Experience Design Research

Museums as Experiential Learning Labs 08/15/2018 This paper presents the results of a curricular approach that provides graphic design students with an opportunity to engage in extensive observational and participatory research to better understand user experience in interactive museum exhibits. Conducting research in museums can circumvent many of the difficulties associated with user studies in a classroom setting.	Graduated Skills: EGD Bridges & Progressions For Graphic Design Undergrads 08/14/2018 This paper focuses on developing assignment and project experiences for undergraduate graphic design students that progressively fortify their understanding and skills related to experiential graphic design problem solving.	Designing for Hybrid Spaces 08/14/2018 This paper outlines an historical-theoretical framework, an approach for teaching beginning students “just enough” of these sophisticated processes to make meaningful smart objects, suggests a set of tools and resources to facilitate that approach, and highlights some of the obvious and less-than-obvious pitfalls encountered so far at the conclusion of the second iteration of the class.
Designing Alternative Spaces for Engagement 08/09/2017 Making the Invisible Visible was a project that surveyed recent examples of alternative exhibit spaces and methods that have been successfully utilized by parks, museums and event organizers. Making the Invisible Visible was a project that surveyed recent examples of alternative exhibit spaces and methods that have been successfully utilized by parks, museums and event organizers.	Being Aware: EGD as an Experience Building Tool 08/08/2017 EGD is a valuable tool for beginning graphic design students to gain awareness of the direct relationship between design and place/community. Two of our lower level seminars, Art of Walking and Text in the Landscape, aim to achieve this.	A Sense of Direction or a Direction of Sense? 08/08/2017 Collaborating with the non-profit Groundwork Cincinnati Mill Creek, students proposed a sign system along a major industrial riverfront — the Mill Creek — for its current and future trail system
Resource Garden: A Human-Centered Library Experience 08/08/2017 Resource Garden is an educational project designed to re-evaluate and transform the search-experience of academic/scholarly resources within post-secondary libraries. It allows students to explore their research topic across a variety of disciplines to gain a greater breadth of background knowledge and a critical perspective.	Creation & Reaction: Living in Harmony 08/08/2017 An exhibition that encourages co-creation, grows and evolves over time, with it being a different experience at every instant. Through this design, participants are able to collaborate, create and enjoy a personal stake in the exhibition as they become an integral part of its evolution.	An Eight-Step Pedagogy for Teaching Social Design 08/07/2017 This paper outlines a pedagogy for introducing students to the design process specifically in the area of Social Design. In a fast paced world where the established paradigm of defining a designers’ role is evolving rapidly, this paper elucidates the need for and presents a theoretical framework for a pedagogy that has been developed to help emerging designers understand the role they play in design practice today. The extended idea of design education is meant to shape the mindset of young designers as they prepare for the professional world outside.
Ambient Learning: An investigation of integrating graphic design into school environments to enrich educational opportunities. 08/08/2016 The design of education environments can serve not only aesthetic, inspirational needs but also practical ones. The integration of architecture and environmental graphic design communicates and reinforces core concepts and ideas related to the students’ ongoing studies. Importantly, this opportunity applies to all learning environments—low cost can yield high-impact results. We believe creative, unexpected design intervention can assist current schools that are struggling to keep students engaged, and also act as a catalyst for a new type of school environment that sets a precedent for high-performance learning facilities. The success of not-for-profits such as Publicolor in using design to improve student outcomes serves as inspiration for our ideas.	Invisible City: Wayfinding and Placemaking Through Augmented Reality 08/08/2016 This paper examines the processes and outcomes of an educational project designed to explore new ways of thinking about experiential graphic design and interactive design. Through the pedagogical approaches of these two distinct disciplines, undergraduate design students unified user-generated content, social media, and virtualized reality not only as wayfinding and placemaking techniques, but as means to build a hidden, invisible city with its own shifting circulation paths, monuments and narratives weaving through the physical landscape.	An Integrated Approach to Workplace Safety and Wellness: Case Studies of Warehouse Communication System Design 08/08/2016 Workplace safety is closely related to staff’s wellness, but they have been mostly approached as separate initiatives due to organizational conventions and operational constraints. Thanks to the rising awareness of health and wellness as well as advanced technology capabilities, corporate attempts are increasing for creating a safer work environment by monitoring employees’ physical and emotional conditions in relation to potential workplace hazards. This paper will present an integrated design approach to workplace safety and wellness based on the case studies of communication system design projects that explored digitally augmented warehouse work environments.
