Assignment 1, Research. Reconsider. Repeat.

Choose a design subject. Make a collection of animated, printed, and physical graphics which help you understand it.

This is a design research project. It is open-ended, self-directed, and semester-length. The goal is to understand the process of design research by doing it. As it is a considerably open assignment, then steps and check-ins are provided en route. 

Week 1: Collect nine design research subjects for a semester-length investigation. Post each to your are.na channel with visual references. Come to class prepared to discuss. Together, we will help you select one to work with.

Week 2: *Make something.* This could be as simple as translating the work from one media to another — copy it in pencil at 1:1 size; make a short video of the work moving between different scales; describe the work in your own words recorded as a short audio file; print it in black and white; print it at six different sizes; hang it upside down and make notes on how this changes the work; etc., etc., etc.

The most effective way to learn about a piece of design is by making something new. This is directly opposed to the research process that you might be familiar with which relies on previously written and recorded accounts. In this case, you want to know not so much *what is it?* but rather, *how does it work?* And so, an empirical approach will be best. Bring what you’ve made to class.

Weeks 3–4: Repeat Week 2 (*Make something.*) three times. In other words, make three new things in relation to your original. Each must be in a different media.

Using the first practical response as a guide, refine your inquiry. For example, try to understand color in the work. What happens if it is monochromatic? Or shifted to warm colors? Experiment with typography — copy the work but change the type. How does this alter the original? What do you know about when and how your subject was made? What were the tools of the time and how did they shape the work? Bring what you’ve made to class.

Weeks 5–7: Repeat Week 2 (*Make something.*) nine times. In other words, make nine new things in relation to your original. Each should be in a distinct media, at a distinct scale, or with a distinct approach.

All of your design research involves making new work. You will continue to do so. This is a design research project where thinking and making are collapsed into one fluid activity. As before, you should use what you made in Weeks 3–4 to reconsider your subject. Bring what you’ve made to class.

Weeks 8–10: At this point, you should be on design research autopilot, each work leading you to the next. You will continue to make new things. These can be quick and easy, or complex and involved. At this point, the requirements are very open. We will have individual and/or small group meetings to review your work each week. 

It is also time to bring your design research together into a coherent form. You will prepare a 9-minute presentation to be delivered over Zoom to assembled visiting critics. This constitutes the documentation of your design research project. It will be recorded. Therefore, this presentation should be very carefully scripted, choreographed, rehearsed, and performed. You might present from a specific space in the building. You might be wearing specific clothing. You might enlist others to help in the presentation. You might consider lighting and sound. You will present the works you have made, which will necessarily be in different media, and so you should consider how to do this gracefully. 

These videos conclude your investigation. They will be archived back onto this website for the future to reconsider.

The working method for this project should more accurately reflect the lateral thinking and meandering processes that are the stock and trade of a lively design practice. In your final video presentations, please speak about everything or most everything that you have made. This will be a lot, but it will also be important to convey the breadth and depth of your investigation. 



Continues in class . . .