengths basic design skills would bring to their personal toolset.

By crafting a more visually-centered environment for online design education, higher

education could more nimbly present contemporaneous design education geared at screen

designers, and simultaneously reach working professionals looking to freshen their skills;

traditional post-secondary students from non-local regions (increasing both the reach and

the fees of the universities), and students who would ordinarily be forced by economic or

geographic concerns to learn on their own.

Working web designers strive to understand and expand upon interface conventions to bring

a greater user experience to sites they design. Educators who teach design in physical or

virtual classrooms work equally hard to engage their students and pass on their knowledge

of both traditional and contemporary design mores. Combining this focus will generate an

improved engagement for students, either as primary or secondary/supplemental remote/

virtual environment.

88 THESIS

89




Blog the web | teach the web. Retrieved July 4, 2010, from http://www.

teachtheweb.com/blog/

Bounce – A fun and easy way to share ideas on a website. Retrieved July

4, 2010, from http://www.bounceapp.com/

Boyd, D. (2010) Streams of content, limited attention: the flow

of information through social media. EDUCAUSE Review, 45(2),

26–36. Retrieved November 17, 2010, from http://www.educause.

edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume45/

StreamsofContentLimitedAttenti/213923

Brown, M., with Auslander, M., Gredone, K., Green, D., Hull, B., & Jacobs,

W. (September/October 2010) A Dialogue for engagement. EDUCAUSE

Review, 45/5. Retrieved November 13, 2010, from http://www.educause.


ADialogueforEngagement/213924

Elearnspace. Learning management systems: The wrong place to start

elearning. Retrieved July 4, 2010, from http://www.elearnspace.org/

Articles/lms.htm


July 4, 2010, from http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/dev-patnaik/


From toy to tool: Cell phones in learning. Retrieved July 4, 2010, from


Gagnon, D. (2010) Mobile Learning Environments. EDUCAUSE Quarterly,

33(3). Retrieved November 26, 2010 from http://www.educause.

edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/

MobileLearningEnvironments/213690

Guidry, K. & BrckaLorenz, A.(2010) A Comparison of student and faculty

academic technology use across disciplines. EDUCAUSE Quarterly,



AComparisonofStudentandFaculty/213682

The ideal collaboration toolset for distributed workers. Retrieved July 4,

2010, from http://www.ferris.com/2005/01/02/the_ideal_colla/

Bibliography (December 2010)

90

A List Apart. Elevate web design at the university level. Retrieved July 4,

2010, from http://www.alistapart.com/articles/elevate-web-design-at-the-

university-level/

A List Apart. Findings from the web design survey, 2009. Retrieved

November 28, 2010, from http://www.alistapart.com/issues/315

O’Brien, R. (1998). An Overview of the Methodological Approach of

Action Research. Retrieved November 19, 2010, from http://www.web.

ca/~robrien/papers/arfinal.html

Pirius, L. & Creel, G.(2010) Reflections on play, pedagogy,

and World of Warcraft. EDUCAUSE Quarterly, 33(3). Retrieved

November 25, 2010 from http://www.educause.edu/

EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/

ReflectionsonPlayPedagogyandWo/213663

Quora. Neil Hunt: What types of things does Netflix A/B test aside from

member sign-up? Retrieved December 1, 2010 from http://www.quora.

com/Neil-Hunt-What-types-of-things-does-Netflix-A-B-test-aside-from-

member-sign-up

Rutledge, Andy. The UX design education scam. Retrieved November 14,

2010, from http://www.andyrutledge.com/the-ux-design-education-scam.

php

Santa Maria, Jason. (2010, June 25). A Real Web Design Application.

Retrieved June 27, 2010 from http://jasonsantamaria.com/articles/a-real-

web-design-application/

Tapscott, Don. (2008). Grown up digital. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Watts, C., Simons, J.T. & Baird, D.(2010) The Media scholarship

project: strategic thinking about media and multimodal

assignments in the liberal arts. EDUCAUSE Quarterly, 33(3).

Retrieved November 24, 2010 from http://www.educause.edu/


TheMediaScholarshipProjectStra/213673

The web standards project. Retrieved July 4, 2010, from http://www.

webstandards.org/


THESIS

92


THESIS

94

Appendix Specified Outcomes Document

THESIS

Specified Outcomes

Patrick Foster

7 December 2010

MDES6112

Design practices for onscreen interfaces

and engagement continue to evolve at a

rapid pace, demanding a greater connection

between the demands of the profession and

the advantages of higher education. Given

that, how can a better system for online/

non-localized course delivery be designed to

facilitate improved “screen design” courses?

“Simple trumps complete.”

“Simple trumps complete.”Neil Hunt, Chief Product Officer, Netflix (2010)

Current online/distance-education software environments are not designed

with visual design courses in mind as their primary use. The focus of such

software has been to deliver coursework geared toward the traditional

university lecture course, encompassing reading and critical writing. This

focus has well served traditional academic subjects, but the need for greater

engagement between design instructor and student, greater give-and-take

between students in the critique environment, and the need to share and

comment upon visual files has showcased the limitations of these softwares

as tools of design education.

“Screen design,” a term coined by renowned designer Jason Santa Maria

(2010), can be considered the modern evolution of the traditional art of

graphic communication design, with a focus solely on actual “screens,”

such as laptops, tablet computers, phones and similar devices of modern

technology. Much as previous generations of designers needed to

understand and engage with the complexities of the printing and production

processes, the screen designer requires not only a mastery of visual design

skills but a commanding grasp of possible access points of their designed

result, the variables and limitations thereof, and likely user-engagement

and interaction patterns. The ability to manage these disparate inputs to

produce a cohesive whole, all the while staying reasonably abreast of the

technological advances—lest one misses an advancement that will drive the

next innovation—requires learning and mastering a dramatically new skill set.

While traditional design schools are beginning to adapt to this new

paradigm, the professional industry is disappointed in the outcomes

currently produced by institutions of higher education. Working

professionals have been dismissive or even critical of the outcomes

generated by design education institutions (Rutledge, 2010). As many as fifty

percent of working professionals do not feel their postsecondary education

has been of value to them professionally (A List Apart, 2010), and many

entering the field are encouraged to take it upon to themselves to learn as

they go, from the wide array of written and recorded instruction available

to them (Rutledge, 2010). In doing so, however, these new learners embrace

technologies without any formal training; they can craft “stylized” work but

have no understanding of the strengths basic design skills would bring to

their personal toolset.