(re)Vision Cincinnati: Transforming Cities through Civic Engagement 08/02/2016 This paper presents the framework and outcomes of two transformative projects aimed at developing strategies for re-envisioning Cincinnati’s urban and historic core. Through a unique collaboration between University of Cincinnati’s DAAP students, adjunct faculty, the community, and key civic stakeholders, the projects brought to light the possibilities for creating a best-in-class visitor experience and transforming a derelict urban district once celebrated as the center for Brewing in Cincinnati.	Interjection / Integration: Devising Charrettes and Critiques for EGD Classrooms 08/02/2016 Charrettes and critiques can be devised specifically for experiential graphic design course goals and assignments in order to inform design process and final project outcomes in particular and unanticipated ways. For the purposes of this paper, charrette refers to a planned, intensive and timed experience that is strategically directed toward the investigation and solution of a specific design goal or objective. The term critique implies a group dialogue, analysis or assessment of work during a particular phase of design process. Diverse approaches to these considerations are explored and illustrated within this paper.	Challenges and Opportunities in building an undergraduate Experiential Design program 08/02/2016 This paper provides an in-depth overview of the process in developing the Bachelor of Experiential Design degree (BXD) in the Faculty of Animation, Arts and Design (FAAD) at Sheridan College, located in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.
Social Engagement through Environmental Graphic Design: Design for Struggling Small Communities 10/12/2015 Struggling downtowns and retail districts of small cities and towns have been completely overlooked by graphic designers, since these independent businesses often cannot afford, or aren’t aware of, the services of designers. In the graphic design department at Iowa State University, we see this problem as an excellent opportunity to engage our students in community-based design. For over 15 years, our senior graphic design students have been introduced to Environmental Graphic Design while working on the re-design of a downtown district--engaging with communities to reinvigorate their retail districts in efforts to enhance the quality of life for local residents.	The Total Package: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Package Design that Benefits Consumer Experience and Brand Perception 10/12/2015 Communicating a brand message extends beyond the information and visual content applied to a package. The package’s physical structure, materials, finishes, and interactions can also strongly influence the consumer’s experience and subsequent perception of the product and brand. This paper presents case studies of integrated package design by students in Graphic and Industrial Design at the University of Cincinnati's College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning. It reflects on the methods employed, lessons learned, and impact on future interdisciplinary collaborations in Package Design within education and practice.	Leveraging Customer Loyalty Data to Personalize the Service Experience in the In-Person Customer/Employee Context 10/12/2015 Many national and international service companies (such as retail stores and hotels) operate loyalty programs that offer points and rewards. Loyalty programs collect information on individual customer, but the information never reaches customer service representatives who could use it to personalize service. This paper investigates if loyalty program data can be collected and fed back to customer-facing employees to provide value to customers and improve their perception of their own job performance.
