Design Systems

Posted November 16th, 2007Session Organizer: Brian Lucid, Massachusetts College of Art and Design

A system is defined as group of interacting, interrelated, or interdependent elements joined by a web of relationships to form a complex whole. Designers create systems to manage complexity, define consistency, generate form and composition, and create flexible frameworks for interaction or experience.

Systems theory has not had as strong of an influence upon design theory and pedagogy as it has upon other disciplines. However, designers have long been – and will be progressively more – engaged in the practice of designing systems of, and for, design.

A designer’s product was once fixed. Now it is increasingly dynamic. Designers enable fluidity by defining rules that govern relationships between elements and concepts, then choreograph how those relationships evolve over time and/or through user interaction. The shift from compositor to “rule-maker” has naturally led to a resurgence of interest in how we integrate systems into design education and practice.

How is the nature of systems and their application within communication design being addressed within design education?

The Language of Motion

Posted November 16th, 2007Session Organizer: Jan Kubasiewicz, Massachusetts College of Art and Design

Since motion became integral to communication design, motion literacy – the act of understanding how motion can be used to communicate more effectively – is essential for both designers and educators. Communicating effectively through motion involves familiarity with the grammar of kinetic form, and that has already been explored within various disciplines such as music, choreography, and cinema.

It is important for designers to learn the language of motion and its complexities from these disciplines. It is essential to understand the language of motion as a manifestation of the temporal dimension of communication design and its multiple aspects of time-based structure and narrative. Time, as intertwined with motion, becomes the structural design element as well as the subject of design.

This session seeks presenters exploring experimental and multidisciplinary approaches to investigating time, motion and sound in the context of communication design.

What is the Researchable Question?

Posted November 16th, 2007

Session Organizer: Meredith Davis, NC State University

How we define what is worth doing in design research will chart the path for those who follow. Framing researchable questions is a skill that begins at the graduate level and matures under university research faculty. What constitutes a researchable question? How is it different from a practice-based design challenge? What does it tell the researcher about next steps? This session will address the essential qualities of researchable questions and how they frame inquiry in design.

Massaging Media 2

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