By crafting a more visually-centered environment for online design

education, higher education could more nimbly present contemporaneous

design education geared at screen designers, and simultaneously reach

working professionals looking to freshen their skills; traditional post-

secondary students from non-local regions (increasing both the reach and

R A T I O N A L E

the fees of the universities), and students who would ordinarily be forced by

economic or geographic concerns to learn on their own.

Working web designers strive to understand and expand upon interface

conventions to bring a greater user experience to sites they design. Educators

who teach design in physical or virtual classrooms work equally hard to

engage their students and pass on their knowledge of both traditional and

contemporary design mores. Combining this focus will generate an improved

engagement for students, either as primary or secondary/supplemental

remote/virtual environment.

S T A K E H O L D E R S

• Future design students

• Educators

• Educational institutions

• Web designers/UI Designers

• Design Researchers

• Other design professionals

• Working professionals seeking higher education or advanced learning

• The author

Action Research Methodology “is ‘learning by doing’ —a group of people

identify a problem, do something to resolve it, see how successful their

efforts were, and if not satisfied, try again.” (O’Brien, 1998) The process of

Action Research can be summed up by one word: iterate. Action Research

demands multiple iterations, with each stage being reflected upon and

further steps being carefully considered before proceeding.

The stages in my usage of Action Research Methodology are delineated as

Research & Strategy; Design; Implementation; and Evaluation. These stages

benefit both the researcher as much as the end product and its user.

Research & Strategy encompasses both the initial germ of an idea, the

single concept worrying the back of the designer’s brain like sand in their

shoe, as well as the research that springs from that idea. What about the idea

compels the designer? What other research has been done on the subject?

The more initial research is carried out, the less likely that the designer will

cover old ground in their work. Strategic thinking involves considerations

of both the esoteric and aesthetic—how it looks, how appealing will it be

to use— as well as the pragmatic—can something be built to do all those

things for the budget or likely cost? While considerations of production are

inappropriate at this stage of this particular project, careful thinking along

those lines will help produce a better finished piece, whether for commercial

output or theoretical uses.

Design means make something. It doesn’t need to be finished—indeed,

it’s likely that it won’t be at this stage, but make something for people to

put their hands on, and, probably, break. Iterating through design is the

strength of the designer; a designer will bring distinctly different critical

thinking skills to an application than say, an engineer. This thinking is what

will make the difference between what is and what could be.

Implementation leads to observation. Observe users engaging with the

concept. Does it work? Is it complex? Too simple? Not useful in the way

you’d thought? Perhaps it does something completely unexpected. This is

the stage to find out. Continue with research and anecdotal data collection

while gathering feedback from the field.

The evaluation stage is wherein all the prior input is considered and

understood. Is the initial idea worth pursuing now? Did the designed

concept fulfill the designer’s expectations? How about the user needs? The

feedback considered here will allow for a more robust conceptual iteration

when the cycle repeats itself. Further planning begins, and by moving

R E S E A R C H M E T H O D O L O G Y & M E T H O D S

through the methodology process again, the design can be crafted and

refined until judged a success by whatever metrics are in use.

The methods by which Action Research Methodology can be applied vary

from project to project. In this project, the methods employed will include

(but are not as yet limited to:

• A literature review of research in related areas of online and

distance learning processes, and the inclusion of digital devices in

modern learning

• A survey of students and educators in visual design fields, crafted

to compare and qualify their experiences in traditional and virtual

learning environments

• Research and consideration of current offerings for long-distance/

non-localized learning environments, and their applicability, strengths

and weaknesses in relation to visual design students, educators and

courses

• A continual engagement with Ideo’s 5 Whys method to sharpen and

maintain focus

• 3D experience modeling, to maintain a conceptual level of thinking

about what is essentially a very pragmatic area

• Visual storyboarding, prototyping and experience mapping, to

consider end-user possibilities and to be certain that as many variables

as possible are accounted for

Why is Action Research Methodology the best process for use in the

research project? The very nature of online engagement—ever evolving, ever

adapting— combined with users’ ability to find new and improved ways

of doing things demands a quick-response, multiple iteration design and

research process. Action Research offers the best framework to manage the

multiple, overlapping facets of this project.

Reflection for this project began years ago, when the unsuitability of online

course management software environments for visual design learning

became apparent, through both user experience and student feedback.

Initial study included literature review—of which there is little directly

applicable—and progressed to draft questions for an online survey. Initial

feedback from a pilot test group allowed refinement of the survey questions

for improved focus. The revised survey questions were made public, with

individual surveys for students of visual design; visual design educators;

and students or educators who had experienced visual design courses in an

online/non-local environment. These surveys remain ongoing; closing date

is tentatively projected for December 3, with an eye toward analysis shortly

thereafter.

To date, literature research has been challenging; while there is no shortage

of conceptual thinking about non-localized learning environments or the

adoption of technology in the classroom, there is little if any research

into the use of such environments in design education. The education

community at large may well consider these environments unsuitable for

design education, which requires near-constant feedback and review of

visual work; regardless of this, the need for distance learning in design will

only become more urgent as technology continues to level the planet.

Initial work seems to validate some early thinking: that design education

must be at least able to adapt to a non-localized setting in order to remain

relevant is apparent as higher education becomes more and more detached

from time/place strictures.

The collection of data, along with initial visual design thinking, should allow

for consideration of improved processes in online course environments for

visual design education. Embracing critical reflection as part of the research

methodology will allow for comprehensive understanding of user feedback,

and lead to potential options for both further study and refinement of the

practice project. By narrowing the initial approach to “screen design”

through sketching, data visualizations and diagramming user interaction

maps, the initial projections should both present a workable alternative

to current options, as well as allow for expansion into other visual

design fields. Expansive thinking—unfettered by current technological

restrictions—will further encourage future consideration of possibilities as

yet unavailable.

R E F L E C T I O N

• Knowledge of what current traditional design classroom methods require

translation to a virtual environment

• Knowledge of what current traditional design classroom methods should

not be translated to a virtual environment

• Knowledge of what current online/distance learning elements should be

continue to be used in a design-based framework

• Knowledge of what current online/distance learning elements do not

serve non-localized design education

• Knowledge of what tools current teachers of visual design would want to

see in an idealized non-localized design education framework

• Knowledge of what tools visual design students would want to see in an

idealized non-localized design education framework

• Continued awareness that student/teacher environment requests are a

starting point for the design, not the complete specifications

• Greater awareness/understanding of the design process, action research,

and situated research

• A functioning “storyboard”/working model prototype of the idealized

design distance learning application

• A thesis paper/project

• A master’s degree

E X P E C T E D O U T C O M E S

E X P E C T E D O U T P U T S

design educator

skills: the ability to convey design principles in a relevant and

contemporary framework, blending traditional skills with the requisites

of modern commercial design; ability to handle lots of paperwork; time

management

F U T U R E C A R E E R P A T H W A Y & S K I L L S

Anderson, E., DeBolt, V., Featherstone, D., Gunther, L., Jacobs, D. R., Jensen-

Inman, L., et al. (2010). InterACT with web standards: A holistic approach to

web design New Riders Press.



