Collaboration in Design Education

Marty Maxwell Lane, Rebecca Tegtmeyer, Marty Maxwell Lane, Rebecca Tegtmeyer

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781350059030
• eBook ISBN: 9781350059016
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Design
• Subtopic: Design General

The book is a comprehensive guide for students and practitioners who want to take a collaborative approach in their design practice. Authors Marty Maxwell Lane and Rebecca Tegtmeyer introduce a range of case study collaborations, both face-to-face and remote, and between individuals and groups. The book addresses the basics of getting started, planning ahead and reflecting on outcomes, alongside the issues that come up in collaborative work, e.g. cross-cultural exchange, or managing roles within a diverse team. Editorial commentary runs throughout the chapter introductions and case studies, with informatics illustrating key concepts and expanded 'call out' points in the martin. More complex case studies offer a 'deep dive' section to explain and share further details of the featured projects.

Community Collaborations with Students

Design-based collaborations with community partners have become high-profile examples within academic institutions to showcase outreach and a commitment to civic engagement. These types of collaborations are beneficial for students, faculty, design departments, university systems, and community partners. These projects ask students to look beyond commercial content and projects that prioritize profit-based outcomes and focus on designing with their community. The process can empower students to commit to community engagement and further develop their values as citizen designers. Furthermore, the results of these collaborations can demonstrate the power of design to universities and the greater community.

CITIZEN DESIGNERS

Cultivating students who respond to community needs in this way requires a shift in how we approach typical practices in design education. As Elizabeth Resnick states in the preface to her book Developing Citizen Designers, “design educators urgently need to revisit our ingrained methods and philosophies in order to review and reconsider how we will actually steward our future generations of young design practitioners.” Faculty are poised to expose students to a broader way of thinking about the purpose of design.

HIERARCHY OF DESIGN PROBLEMS

The first steps in shifting our approach can start with giving students the opportunity to solve unexpected and complex problems and explaining the context through which these problems exist. In Design Methods, J. Christopher Jones introduced a hierarchy of design problems that ranges from component to product to system to community. Jones states that most design solutions exist at the component or product level, but most problems exist at the system or community level. These types of problems extend past the formal attributes of visual communication and are often not addressed in traditional coursework.

CHAPTER 1CASE STUDIES

CASE STUDY ONE

ThinkTank 2020

Tyler Galloway, Kansas City Art Institute (Professor Galloway previously taught at the University of Kansas)

CASE STUDY TWO

Growing NearWest

Pamela Napier, Indiana University and Starla Hart, 16 Tech Community Corporation

CASE STUDY THREE

Wicked Problems in Your Community

Liese Zahabi, University of New Hampshire

CASE STUDY FOUR

Farm-to-Market

Meta Newhouse and Caroline Graham Austin, Montana State University

In order to bridge the gap for students working within this complexity, various methods and processes must be integral to their education. Human-centered research practices will aid in developing a better understanding of the audiences and communities they work with. Students with this foundational inspiration and knowledge will continue on to be leaders rather than followers and properly exploit the power of design to create positive change.

Providing students the experience of working with communities comes with some challenges. The most common is finding and maintaining committed community partners and scheduling times of working that respect the community members and the students. A good starting point can be for faculty to look into university systems that can connect them to community partners that have already been cultivated. Bringing the university outreach services into the conversation can also help clarify each institution’s policies of working with human subjects. Consulting resources on campus and beyond, such as IDEO’s The Field Guide to Human-Centered Design, can provide guidance for faculty and awareness for students.

ARTIFACTS FEATURED:

»Website

»Concept Maps

»Environmental Graphics

»Branding

»Way-Finding

»Stop-Motion

»Experience Design

»Publications

»Product Development

The case studies in this chapter provide examples of how community partnerships were established, a wide range of research methods, and several different processes that facilitate a collaborative approach to designing with communities. The first case study is situated within a course and the community project is initiated with one group of students and passed on to the group that follows. A semester-long project is the context for the second case study and outlines a robust process, beginning with the initiation of community collaboration all the way to completion. The third case study offers a course structure that scaffolds exercises that lead up to multiple collaborative projects. And finally, the fourth case study is a multidisciplinary established course that works with a rotation of local farmers.

RESOURCES:

Developing Citizen Designers by Elizabeth Resnick

Design Methods by J. Christopher Jones

The Field Guide to Human-Centered Design: by IDEO

CHAPTER 1TAKEAWAYS

Finding Community Partners

Collaborative Research

Research Through Making

Technical Tools

Human-Centered Research Methods

»Culture Probes

»Generative Tools

»Concept Maps

Physical Disruption

Audience Interviews

Teaching Complexity

Human Research Subjects

Learning Objectives

Grant Funding

Field Work

Outside Experts

Icebreakers

Making Teams

CASE STUDY 1.1

ThinkTank 2020

Tyler Galloway, Kansas City Art Institute

»10 sophomores, juniors, seniors in graphic design, industrial design, illustration, and interior design at the University of Kansas (Professor Galloway previously taught at the Universtiy of Kansas)

COMMUNITY PARTNERS

Erika Dvorske, United Way of Douglas County

Jennifer Bessolo, South Middle School

HOW THE TEAM MET:

Tyler Galloway was introduced to Erika Dvorske through the Center for Civic and Social Responsibility at The University of Kansas. Through Erika, Tyler was then introduced to Jennifer Bessolo.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Tyler Galloway challenged his students to reduce the dropout rate in Lawrence, Kansas, public schools to zero by 2020. This goal was to be completed through a three-phase process spanning three semesters, with the work from the previous class informing the next class. Phases 1 and 2 were completed; however, phase 3 (implementation) was halted due to Tyler moving to another institution.

Students in both phases were tasked with performing primary and secondary research to understand the nature and complexity of the problem, summarize the issues, and visually communicate their findings for future classes to build upon. They collaborated with Erika Dvorske, the Pre...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Introduction
• CHAPTER 1 COMMUNITY COLLABORATIONS WITH STUDENTS
• CHAPTER 2 FACULTY SHARING KNOWLEDGE TO BROADEN STUDENT EXPERIENCE
• CHAPTER 3 PEER-TO-PEER LEARNING ACROSS DISCIPLINES
• CHAPTER 4 CONFRONTING BIAS IN CULTURAL EXCHANGES
• CHAPTER 5 INTRA-DISCIPLINARY FACULTY COLLABORATION
• CHAPTER 6 INDUSTRY INTERVIEWS
• Conclusion
• Resources
• Bibliography
• About the Authors
• Index
• Acknowledgments
• eCopyright