Browsing by Subject "Critical design"
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Item Design and the qualities of craft(2012-05) Culpepper, Lindsey L.; Catterall, Kate; Lee, GloriaDuring my research, I’ve studied craft through various lenses as a way to explore the realm of meaningful experiences within material culture. It is through an understanding of materials and process, through craft, that we may appreciate the value and impact of our material culture. By considering both the object and the systems it exists in, I have clarified my understanding of sustainable material culture. My explorations with reuse materials culminate in utilizing standardized, industrially manufactured parts, which can be found in multiples, to facilitate small batch production of crafted items. These explorations are not about the singular crafted object, but multiple crafted products. Craft, unlike conventional industrial design, accommodates a conversation between material, maker and methods. An understanding of both practical conventions and experimental methods paired with an appreciation for materials and technique, craft is the foundation for thoughtful making. The convergence of design and craft is rich territory for developing sensible and purposeful objects that are truthful and valuable.Item No bad memories : a feminist, critical design approach to video game histories(2014-05) Weil, Rachel Simone; Lee, GloriaCertain unique sights and sounds of video games from the 1980s and 1990s have been codified as a retro game style, celebrated by collectors, historians, and game developers alike. In this report, I argue that this nostalgic celebration has escaped critical scrutiny and in particular omits the diverse experiences of girls and women who may have been alienated by the tough, intimidating nature of a twentieth-century video-game culture that was primarily created by and for boys. Indeed, attempts to attract girls to gaming, such as the 1990s girls' game movement, are usually criticized in or absent from mainstream video-game histories, and girly video games are rarely viewed with the same nostalgic fondness as games like Super Mario Bros. This condition points to a larger cultural practice of trivializing media for girls and, by extension, girlhood and girls themselves. My critical design response to this condition has been twofold. First, I have recuperated and resituated twentieth-century girly games as collectible, valuable, and nostalgic, thereby subverting conventional historical narratives and suggesting that these games have inherent cultural value. Second, I have created new works that reimagine 8-bit style as an expression of nostalgia for twentieth-century girlhood rather than for twentieth-century boyhood. This report contains documentation of some relevant projects I have undertaken, such as the creation of a video-game museum and an 8-bit video game called Electronic Sweet-N Fun Fortune Teller. In these projects and in future works, I hope to disrupt dominant narratives about video game history and nostalgia that continue to marginalize and trivialize girls' and women's experiences and participation in contemporary game cultures.Item No future : punk, design and resistance to Dystopian technologies(2019-05-09) Moakes, Gordon; Catterall, Kate; Park, Jiwon. M.F.A.Smartphones and other compact forms of technology have become commonplace in the human experience throughout the world: at the same time, we have come to take for granted the necessity to access such technologies almost exclusively through privately-owned and corporate platforms. In this, the heyday of technology capitalism, which sustains itself with pernicious forms of data annexation and behavior surveillance, the notion of ‘counterculture’ has become a nebulous—and contested—idea, both within the current multiplicities of online discourse and as a reflection of changing attitudes in the twenty-first century to pre-existing notions of ‘mainstream’ and ‘alternative’ culture. Drawing on my experience as a musician in the 2000s and 2010s, and the ‘punk’ inspirations that led me to music in the first place, this thesis is an exploration of the possibilities for countercultural responses to hegemonic technologies, and an attempt to update punk in satirical and rhetorical forms to confront the design assumptions that entrench logics of capitalism and fallacious technological ‘progress’.Item Social design as violence(2015-05) Nasadowski, Rebecca Shannon; Gorman, Carma; Lee, Gloria; Gunn, JoshuaFaculty in art schools, colleges, and universities have increasingly begun institutionalizing and professionalizing "design for good" in their curricula. Students are currently being taught that social design is good--or at least preferable to working for large corporations--but are not being urged to question this feel-good assertion. When the trendy phrase "design for good" is used, for whom is it good? Though social design can result in powerful, laudable work, it often escapes critical scrutiny--particularly in educational settings--for two reasons: 1) by default, many consider non-commercial (broadly defined) work de facto virtuous and thus assume that any and all partnerships with non-profit organizations, for example, must be ethically commendable; and 2) many consider good intentions sufficient and do not inquire about actual effects and consequences. My thesis work proposes that social design is just as ethically fraught as other kinds of design, if not more so, as any unintended harmful consequences of projects lie unnoticed and unchallenged under the guise of "doing good." Social designers' analyses of sociopolitical dynamics and histories of conflict are often thin. In some instances, their projects may actually enact violence, maintaining imbalances of power and perpetuating the oppression of the very individuals and communities they