Bounce – A fun and easy way to share ideas on a website. Retrieved July 4,

2010, from http://www.bounceapp.com/












elearning. Retrieved July 4, 2010, from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/

lms.htm

Forget design thinking and try hybrid thinking | fast company. Retrieved July

4, 2010, from http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/dev-patnaik/innovation/

forget-design-thinking-and-try-hybrid-thinking

From toy to tool: Cell phones in learning. Retrieved July 4, 2010, from http://

www.cellphonesinlearning.com/














university-level/

R E F E R E N C E S



O’Brien, R. (1998). An Overview of the Methodological Approach of Action

Research. Retrieved November 19, 2010, from http://www.web.ca/~robrien/

papers/arfinal.html







member sign-up? Retrieved December 1, 2010 from http://www.quora.com/

Neil-Hunt-What-types-of-things-does-Netflix-A-B-test-aside-from-member-

sign-up



php












webstandards.org/

Early mindmapping. Exploring the whole giant mess of software/design/

design education. Where’s my hook? What makes me crazy?

V I S U A L R E S E A R C H S A M P L E S

3d modelling for ideas. By what process do we learn design skills? How

can online course delivery be focused? Improved upon?

Action research methodology. “A good plan implemented today is better than

a perfect plan implemented tomorrow.” — George S. Patton. Iterate, iterate, iterate!

REPEAT AS NEEDED.


1

PHASE ONE:Research & Strategy• Consider brief

• Research competing concepts

• Establish restrictive parameters

• Consider alternatives to preconceptions

• If possible, prototype

• Consider sustainability 2

PHASE TWO: DESIGN• Establish parameters

• Consider conceptual options

• Offer alternatives

• Design iterative concepts

3

PHASE THREE:IMPLEMENTATION• Produce final design

• Promote

• Release for use

4

PHASE FOUR: EVALUATION• Consider released product by appro-

priate parameters

• Evaluate success against metrics

• Explore improvement options via user

feedback


A C T I O N R E S E A R C H M E T H O D O L O G Y

1PHASE ONE:Research & Strategy

2PHASE TWO: DESIGN

3PHASE THREE:IMPLEMENTATION

4PHASE FOUR: EVALUATION

GOIDENTIFY NEED CONCEPTUALIZE CREATE A PLAN IMPLEMENT REITERATEASSESS FEEDBACK THE DESIGN


2PHASE TWO: Design

3PHASE THREE:Implementation

4PHASE FOUR: Evaluation


Why don’t UI designers get trained by higher ed?

Why won’t they come?

Why is it so hard to teach UI design in a distance ed environment?

How could higher ed better serve UI designers?

How could distance education be put to use in visual design learning?

• Survey extant solutions

• Survey current students and teachers about distance-learning environments

• Consider how to improve distance learning for visual design

• Online survey

• Literature reviews

• Anectodal data collection

What works in distance ed? What doesn’t?

Why don’t designers feel higer ed works? What could be improved?

• Offer proposed solutions for review

• Assess feedback and implement changes as warranted

A storyboarded-process encompassing best-practices UI/web design curriculum into a distance learning/nonlocalized virtual environment

Quick and dirty. An early rough of what an interface might have to

encompass. Painfully, needlessly complex.

Iteration two. Amazing what a semester of research will do for an idea.

Shifted to a touchscreen interface; sharpened focus on user needs; simplified.

Less is more. Even less is better. Except when it’s not. Highlights of concept:

multiple user-focused alerts and warnings; ability to access multiple courses

through collapsing interface tabs; user-interface customization; all relevant

data available immediately or one touch away.

D E V E L O P M E N T T I M E L I N E

NOVEMBER 2010 DECEMBER 2010 JANUARY 2011

Survey students/educators on their engagement with physical/virtual design courses

Research exiting non-local course software environmentsand theoretical leanings in the field

Establish parameters for prototype; storyboard user interaction and information architecture

Draft thesis document

Write final thesis document from draft

Design final iteration of thesis practice project for submission & degree review

Analyze and collate survey data results; quantify into working guidelines

FEBRUARY 2011 MARCH 2011 APRIL 2011NOVEMBER 2010 DECEMBER 2010 JANUARY 2011








FEBRUARY 2011 MARCH 2011 APRIL 2011

process

mdes 2010/2011

patrick foster

spring 2011

6800 7.1 Backwards Time is Money

7.2 My Bombness

7.5 A Future Long Past

7.6 Nigerian Film Poster Scam

7.7 Design Through the Rear View

Mirror (or, The Lulu Debacle)

7.8 MDES2011 Identity

7.9 MDES 2011 Exposition Poster

7.10 Multitasking

7.11 Exposition Presentation

6900 8.1 Final Outline

8.2 Writing for Epiphany

THESIS 10.1 Conceptual thinking

10.2 Abstract (final concept version)

10.2.5 Rationale

10.3 Bibliography

10.4 Project Poster

10.5 FInal Abstract

10.6 Final Thesis Question

10.7 Final Bibliography

10.8 Final Design Concept

APPENDIX

Specified Outcomes Document

7.1 Backwards Time is Money

7.2 My Bombness

7.3 Just What Is It that Makes Today’s

Homes So Different, So Appealing?

7.4 The Corporate Bible

7.5 A Future Long Past

7.6 Nigerian Film Poster Scam

7.7 Design Through the Rear View Mirror

(or, The Lulu Debacle)

7.8 MDES2011 Identity

7.9 MDES 2011 Exposition Poster

7.10 Multitasking

7.11 Exposition Presentation

6800

8

Project One Backwards Time is Money

If you’ve only ever seen a credit card, what do you want your money to llok like? To feel like? How will it make you comfortable? Should it be shaped like your old cards? Feel like them? Fit in the same spaces in your wallet?

Probably.

6800 graduate design studio 3

10 6800 graduate design studio 3

Project Two My Bombness

PATRICK FOSTER MY BOMBNESS 3

It’s Not Scary When

It’s in the Kitchen

The RCMP Bomb Squad was

called out yesterday to inves-

tigate a suspicious microwave

oven left in the Halifax Grand

Parade.

Constable David McCall of the

Bomb Squad wore the protec-

tive suit and ventured out into

the cordoned off area to ascer-

tain the kitchen appliance, ordi-

narily harmless, was not in fact

dangerous.