Design Anthropology as Bridge between Respectful Knowing and Making 10/28/2014 Elizabeth (Dori) Tunstall Swinburne University of Technology ABSTRACT “Design translates values into tangible experiences. What are your values?” This is a question Dori Tunstall asks students who take her courses in the Design Anthropology Program. Marking the boundaries between respectful knowing and making, design anthropology lives across and within design’s desire to serve as a positive force in the universe by drawing attention across evolving human values, the making of environments, objects, communications, and interactions that express those values, and the experiences that give interpretation to those values and their meanings. But design must learn to tread respectfully in order to avoid becoming another colonizing practice. In this presentation, Dori Tunstall explores the teaching of design anthropology as a hybrid praxis of 1) critical anthropological and design theory, 2) anthropological and participatory design research methods, and 3) design studio and social systems making. She outlines eight principles of design anthropology as a decolonized practice that seeks to be respectful of different ways of knowing and making. The showcasing of projects completed by students in her Transcultural Aesthetics and Contemporary Design course marks the limitations and possibilities of the discipline as a bridge between respectful knowing and making.	Building a Culture of Design Research 10/28/2014 Meredith Davis Graphic and Industrial Design College of Design, NC State University ABSTRACT Research education in design is a timely topic given the current trajectory of design as a profession. Arising from trades, the field has developed over the last half century, now showing most of the behaviors that are common to well-established professions: documented history; code of ethics; interest in methodology; growing body of literature; and developing criticism. The work yet to be done, however, is to build a mature culture of design research, as all professions have individuals whose primary work is to generate new knowledge that becomes the basis of practice. And this is an effort that can be accomplished only through a partnership between professionals and educators.	KNOWHERE: Finding Ways to Teach Wayfinding 10/28/2014 Samantha Perkins Miami University (Ohio) ABSTRACT Breadcrumbs. Wayfinding, an amazing tool, deals with providing navigational “breadcrumbs” to travelers, helping them find their way between locations. Speaking the language of space, information, shape, and form, wayfinding addresses the communication of information within the realms of graphic design, architecture and interior design. But sometimes problems in clear communication arise, especially when the behavioral aspects of human navigation are overlooked. Luckily, we can address these issues early... Assuming we rethink the current wayfinding education model, and teach beyond the book. By considering issues of navigation behavior, we can establish a wayfinding education model that seeks to help explain the how and the why behind navigation, regardless of the ultimate where. But how do we teach behavior and context in the static environment of a standard classroom? KNOWHERE, an immersive education model designed to teach wayfinding in a more hands-on manner, uses graphic design to establish educational events that communicate ideas of design elements in an immersive context and environment. Through the use of exhibit design and mobile studio equipment, the KNOWHERE model pulls students out of their chairs and immerses them in the world of wayfinding in ways that encourage exploration and creative analysis.
Bridging Social Networking and Professional Practice: A Catalyst for Professional Development and Integrated Design Practice 10/28/2014 Leigh Lally Virginia Tech ABSTRACT Social networking has quickly become synonymous with professional development. The architecture and design industry has the opportunity to harness this movement in new and creative ways in its drive toward integrated design practices. Integrated design1* practice by definition must serve the individual design discipline while engaging in a community of practice toward a common project goal. This research initiative is spurred by leaders in the field who indicate that a swift transformation to integrated design practice is required in the discipline in order for architecture and design practice to remain relevant in today’s global economy. Bridging architectural and design research and environmental graphic design provide the opportunity for both a broad and a distinct view of integrated design practice. Current research can inform the environmental graphic design discipline of best practices that promote excellence in design and professional practice as well as multi-disciplinary collaboration as an EGD core competency. As a researcher and practitioner, I am excited to engage the EGD community in dialog about innovative venues for knowledge sharing toward professional development and integrated design practices. As a campus designer and planner charged with EGD and the wayfinding master plan for the university, I understand the need for multi-disciplinary collaboration at a project level, as well as the challenges of timely professional development in a rapidly changing field. As a Ph.D. candidate my research focuses on harnessing social networking as a vehicle for collaborative learning which can be applied both at the design industry level as well as at the scale of an individual discipline such as environmental graphic design.	