Creative practices in the design studio culture: collaboration and communication (original) (raw)

The Computer-Integrated Design Studio as Social Space

European Academy of Design

In this paper,I explore the short and long-term benefits of our innovative studioapproach to integrate design and technology.At the University of Florida,studentspurchase their computer systems and are assigned individual studio desks which com-bine both a drawing/layout surface and computing space with direct high-speed inter-net access,a safe and secure workspace,and a reliable electrical system.The creationof this environment may seem obvious,but it is specifically designed to increase col-laboration and enhance study of and investigation into design and support fields.Inthis paper,I investigate how this can serve as a model at other institutions.The studiois an active,highly collaborative space.Introducing comments from students,alums,and faculty,I will discuss general concerns (financial issues,over-dependency on tech-nology,critical thinking,etc.).While we do not make claims of perfection,our facultyand students feel strongly that this is an excellent approach to teaching design.

Creativity as Practice(d) in a Design Studio

Although the social and cultural dimension of creativity has been emphasized for quite some time, there is neither a consensus on how creativity can be nurtured nor on what it is to become creative. Adopting a practice-oriented perspective, this paper reports on an ethnographic study in a studio-based course on Interface Design. Drawing on observations and students' narrative accounts of their working processes, the local design studio is portrayed as a well-attuned system of structural elements, patterns of interaction and epistemic assumptions. The findings reveal basic similarities but also significant differences with other studies on educational design studios. It is suggested that these differences are due to differences in the epistemic frames enacted.

Design Ethnography? Towards a Designerly Approach to Field Research

Empowering Users through Design Interdisciplinary Studies and Combined Approaches for Technological Products and Services, 2015

A few decades ago, a transfer of ethnographic approaches to design and design research started to appear. It generally aimed at helping designers to understand people, their culture, and their usage of technologies in order to design better products. Over the years, designers in their work have repurposed a large array of theoretical concepts, methods and tricks. This chapter reflects on this evolution, and describes the notion of “design ethnography” in order to highlight the specificity of this approach. A project that speculates on the future of gestural interactions with technologies exemplifies this approach.

The relationship between technology and design practice:

In all aspects of design, Architectural, Interior, Industrial, Graphic etc. practitioners are expected to utilise digital tools to communicate, project manage, visualise and manipulate their creative output. (Carter 1993) However in some sectors of the design industry the use of digital techniques has increased to the exclusion of almost all other forms of visualisation and output. In these sectors the use of digital technology has developed from being a tool used to collate and refine ideas generated from across a range of media, to a situation where all design activity and communication can now take place “online”. It is now usual for a design professional to practise with a high degree of skill in several digital software packages and to have more than one social networking portal at their disposal. This in turn requires the possession of the necessary hardware to run the software, (Nardelli et al 2009) and to communicate. 1. Digital Technology is a very valuable tool but to what extent does the technology constitute a form of hegemony? 2. Does the design and content of the software impose limits on the design process? Or do users impose their own strictures on their use of such systems, consciously or unconsciously based on their proficiency of using these tools? Modern theories in creativity coupled with new techniques in analysing brain function indicate that there may be areas of concern. 3. Are social network portals being used effectively? 4. Is there potential in Augmented reality for Creative practices?