What’s scary? Not the unknown, but the known, the ordinary—in the wrong place. We’re so used to context, that the displacement of context, the thing the in the wrong place, if its enough of a wrong place, is enough to unnerve us.

11

PATRICK FOSTER MY BOMBNESS 3

It’s Not Scary When

It’s in the Kitchen

The RCMP Bomb Squad was

called out yesterday to inves-

tigate a suspicious microwave

oven left in the Halifax Grand

Parade.

Constable David McCall of the

Bomb Squad wore the protec-

tive suit and ventured out into

the cordoned off area to ascer-

tain the kitchen appliance, ordi-

narily harmless, was not in fact

dangerous.


Project Three Just What Is It that Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing?

How many designers does it take to spend a morning trying to figure out archiecture and not designing? 7, apparently.

Not an unmitigated distaster, but a Newton, certainly. The lesson? Remember what you do, And what you don’t. Quicker.


Project Four The Corporate Bible

Is there a better metaphor for the one-language dream of Babel than Microsoft’s global Windows obsession? I think not.

16

Project Five A Future Long Past


17

How do you pass on knowledge before the interent? The phone, of course. So a reference library available by phone would make sense. Sort of. But you wouldn’t fiddle with the actual spelling of ‘googol.’ And you’d draw inspiration from the other eccentric firm’s advertising campaign.

18

Project Six Nigerian Film Poster Scam


Greetings,

I am Michael LeBlanc Chief Operating Officer, Clydesdale Bank. I am getting in touch with you regarding the estate of a deceased client with similar last name and an investment placed under our banks management 10 years ago. I believe would be of interest to you. In 2000, the subject matter; came to our bank to engage in business discussions with our private banking division. He informed us that he had a financial portfolio of fifty million united states dollars ($50,000,000,00).i want you to stand as the bona-fide next of kin to the desease.

My proposal; you share your design skills to make a cinema poster in the style of the 1940’s using this email as the story line; We share the proceeds 50% for me, 50% for you Should you be interested i shall provide you with more details of this transaction in class.

[email protected]

I await your response.

Regards,Michael LeBlanc

+ +

19

+ =

20

Project Seven Design Through the Rear View Mirror (or, The Lulu Debacle)

Things to remember: something that seems to good to be true—inexpensive, one-off book printing, say—almost certainly is too good to be true. More practical lessons: check prepress requirements thoroughly before you start a document file; make sure your collaborators have a clue about prepress, or be prepared to handle the whole pile yourself; and try not to overmanage a project when it might do your collabrators some good to be involved, even if it makes the whole thing that much more painful.



Project Eight MDES2011 Identity

23

MASTER OF DESIGNNSCAD

2011

D

MASTEROFDESIGN2011

MDESIGN2011

NSCAD MASTER OFDESIGN 2011

MASTER OF DESIGNNSCAD

2011

D

MASTEROFDESIGN2011

MDESIGN2011




MASTER of

DESIGN

I liked this one.

I think the icon evokes possibilities, the ways of entering a problem/challenge that a designer might see or take, compared to a more conventional thinker.

Maybe a little retro, though.

24

Project Eight MDES2011 Identity

DESM201 1

M A S T E RNSCAD 2011

D E S I G N

MD E S2 0 1 1

N S C A D

MASTER OF DESIGN 2011 NSCAD

2011

2011MASTER OF DESIGN 2011 NSCAD


25

Hard to craft an identity for a group as disparate as ours, for a ‘client’ determined to wring something original from our thesis-exhausted brains.

26

Project Nine MDES2011 Exposition poster

P R EC I P I C ETHE 2011 MASTER OF DESIGNFINAL EXPOSITION

MONDAY, APRIL 18 @ 2200 NSCAD GRANVILLE CAMPUS N400

LOGOTO COME

THE 2011 MASTER OF DESIGNFINAL EXPOSITION

MONDAY, APRIL 18 @ 1730 NSCAD GRANVILLE CAMPUS N400


27

I don’t think a precipice is a bad thng, neccesarily. When it popped into my head, I thought of standing on the edge of a vast unknown, which is kind of how things look right now.

28

Project Ten Multitasking


Trying to figure out how to visually represent how my focus shifts from one thing to the next as different points in time catch my attention. Started by thinking about multiple threads of my thought processes collecting and then unravelling, like a badly made scarf…

29

0700

0715

0730

0745

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0815

0830

0845

0900

0915

0930

0945

1000

1015

1030

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1115

1130

1145

1200

design email internet music

Took that idea and mapped it to a series of events or moments over a single morning. Reduced the concept to the four things I focus on most while in the studio. Dotted lines evoke where my attention wanders…

30

Project Ten Multitasking (final)

0700

0715

0730

0745

0800

0815

0830

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31

0700

0715

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32

Project Eleven Exposition Presentation


How do you distill a year’s work and 55+ pages of thesis and design to fit into the attention span required for a movie trailer?

Like this, I hope.

8.1 Final Outline

8.2 Writing for Epiphany

6900

38 6900 graduate design research exposition and review

Final Outline

39

Abstract

Higher education has emphasized the advantages of distance learning, but current

distance learning environments are not built with visual design courses in mind, focusing

instead on traditional lecture style courses. Simultaneously, the professional community

has become more dissatisfied with the outputs of design schools. These two circumstances

can be used as foundation for building an improved distance learning course environment

for visual design courses. Using Action Research Methodology as a scaffold for exploration,

this thesis will present a plan for an improved model of distance learning aimed specifically

at web design courses. Such an improved environment could serve higher ed, by providing

an setting where course material could be more rapidly tested and evolved to reflect the

advances of professional design. It would also serve design students, allowing them to

pursue the highest quality education possible without regard to time/space restrictions.

A visual use map and storyboard will demonstrate the process of engagement from the

perspective of both student and educator.

Introduction

This thesis will explore the possibilities of improved distance learning environments

for visual art and design courses, with a specific focus on a web design and development

course. It can be argued that the evolution of professional design practices far outpaces

that of the design education. Design schools are, it can be further argued, facing challenges

in delivering an education to students that adequately prepares them for real-world career

requirements. By designing an improved affordance for teaching design in a distance setting,

and its inherent ability to reach a greater audience and to continually evolve the course

material without restrictions of infrastructure—classroom size and availability, for example—

higher education can force the evolution of design education to better serve its existing

student population and perhaps expand upon that audience. The course environment itself

will be designed using the structural principles of Project-Based Learning, using ‘mobile

first’ design parameters. Presenting the course material in this fashion omits the extraneous,

encourages greater connection between student and instructor than is usually possible in

distance learning, and demands collaboration between students, in accordance with the

theory of pedagogy embraced in the hypothesis.