Bridging EGD: Introducing Communities to the Potentials of Environmental Graphic Design 10/28/2014 Justin Molloy The University of Oklahoma ABSTRACT This paper discusses the potential for environmental graphic design (EGD) in emergent and small communities where both EGD and the value of design are unknown. When designers arrive in a community for the first time, they tend to notice things other people do not. Things like how information and experiences are integrated into a cityscape or neighborhood, or how a vision of a community shapes the delivery of their identity or message. When I arrived in Oklahoma nearly a year ago, I was told that there were huge opportunities for design to make an impact. Designers in Oklahoma are aware of what could be possible, but “the bridge” to make design a community focus had to date not been completed. Leaders in these communities have not been connected to the full potential that design offers. Without this knowledge base, the users of these communities do not understand what design is. A common misunderstanding that complicates matters is that design is equated as marketing. Design is mistakenly understood as the way to “dress things up” or make something “eye catching.” The incomplete part of “the bridge” is the notion that design can be a transformative mechanism that goes beyond the surface, and has the capacity to change the way we experience our present moment and envision our future.	The Development and Implementation of an Interdisciplinary Foundation Program at FIT/SUNY: Thinking, Making, Doing 10/27/2014 Leslie Blum and Donna David Fashion Institute of Technology/State University of New York ABSTRACT Before students can undertake sophisticated environmental graphic design (EGD) projects, they must learn very basic skills in visualizing three-dimensional space, working in scale and “making things.” Because these skills span traditional educational boundaries and departmental programs, they often fall between the cracks. This paper explains the design of an innovative interdisciplinary foundation program at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology), a part of the State University of New York, which incorporates “learning by doing” and teaches skills that cross the disciplines. The program contains the traditional components of an introductory Communication Design or Graphic Design program: typography, layout, color, computer skills, design history and a generous offering of liberal arts courses. In addition, the program concentrates on integrating three-dimensional visualization, incorporating the concept of “scale," introducing “time” and “space” as part of visual language and design basics, strengthening presentation skills and professionalism, and strengthening hand skills by “making things.”
Smarter Sidewalks 10/27/2014 Brett Snyder University of California Davis, Department of Design ABSTRACT How we navigate the streets has changed radically over the past decade, thanks largely to new technologies. To take just one example, smart phones have made an ever widening array of maps and information available to the public, enabling new ways of seeing and experiencing the urban landscape. iPhones allow the street to become a museum without walls, support pop-up events, and enable the creation of thematic journeys. While our modes of navigating streets have transformed, the streetscapes themselves have remained fundamentally unchanged. We still have traffic signs, phone booths, historical plaques, and bus stops that look and operate much the way they did 20 or even 50 years ago. Why are our streets so slow to adapt? The time is ripe to reconsider how public infrastructure could operate and how it might transform the way we navigate and experience the public realm. Could there be alternative ways to access location-based information, beyond personal digital devices—ways that help make information more widely accessible to all and lower the digital divide? Could a public media infrastructure achieve secondary aims such as reducing carbon footprints and creating more habitable cities? How can the street itself learn from the open source, mobile platforms that characterize the latest turn of the digital revolution?	An Interior and Graphic Design Interdisciplinary Collaboration 10/27/2014 Miranda Hall and Nicole Bieak Kreidler La Roche College ABSTRACT Design has undergone many changes over the past several decades. What was once a trade activity is now a practice-based profession that has diversified into very distinct disciplines (Buchanan, 1998). Design disciplines have worked independently until recently, when interdisciplinary collaboration has become increasingly valuable. Studies have shown that collaborative efforts can produce new and original ideas not possible in a uni-disciplinary setting (Nelson, Wilson and Yen, 2009). Too often design education lags behind what is happening within the design profession and it is for this reason that this collaboration was initiated. The decision to plan the interdisciplinary collaboration came out of a discussion of the crossover of content topics within two courses in the Design Division at La Roche College. After additional conversations and planning, it was also driven by the desire to better integrate students and initiate them as co-creators.	Full Immersion: Beyond the Page + Screen 10/02/2014 New Media University of Idaho College of Art & Architecture ABSTRACT This paper examines the potential for integrating Experiential Graphic Design (XGD) within the context of a traditional graphic design/visual communication curriculum. This shift will better prepare students to work in a constantly evolving, competitive, and expanding field of design. Through documented student projects, we explored the development of XGD strategies and methodologies through the blending of traditional graphic design foundations, interactive, and time-based media that transform a user experience beyond the page and screen. The success of this type of new curriculum model is made possible by the co-location of art, design, new media, and architecture in an interdisciplinary college.

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