Tasks Due from Last Week

  • Evaluating Online Sources
  • Research Project Prep
  • Project Presentation Tools & Tips
  • Week 12 Agenda Checklist

This Week’s Topics

Check-in & Announcements

Your Research Project Presentation Post

If you haven’t already, create the Research Project Presentation Post that you will use to submit your final Research Project Presentation > Example Post.

Review the instructions for formatting and submitting your final post, and add a link to your in-progress presentation with voiceover and your annotated bibliography for feedback from your classmates.

For inspiration, check out this student’s final Research Project Presentation from a previous semester.

Outcomes this Week

This week, you will focus on finishing your Research Project & Presentation.

Half the class will be presenting their Research Projects Week 14. And the remaining half will be presenting Week 15. Sign up for a slot on the Week 13 sign-in sheet.

You should have a rough cut of your video completed by today to get feedback from your classmates before next week’s deadline.

If you’d like to meet again to discuss your research project or anything else, please contact me to schedule a time. And as always, be in touch with any other questions or concerns.

If you’d like an overview of all of the topics we’ve covered this semester, take a look at the Schedule page. Each week is listed with the topic and readings we completed each week. We’ve covered a lot and you’ve produced some great work! For a listing of all the Assignments needed to meet the learning goals of this course, check out the Assignments page.

Freewrite – ART OF NOTICING (10 min)

Last Week’s Prompt – from Alice!

Identify the weirdest thing in the room and ask about it. “There’s a lesson in this. Whether you are in someone’s home, office, or business, determine which is most inexplicable and unlikely object you can see. Then ask “So what’s the story with that?” Chances are, a memorable tale will follow.”

ART OF NOTICING

In your language of choice, write continuously in your notebook for 10 minutes about your experience identifying the weirdest thing the room. Don’t edit, or correct, don’t stop, just write. If you get stuck, just write the same word(s) over and over until you think of something else to write down.

This Week’s Prompt – From Nicolas

Interview an object. What object would you want to take to lunch? One way to perceive an object is to consider the questions it raises – even if they are questions it can’t literally answer. Think of an object that raises questions that only the object itself could answer.

Art of Noticing

Activities

Below find the information covered in this session. Complete all of the following activities, videos, and assignments.

This week, we will examine The Digital Revolution at the turn of the century, New Paradigms influencing the design field today, and the ways designers respond to these seismic shifts.

1. The Digital Revolution (30+ minutes)

The late 90s to early 2000s marked the transition from hand-crafted graphic design to digital design. The Internet boom at the dawn of the millennium welcomed millions of online users. Computer-aided design was no longer just an option; it became a necessity. The 2000s were a decade of great political and social change. Designers were called to respond to the excesses of capitalism and consumerism in design and focus on ‘pursuits more worthy of our problem-solving skills.’

Below, review the videos and text to explore the digital revolution, the impacts of technology, and the push for social responsibility in the field of design.

As one millennium ended and another began, digital technology fundamentally transformed graphic design. Old avant-garde issues of authorship, universality, and social responsibility were reborn within society’s newly decentralized networked structure.

Helen Armstrong

Tech Tranformation – 1990’s

In 1984, Apple released the Macintosh computer.  It would revolutionize the entire design industry, but it took a while for the industry to change. I was in art school in the early 1990s, and we used the first release of Photoshop 1.0. It was slow, clunky, and honestly painful to use (we would run a filter and go out for coffee!), but the results were nothing like we had ever seen before.

Let’s watch The Digital Revolution from Graphic Design History on LinkedIn Learning to gain an overview of the time period, the advent of the personal computer, and its effects on the design industry. Watch from 1:57:58 – 2:01:49 on LinkedIn Learning via your Library Card.

Activity: As you watch, take note of the dates and designers who experimented with these new tools. Also, note how once again changes in technology radically altered the field of design and the role of a designer.

The Internet – 2000’s

At the turn of the 20th Century, photography and printing revolutionalized communications. At the turn of the 21st Century, the new digital technologies of the computer and the internet change the field of communication design again.

In the early years of the internet, graphics were limited and the design standards that we know and use today were often ignored. It was the wild west. After many years, designers began to see the importance of user experience. A focus on universality, the grid, visual/information hierarchy, and minimalism drove much of the design aesthetic in web design because it allowed designers to put content and the user experience first. Today anyone anywhere can author a website and this has changed the role of the designer once again.

Activity: As you watch this video, note that it’s from 2012. What has happened to mobile/app development in the last ten years since this video was produced? And looking back at our exploration of the effects of social media on society, how has the optimistic utopian vision of the internet changed?

Consider your own experience as a consumer and a creator. Most of you grew up with the internet. How has your use of the computer and the web changed in your lifetime? Do you have nostalgia for the “old days”?

The Art of Web Design | Off Book | PBS Digital Studios 2012

2. New Paradigms (30+ minutes)

Let’s look at a few different technologies and trends that have surfaced in recent years. Some are positioned to alter the future of design. What design trends have you noticed?