Literature & Contextual review

The contextual review will begin with Don Tapscott’s writings, describing our projected

hypothetical student base and best practices in their learning environments. An overview of

Project-based Learning principles will lead to a brief examination of Leslie Jensen-Inman’s

Teach the Web monograph, and related articles that articulate the professional communities’

discontent with the current students outcomes. The review will then consider Meredith

40

Davis’ presentation to the AIGA on evolutions in design education, and the AIGA’s proposed

designer competencies of 2015. Learning environments will be considered and critiqued,

from the desktop, from a social media viewpoint, and from a mobile learning perspective.

An overview of current distance learning environments will be presented, and lead to a

consideration of those environments against upcoming trends in user experience design.

Criteria for for the proposed learning environment project focused on in this thesis will be

established here.

The review will also consider leading edge or experimental software platforms or tools

that might be well utilized in our proposed environment.

Methodology & Methods

The methodology & methods section will begin with a brief overview of Action Research

Methodology, briefly defined more focused on its application in this project. From there,

the section will delineate and make clear each of the the methods applied to this thesis,

with accompanying illustrations: the literature/contextual review; the survey of students

and educators; the consideration of current options for non-local learning environments;

and visual storyboarding/mapping of the considered best case environment for teaching

design remotely. This chapter will conclude with a summary of the processes involved in the

methodology, and lead into the conclusion that can be drawn in the next chapter.

Data & Analysis

Conclusions from the literature review, the survey results and the assessment of extant

options will be discussed and assessed. The survey data will be summarized in a chart, and

the current distance learning environments will be critiqued according to the standards

established as baselines for this project in the Literature Review section.

Results and Discussions

This chapter will present the conceptual learning environment, focusing on one lesson

from the perspective of both student and educator. The lesson itself will be adapted from

an established textbook. The environment will be demonstrated in a series of usage maps

and proposed visual design mockups, centered either on educator or student use. The usage

maps will explain how either user would proceed through each individual course section or

module, and how the entire course will follow from one module to the next.

• makeargumentforagileproductionintheprocessofcreatingcoursework.googlemantram

designearly,designoften.Flexibilityincourse,nothidebound

41

Conclusions

Summary of finished paper, that re-presents hypothesis in context with results

from research and design. A consideration of the value of the end result, and how its

implementation might impact current practices, with an emphasis upon improved distance

learning and serving as a supplemental tool for traditional courses.

Postscript

A vignette postulating a user’s experience with an even more advanced learning

environment, illustrating even more strongly how learning will likely become displaced from

time/place strictures.

Bibliography



10.2.5 Rationale (7 December 2010)

10.3 Bibliography (December 2010)

10.4 Project Poster

10.5 Final Abstract

10.6 Final Thesis Question

10.7 Final Bibliography

10.8 Final Design Concept

thesis

56











Dieter RamsTHESIS

57


Design practices for onscreen interfaces and

engagement continue to evolve at a rapid pace,

demanding a greater connection between the

demands of the profession and the advantages of

higher education. Given that, how can a better system

for online/non-localized course delivery be designed

to facilitate improved “screen design” courses?

58

Thesis Notes


!THESIS

59







James Archer

62


THESIS

63


fields of the 21st Century. The continual engagement of the populace with screens of one form

or another, from phones to bank machines to computers to cars, demands greater attention

from design education. UI designers do not merely craft attractive visual affordances, but

map the patterns of use that both engage and streamline the user’s conversation with devices

and as a result, the world around them.






























his field?





64

























the ability to bring traditional design theory in a new way to a new audience not limited by










THESIS

66

Rationale 7 December 2010

THESIS

67

Current online/distance-education software environments are not designed with visual

design courses in mind as their primary use. The focus of such software has been to deliver

coursework geared toward the traditional university lecture course, encompassing reading

and critical writing. This focus has well served traditional academic subjects, but the need for

greater engagement between design instructor and student, greater give-and-take between

students in the critique environment, and the need to share and comment upon visual files

has showcased the limitations of these softwares as tools of design education.

“Screen design,” a term coined by renowned designer Jason Santa Maria (2010), can be

considered the modern evolution of the traditional art of graphic communication design,

with a focus solely on actual “screens,” such as laptops, tablet computers, phones and

similar devices of modern technology. Much as previous generations of designers needed

to understand and engage with the complexities of the printing and production processes,

the screen designer requires not only a mastery of visual design skills but a commanding

grasp of possible access points of their designed result, the variables and limitations

thereof, and likely user-engagement and interaction patterns. The ability to manage these

disparate inputs to produce a cohesive whole, all the while staying reasonably abreast of the

technological advances—lest one misses an advancement that will drive the next innovation—

requires learning and mastering a dramatically new skill set.

While traditional design schools are beginning to adapt to this new paradigm, the

professional industry is disappointed in the outcomes currently produced by institutions

of higher education. Working professionals have been dismissive or even critical of the

outcomes generated by design education institutions (Rutledge, 2010). As many as fifty

percent of working professionals do not feel their postsecondary education has been of value

to them professionally (A List Apart, 2010), and many entering the field are encouraged to

take it upon to themselves to learn as they go, from the wide array of written and recorded

instruction available to them (Rutledge, 2010). In doing so, however, these new learners

embrace technologies without any formal training; they can craft “stylized” work but have no

understanding of the strengths basic design skills would bring to their personal toolset.

By crafting a more visually-centered environment for online design education, higher

education could more nimbly present contemporaneous design education geared at screen

designers, and simultaneously reach working professionals looking to freshen their skills;

traditional post-secondary students from non-local regions (increasing both the reach and

the fees of the universities), and students who would ordinarily be forced by economic or

geographic concerns to learn on their own.

Working web designers strive to understand and expand upon interface conventions to bring

a greater user experience to sites they design. Educators who teach design in physical or

virtual classrooms work equally hard to engage their students and pass on their knowledge

of both traditional and contemporary design mores. Combining this focus will generate an

improved engagement for students, either as primary or secondary/supplemental remote/

virtual environment.