try to serve. I argue that insights regarding power, state control, and privileges afforded by race, class, and gender should form a critical foundation for designers seeking to work in this field. If designers and design educators are serious about design providing a "social good," it is essential that they broaden their scope of analysis and critique to include the insights and strategies that activists and academics in other fields can offer.Item The ethics of care and participatory design : a situated exploration(2023-04-21) Kravchenko, Elizaveta; Fleischmann, Kenneth R.This thesis provides suggestions to an early-stage start-up regarding integration of ethical perspectives throughout the design process. By critically considering core tenets of feminist care ethics and participatory design, the project establishes a foundation of synergies and methodological overlaps between the ethical theory and design process. This understanding is then utilized to propose a framework emphasizing contextual relationality between project stakeholders for integration within a design. The framework is applied to identify opportunities for support within the prototyping of Camp Cura, an AI-powered mobile application aimed to help young adults self-manage asthma symptoms. Through shadowing the initial design team’s work, areas of particular caution within the design are identified. The thesis culminates in tailored identifications of opportunities for ethical framework integration and areas for project improvement.Item The war at home : a veteran's use of critical design methods for post-deployment reintegration(2015-05) Perez, Jose Manuel; Catterall, Kate; Sonnenberg, StephenMany combat veterans underestimate the on-going traumatic effects of war, effects that eventually surface in civilian life, causing health, relationship and career problems. During a deployment, emotions such as vigilance, anger, and fear are beneficial for the soldier and aide in coping with multiple combat-related adversities. Suppression of emotions that do not assist the soldier or mission during deployment is necessary and becomes habitual as it helps the soldier stay motivated and focused for the duration of the deployment. Post-deployment, the coping mechanisms previously necessary for survival, contribute to the difficulties of reintegration. The problems encountered by veterans can include, but are not limited to: social withdrawal, economic decline, self-medication, and most problematic, suicidal tendencies. As a veteran myself, I began to ask, is there another way to prepare veterans for re-entry to civilian life, to prevent unnecessary hardships and tragedies, educate them in unfamiliar ways, and perhaps contribute to an effective healing process? As a designer I approached these questions, searching for a way to communicate the adversities veterans face from an unexpected angle. Presented here are prototypes, diagrams, and warning systems designed to help veterans 1) be more self-aware and alert to the symptoms of posttraumatic stress and depression, 2) engage the armed forces and the VA in a discussion about innovative and more effective ways to talk about and treat the psychologically damaged soldier, and 3) foster communities to support veterans in their re-entry to civilian life. The objects I designed for my thesis exhibition are not intended to correct a complex problem such as Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or moral injury. Instead, they are created as a collection of tools to facilitate difficult conversations, provoke thought, and as an alternative approach to reach combat veterans who are in their own process of reintegration. My work is one method to process the effects of war through a non-destructive practice for those veterans who may not pay attention to the wall of pamphlets or other forms of disseminating information.Item "Who? to whom listen?" : critical design for authorial voice(2015-08) Guy, Madeleine Faye; Clement, Tanya Elizabeth; Feinberg, Melanie, 1970-Critical design for authorial voice is a research methodology which combines an analytical reading approach with a reflective design approach. This methodology is based upon an object-oriented framework which sees digital objects as equal agents in the design and use of technologies, possessing an "authorial voice" which speaks through infrastructures and privileges certain narratives of use and creation. When scholars see the digital space as the "other" divorced from the biases and assumptions of humans - the digital as transparent, neutral tools - scholars ignore how infrastructures are interwoven with every level of society, and how these structures change the everyday experiences of human life. This thesis combines classification studies and interface criticism with critical design in the reading and making of digital critical editions. My research can be examined in the fields of critical design, digital humanities and knowledge organization as an example of how to merge theory and praxis. Applying questions of authorial voice during the process of reading and designing objects involves constantly questioning pre-held assumptions about the nature of text in a digital space and how to design objects. My framework and methodology suggest a way that all disciplines in the information sciences can broaden their ability to gain knowledge from the technical objects they interact with and create; the voices that speak to them, and that can be heard, are multiplied many times over once objects are recognized to have agency and an authorial voice. Critical design projects are thus a way to develop artifacts in a more holistic, engaged manner, allowing both the creation and understanding of technologies to develop in tandem, rather than as separate processes of design and critique, and to consider the ethical implications of one's design decisions.