AI Designed Products

The impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning is being felt in all areas of the creative industry. We have robots reporting the news, computers generating songs, and paintings by AI platforms. Our creative roles are changing once again due to new technologies.

If you haven’t started learning how AI can work for you. Check out the courses for Artificial Intelligence for Design. Or explore how some programs that utilize AI could be useful to your design process:

  1. Adobe Sensei is a machine learning and AI-powered platform that is built into Adobe Creative Cloud products.
  2. Google Deep Dream is an AI-powered tool that uses deep learning algorithms to generate psychedelic and surreal images from existing photos.
  3. Figma is a cloud-based design tool that uses AI to help designers collaborate and create designs more efficiently.
  4. Conceptboard and Miro are two collaboration tools that use AI to streamline the design process.
  5. Notion is an all-in-one workspace tool that uses AI to assist designers in tracking their progress, assigning tasks, and collaborating with team members.

And below, this designer discusses the potential implications of AI in our design processes and provides an example of a shoe designed with AI tools.

John Mauriello. Industrial designer.

VR and AR

VR (Virtual Reality) and AR (Augmented Reality) are working their way into various disciplines, but these are still emerging technologies. Many people predict that these technologies will cause a more significant change in society than the internet. Others think they will fizzle out. We have seen how technology can be a driving force in the changes in society and in the field of design, but it may take time for real adoption to occur. What do you think?

In 2022 Facebook announced it would be evolving into Meta: “3D spaces in the metaverse will let you socialize, learn, collaborate and play in ways that go beyond what we can imagine.”

Inside the Metaverse – NBC News

Augmented Reality Trends in Communication Design (2024)

Not that different from “Augmented Reality Trends to Keep an Eye on for 2023” but with the launch of Apple’s Vision Pro in February we are inching closer to integrated AR.


Check out some expected 2024 trends below and imagine what AR will look like in five to ten years: AR-based Gaming, Mobile AR Tools, Wearables, 3D Design & Prototyping, Immersive Navigation, Computer Vision, 5G Connectivity, Virtual Try-On, Spatial Audio, Depth Sensing & LiDAR

Let’s try out just a couple of the product apps that have been using AR technology for years:

Here is one designer’s dystopian imagining of an Augmented Reality future. Could this be the Future?

Hyper-Reality – Could this be the Future?

Want to learn more?

Here’s a designer discussing his journey and career in 3D and AR.

Here’s an example of the use of VR to share the experience of racism:

What’s happening NOW?

As you continue your academic career and your career as a designer (in whatever form that takes), keep an eye out for what is happening right now in the broad field(s) of design in relationship to culture, politics, technology – the why of design. Here are a few suggestions. If you have channels that you follow to keep up with what’s happening in the field, share them with this form.

  • AIGA Eye on Design – Published by AIGA an editorial platform covers the issues important to the global design world + elevates the voices of contemporary designers as a way to build a more engaged design community.
  • Revision Path – Podcast by Maurice Cherry. Discover the stories of Black designers, developers, artists, and digital creatives.
  • Works in Process – Prof. George Garresteigi’s podcast about uncovering creative methodologies from people doing inspiring work. Whether talking to a designer, an educator, or an entrepreneur the listener learns the HOWs and WHYs behind what they do.
  • The Observatory– Michael Bierut and Jessica Helfand on design, current events, and current enthusiasms.
  • Design Matters – Debbie Millman features interviews with designers, artists, and cultural leaders.

3. Research Project Presentation Planning

You have just one week left to complete your Research Project & Presentation.

By today you should have completed the first six milestones. Review the Research Project & Presentation guidelines and see below for the next milestones.

  • Week 7: Define your research topic/question and submit your Research Project Outline
  • Week 8: Finalize your topic and start collecting supporting media and sources in an annotated bibliography
  • Week 9: Complete your Slideshow/Presentation outline and script based on your research
  • Week 10: Finalize your research, supporting media and sources
  • Week 11/12: Assemble all graphics and text in a slideshow, record first draft of presentation
  • Week 13: Share in-progress slideshow presentation with voiceover, get feedback from peers and professor, finalize annotated bibliography
  • Week 14: Post Presentation to OpenLab site – follow the guidelines
  • Week 14/15: Review Research Project Presentations in class.
  • Week 15: Submit one comment on each of your classmates’ presentations

4. Discussion: Research Project Feedback

You should have a rough cut of your video completed by today for feedback. Discussion: Research Project Feedback is available to share your Research Project Presentation Post in progress and get feedback from your classmates before next week’s deadline.

Please add a link to your Research Project Presentation Post in a comment now. And leave feedback for your classmates by next Tuesday, Dec. 5th

If you’d like to meet again to discuss your research project or anything else, please contact me to schedule a time. And as always, be in touch with any other questions or concerns.

Week 13 Agenda Checklist

Below are all of the tasks, big and small, for this week. The due date is Wednesday, 11:59 pm before our next Thursday class. Timely completion of these tasks will contribute to your success in this course.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Tasks from the Week 13 Agenda
Name

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