68 THESIS

69






Bounce – A fun and easy way to share ideas on a website. Retrieved July

4, 2010, from http://www.bounceapp.com/












elearning. Retrieved July 4, 2010, from http://www.elearnspace.org/

Articles/lms.htm


July 4, 2010, from http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/dev-patnaik/


From toy to tool: Cell phones in learning. Retrieved July 4, 2010, from














70



university-level/



O’Brien, R. (1998). An Overview of the Methodological Approach of

Action Research. Retrieved November 19, 2010, from http://www.web.








member sign-up? Retrieved December 1, 2010 from http://www.quora.

com/Neil-Hunt-What-types-of-things-does-Netflix-A-B-test-aside-from-

member-sign-up



php












webstandards.org/


THESIS

72


THESIS

74

Thesis Final Abstract

THESIS

Higher education has embraced the advantages of distance learning, but while current

distance learning environments can be utilized for teaching visual design skills—such as

web and interaction design—at a distance, they are not ideal for the task. Simultaneously,

the professional community has registered disappointment with student outcomes in web

and interaction design programs. These two circumstances can be used as a rationale for

conceptualizing an improved distance learning environment model for teaching design.

Using Action Research Methodology as a model for exploration, this thesis presents a

speculative improved model of distance learning aimed at visual design courses. This

proposed system could be used by higher education to expand the reach of current offerings

beyond time/space restrictions. An improved distance learning model could be further

utilized as a means to explore alternate pedagogy methods; possibly those satisfying the

immediate demands of the web and interaction design industry. Ultimately, this thesis will

present a speculative interface for an enhanced distance learning environment for web and

interaction design.

75

Thesis Final Question

Professional web and interaction design practices continue to evolve at a rapid pace,

demanding a greater connection between the needs of the profession and the advantages of

design higher education. Combine that awareness with the realization that future students

will engage with their education in entirely new ways, and will probably demand new,

nontraditional ways of learning, an improved way to teach web design at a distance is called

for. How can a better system for online/non-localized course delivery be designed to facilitate

better opportunities for web and interaction

design learning?

76

Thesis Final Bibliography

THESIS

Anderson, E., DeBolt, V., Featherstone, D., Gunther, L., Jacobs, D.

R., Jensen-Inman, L., et al. (2010). InterACT with web standards: A

holistic approach to web design. New Riders Press.

Blackboard. (n.d.). In Wikipedia:Thefreeencyclopedia. Retrieved

October 27, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackboard_

Learning_System

Brown, M., Auslander, M., Gredone, K., Green, D., Hull, B., & Jacobs,

W. (2010). A dialogue for engagement. EDUCAUSE Review, 45(5),

38-56. Retrieved November 13, 2010, from http://www.educause.



Buck Institute for Education. (n.d.). WhatisPBL? Retrieved January 18,

2011, from http://www.bie.org/about/what_is_pbl

Coopman, Stephanie J. (2009). A critical examination of Blackboard’s

e-learning environment. Retrieved January 28, 2011, from http://

firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/

view/2434/2202

Davis, Meredith. (April 4, 2008). Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in

Kansas anymore... [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://www.

aiga.org/resources/content/4/8/5/7/documents/davis_keynote_

paper_and_images.pdf

Don Tapscott. (n.d.). In Wikipedia:Thefreeencyclopedia. Retrieved

January 24, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Tapscott

Elearnspace. (2004). Learning management systems: The wrong

place to start elearning. Retrieved July 4, 2010, from http://www.

elearnspace.org/Articles/lms.htm

Gagnon, D. (2010). Mobile learning environments.

EDUCAUSE Quarterly, 33(3). Retrieved November

26, 2010 from http://www.educause.edu/



Guidry, K. & BrckaLorenz, A. (2010). A comparison of student and

faculty academic technology use across disciplines. EDUCAUSE

Quarterly, 33(3). Retrieved November 22, 2010 from

77

http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+QuarterlyEDUCAUSEQuarterl

yMagazineVolum/AComparisonofStudentandFaculty/213682

Ferris Research. (2005). The ideal collaboration toolset for

distributed workers. Retrieved July 4, 2010, from http://www.ferris.

com/2005/01/02/the_ideal_colla/

Jensen-Inman, Leslie. (2009a). Elevate web design at the university

level. Retrieved July 4, 2010, from http://www.alistapart.com/articles/

elevate-web-design-at-the-university-level/

Jensen-Inman, Leslie. (2009b) Teach the web. Retrieved November 10,

2010, from http://www.teachtheweb.com/monograph.php

A List Apart. (2007). Findings from the web design survey, 2007.

Retrieved November 28, 2010, from http://www.alistapart.com/

articles/2007surveyresults



articles/findings



articles/findings-from-the-web-design-survey-2009

Marcotte, Ethan. (2010). Responsive web design. Retrieved July 29,

2010, from http://www.alistapart.com/articles/responsive-web-

design/

Moodle. (n.d.). In Wikipedia:Thefreeencyclopedia. Retrieved October

27, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moodle

O’Brien, R. (1998). An overview of the methodological approach of

action research. Retrieved November 19, 2010, from http://www.web.


Patnaik, Dev. (2009). Forget design thinking and try hybrid thinking.

Retrieved July 4, 2010, from http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/dev-

patnaik/innovation/forget-design- thinking-and-try-hybrid-thinking

Quora. (n.d.). Neil Hunt: What types of things does Netflix A/B test

aside from member sign-up? Retrieved December 1, 2010, from http://

www.quora.com/Neil-Hunt-What-types-of-things-does-Netflix-A-B-

test-aside-from-member-sign-up

78

Rutledge, Andy. (2010). The UX design education scam. Retrieved

November 14, 2010, from http://www.andyrutledge.com/the-ux-

design-education-scam.php

Sakai. (n.d.). In Wikipedia:Thefreeencyclopedia. Retrieved October

27, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakai_Project

Swann, Cal. (2002). Action research and the practice of design. Design

Issues, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Winter 2002) pp. 49-61.

Tapscott, Don. (2010a). The future of education: Reboot required.

Retrieved October 12, 2010. from http://www.cbc.ca/news/

story/2010/08/11/f-school-tapscott.html

Tapscott, Don. (2010b). Needed: A new model of pedagogy. Retrieved

December 3, 2010 from http://dontapscott.com/2010/11/16/needed-a-

new-model-of-pedagogy/

Villamor, C., WIllis, D. & Wroblewski, L. (2010). Touch Reference

Guide. Retrieved December 4, 2010, from http://www.lukew.com/

touch/TouchGestureGuide.pdf

Watts, C., Simons, J.T. & Baird, D. (2010). The media scholarship

project: Strategic thinking about media and multimodal






webstandards.org/

Woyke, Elizabeth. (2010). Bell Labs’ Super Virtual Conferencing.

Forbes Magazine, December 20, 2010. Retrieved December 22, 2010,

from http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/1220/technology-bell-labs-

virtual-videoconferencing.html

Wroblewski, Luke. (2010). Mobile first helps with big issues. Retrieved

November 13, 2010, from http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?1117

80

Thesis Final Design Concept

THESIS

82

Appendix Specified Outcomes Document

THESIS

Specified Outcomes

Patrick Foster

7 December 2010

MDES6112

Design practices for onscreen interfaces

and engagement continue to evolve at a

rapid pace, demanding a greater connection

between the demands of the profession and

the advantages of higher education. Given

that, how can a better system for online/

non-localized course delivery be designed to

facilitate improved “screen design” courses?

“Simple trumps complete.”

“Simple trumps complete.”Neil Hunt, Chief Product Officer, Netflix (2010)

Current online/distance-education software environments are not designed

with visual design courses in mind as their primary use. The focus of such

software has been to deliver coursework geared toward the traditional

university lecture course, encompassing reading and critical writing. This

focus has well served traditional academic subjects, but the need for greater

engagement between design instructor and student, greater give-and-take

between students in the critique environment, and the need to share and

comment upon visual files has showcased the limitations of these softwares

as tools of design education.

“Screen design,” a term coined by renowned designer Jason Santa Maria

(2010), can be considered the modern evolution of the traditional art of

graphic communication design, with a focus solely on actual “screens,”

such as laptops, tablet computers, phones and similar devices of modern

technology. Much as previous generations of designers needed to

understand and engage with the complexities of the printing and production

processes, the screen designer requires not only a mastery of visual design

skills but a commanding grasp of possible access points of their designed

result, the variables and limitations thereof, and likely user-engagement

and interaction patterns. The ability to manage these disparate inputs to

produce a cohesive whole, all the while staying reasonably abreast of the

technological advances—lest one misses an advancement that will drive the

next innovation—requires learning and mastering a dramatically new skill set.

While traditional design schools are beginning to adapt to this new

paradigm, the professional industry is disappointed in the outcomes

currently produced by institutions of higher education. Working

professionals have been dismissive or even critical of the outcomes

generated by design education institutions (Rutledge, 2010). As many as fifty

percent of working professionals do not feel their postsecondary education

has been of value to them professionally (A List Apart, 2010), and many

entering the field are encouraged to take it upon to themselves to learn as

they go, from the wide array of written and recorded instruction available

to them (Rutledge, 2010). In doing so, however, these new learners embrace

technologies without any formal training; they can craft “stylized” work but

have no understanding of the strengths basic design skills would bring to

their personal toolset.

By crafting a more visually-centered environment for online design

education, higher education could more nimbly present contemporaneous

design education geared at screen designers, and simultaneously reach

working professionals looking to freshen their skills; traditional post-

secondary students from non-local regions (increasing both the reach and

R A T I O N A L E

the fees of the universities), and students who would ordinarily be forced by

economic or geographic concerns to learn on their own.

Working web designers strive to understand and expand upon interface

conventions to bring a greater user experience to sites they design. Educators

who teach design in physical or virtual classrooms work equally hard to

engage their students and pass on their knowledge of both traditional and

contemporary design mores. Combining this focus will generate an improved

engagement for students, either as primary or secondary/supplemental

remote/virtual environment.

S T A K E H O L D E R S

• Future design students

• Educators

• Educational institutions

• Web designers/UI Designers

• Design Researchers

• Other design professionals

• Working professionals seeking higher education or advanced learning

• The author

Action Research Methodology “is ‘learning by doing’ —a group of people

identify a problem, do something to resolve it, see how successful their

efforts were, and if not satisfied, try again.” (O’Brien, 1998) The process of

Action Research can be summed up by one word: iterate. Action Research

demands multiple iterations, with each stage being reflected upon and

further steps being carefully considered before proceeding.

The stages in my usage of Action Research Methodology are delineated as

Research&Strategy;Design;Implementation; and Evaluation. These stages

benefit both the researcher as much as the end product and its user.

Research & Strategy encompasses both the initial germ of an idea, the

single concept worrying the back of the designer’s brain like sand in their

shoe, as well as the research that springs from that idea. What about the idea

compels the designer? What other research has been done on the subject?

The more initial research is carried out, the less likely that the designer will

cover old ground in their work. Strategic thinking involves considerations

of both the esoteric and aesthetic—how it looks, how appealing will it be

to use— as well as the pragmatic—can something be built to do all those

things for the budget or likely cost? While considerations of production are

inappropriate at this stage of this particular project, careful thinking along

those lines will help produce a better finished piece, whether for commercial

output or theoretical uses.

Design means makesomething. It doesn’t need to be finished—indeed,

it’s likely that it won’t be at this stage, but make something for people to

put their hands on, and, probably, break. Iterating through design is the

strength of the designer; a designer will bring distinctly different critical

thinking skills to an application than say, an engineer. This thinking is what

will make the difference between whatisand what couldbe.

Implementation leads to observation. Observe users engaging with the

concept. Does it work? Is it complex? Too simple? Not useful in the way

you’d thought? Perhaps it does something completely unexpected. This is

the stage to find out. Continue with research and anecdotal data collection

while gathering feedback from the field.

The evaluation stage is wherein all the prior input is considered and

understood. Is the initial idea worth pursuing now? Did the designed

concept fulfill the designer’s expectations? How about the user needs? The

feedback considered here will allow for a more robust conceptual iteration

when the cycle repeats itself. Further planning begins, and by moving

R E S E A R C H M E T H O D O L O G Y & M E T H O D S

through the methodology process again, the design can be crafted and

refined until judged a success by whatever metrics are in use.

The methods by which Action Research Methodology can be applied vary

from project to project. In this project, the methods employed will include

(but are not as yet limited to:

• A literature review of research in related areas of online and

distance learning processes, and the inclusion of digital devices in

modern learning

• A survey of students and educators in visual design fields, crafted

to compare and qualify their experiences in traditional and virtual

learning environments

• Research and consideration of current offerings for long-distance/

non-localized learning environments, and their applicability, strengths

and weaknesses in relation to visual design students, educators and

courses

• A continual engagement with Ideo’s 5 Whys method to sharpen and

maintain focus

• 3D experience modeling, to maintain a conceptual level of thinking

about what is essentially a very pragmatic area

• Visual storyboarding, prototyping and experience mapping, to

consider end-user possibilities and to be certain that as many variables

as possible are accounted for

Why is Action Research Methodology the best process for use in the

research project? The very nature of online engagement—ever evolving, ever

adapting— combined with users’ ability to find new and improved ways

of doing things demands a quick-response, multiple iteration design and

research process. Action Research offers the best framework to manage the

multiple, overlapping facets of this project.

Reflection for this project began years ago, when the unsuitability of online

course management software environments for visual design learning

became apparent, through both user experience and student feedback.

Initial study included literature review—of which there is little directly

applicable—and progressed to draft questions for an online survey. Initial

feedback from a pilot test group allowed refinement of the survey questions

for improved focus. The revised survey questions were made public, with

individual surveys for students of visual design; visual design educators;

and students or educators who had experienced visual design courses in an

online/non-local environment. These surveys remain ongoing; closing date

is tentatively projected for December 3, with an eye toward analysis shortly

thereafter.

To date, literature research has been challenging; while there is no shortage

of conceptual thinking about non-localized learning environments or the

adoption of technology in the classroom, there is little if any research

into the use of such environments in design education. The education

community at large may well consider these environments unsuitable for

design education, which requires near-constant feedback and review of

visual work; regardless of this, the need for distance learning in design will

only become more urgent as technology continues to level the planet.

Initial work seems to validate some early thinking: that design education

must be at least able to adapt to a non-localized setting in order to remain

relevant is apparent as higher education becomes more and more detached

from time/place strictures.

The collection of data, along with initial visual design thinking, should allow

for consideration of improved processes in online course environments for

visual design education. Embracing critical reflection as part of the research

methodology will allow for comprehensive understanding of user feedback,

and lead to potential options for both further study and refinement of the

practice project. By narrowing the initial approach to “screen design”

through sketching, data visualizations and diagramming user interaction

maps, the initial projections should both present a workable alternative

to current options, as well as allow for expansion into other visual

design fields. Expansive thinking—unfettered by current technological

restrictions—will further encourage future consideration of possibilities as

yet unavailable.

R E F L E C T I O N

• Knowledge of what current traditional design classroom methods require

translation to a virtual environment

• Knowledge of what current traditional design classroom methods should

not be translated to a virtual environment

• Knowledge of what current online/distance learning elements should be

continue to be used in a design-based framework

• Knowledge of what current online/distance learning elements do not

serve non-localized design education

• Knowledge of what tools current teachers of visual design would want to

see in an idealized non-localized design education framework

• Knowledge of what tools visual design students would want to see in an

idealized non-localized design education framework

• Continued awareness that student/teacher environment requests are a

starting point for the design, not the complete specifications

• Greater awareness/understanding of the design process, action research,

and situated research

• A functioning “storyboard”/working model prototype of the idealized

design distance learning application

• A thesis paper/project

• A master’s degree

E X P E C T E D O U T C O M E S

E X P E C T E D O U T P U T S

design educator

skills: the ability to convey design principles in a relevant and

contemporary framework, blending traditional skills with the requisites

of modern commercial design; ability to handle lots of paperwork; time

management

F U T U R E C A R E E R P A T H W A Y & S K I L L S

Anderson, E., DeBolt, V., Featherstone, D., Gunther, L., Jacobs, D. R., Jensen-

Inman, L., et al. (2010). InterACT with web standards: A holistic approach to

web design New Riders Press.



Bounce – A fun and easy way to share ideas on a website. Retrieved July 4,

2010, from http://www.bounceapp.com/












elearning. Retrieved July 4, 2010, from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/

lms.htm

Forget design thinking and try hybrid thinking | fast company. Retrieved July

4, 2010, from http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/dev-patnaik/innovation/

forget-design-thinking-and-try-hybrid-thinking

From toy to tool: Cell phones in learning. Retrieved July 4, 2010, from http://

www.cellphonesinlearning.com/














university-level/

R E F E R E N C E S



O’Brien, R. (1998). An Overview of the Methodological Approach of Action

Research. Retrieved November 19, 2010, from http://www.web.ca/~robrien/

papers/arfinal.html







member sign-up? Retrieved December 1, 2010 from http://www.quora.com/

Neil-Hunt-What-types-of-things-does-Netflix-A-B-test-aside-from-member-

sign-up



php












webstandards.org/

Early mindmapping. Exploringthewholegiantmessofsoftware/design/

designeducation.Where’smyhook?Whatmakesmecrazy?

V I S U A L R E S E A R C H S A M P L E S

3d modelling for ideas. Bywhatprocessdowelearndesignskills?How

canonlinecoursedeliverybefocused?Improvedupon?

Action research methodology. “Agoodplanimplementedtodayisbetterthan

aperfectplanimplementedtomorrow.”—GeorgeS.Patton.Iterate,iterate,iterate!

REPEAT AS NEEDED.


1

PHASE ONE:Research & Strategy• Consider brief

• Research competing concepts

• Establish restrictive parameters

• Consider alternatives to preconceptions

• If possible, prototype

• Consider sustainability 2

PHASE TWO: DESIGN• Establish parameters

• Consider conceptual options

• Offer alternatives

• Design iterative concepts

3

PHASE THREE:IMPLEMENTATION• Produce final design

• Promote

• Release for use

4

PHASE FOUR: EVALUATION• Consider released product by appro-

priate parameters

• Evaluate success against metrics

• Explore improvement options via user

feedback


A C T I O N R E S E A R C H M E T H O D O L O G Y


2PHASE TWO: DESIGN

3PHASE THREE:IMPLEMENTATION

4PHASE FOUR: EVALUATION



2PHASE TWO: Design

3PHASE THREE:Implementation

4PHASE FOUR: Evaluation


Why don’t UI designers get trained by higher ed?

Why won’t they come?

Why is it so hard to teach UI design in a distance ed environment?

How could higher ed better serve UI designers?

How could distance education be put to use in visual design learning?

• Survey extant solutions

• Survey current students and teachers about distance-learning environments

• Consider how to improve distance learning for visual design

• Online survey

• Literature reviews

• Anectodal data collection

What works in distance ed? What doesn’t?

Why don’t designers feel higer ed works? What could be improved?

• Offer proposed solutions for review

• Assess feedback and implement changes as warranted

A storyboarded-process encompassing best-practices UI/web design curriculum into a distance learning/nonlocalized virtual environment

Quick and dirty. Anearlyroughofwhataninterfacemighthaveto

encompass.Painfully,needlesslycomplex.

Iteration two. Amazingwhatasemesterofresearchwilldoforanidea.

Shiftedtoatouchscreeninterface;sharpenedfocusonuserneeds;simplified.

Lessismore.Evenlessisbetter.Exceptwhenit’snot.Highlightsofconcept:

multipleuser-focusedalertsandwarnings;abilitytoaccessmultiplecourses

throughcollapsinginterfacetabs;user-interfacecustomization;allrelevant

dataavailableimmediatelyoronetouchaway.

D E V E L O P M E N T T I M E L I N E









FEBRUARY 2011 MARCH 2011 APRIL 2011NOVEMBER 2010 DECEMBER 2010 JANUARY 2011









Patrick Foster—Process Books, 2010/2011

Documents

Transcript of Patrick Foster—Process Books, 2010/2011