Research Based Practice

“One of the most impressive design research based practices in the world belongs to the architect Rem Koolhaas. Koolhaas has built his world wide reputation in large measure by designing and publishing the results of his research in provoking ways. From ‘Delirious New York: A Retrospective Manifesto for Manhattan' to 'S,M, L, XL' in collaboration with graphic designer Bruce Mau, to ‘The Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping', Koolhaas has consistently deployed design research in distinct ways. A look at his approach makes it obvious that design as research is not the same as science as research. Its emotional, subjective, sensitive to social context and culture and its precisely this that makes the results of design research resonate with people." (Peter Luenfeld, 2003)

In the current brief I have given to my students part of my aim with it is that they see and understand their role as designers to be able to create beyond branding and into shaping the design of products and services - that they view their role as more expansive, that they have more authorship. 

With so much hype about new design software tools (After Effects anyone!?) this is precisely the time to revisit the debates about deep design over styling. Our profession is in some degree of turmoil at present. I witness it in my own professional practice and regularly discuss future directions and definitions with my peers. Design is being squeezed by the requirement for web usability, site analytics etc and increasingly the role of the designer is “greying out”. It is difficult to prepare students for the profession when the ground is moving beneath our feet. I firmly believe that while all these new elements and influences are necessary within design in a contemporary context, we need to return to the touch stones of designs’ own power and intelligence. Design research is at the very heart of this. "It is a rational practice but one where emotion is allowed to manifest and guide. Its as much like a cooks kitchen as a scientists’ lab. "(Peter Luenfeld, 2003)

In my teaching practice my hope is to help students understand that while things may speed by on the surface they have a foundation in a calmer, more fundamental place. And it is here that research is undertaken, understood, and utilised in different contexts, and ultimately shaping the creative output in whatever form it takes.  In short, I aim to instill in student designers an ability to harness the power of research and in doing so increase the value and meaning of their own work and ultimately of the discipline itself. The ‘consequences’ of their designs become more intentional, purposeful, engaging through the research that helped shape it. It is something I fervently hope students will bring with them from academia to industry.

BUZZ PROJECT BRIEF

This is the final brief I am giving my students for this year and it is the brief I will be using as the basis for my case study during BUZZ. It's a branding brief that brings students through identity design, investigation of branding strategy, then on to the expansion of that into packaging design and finally the brands' further expression as a website. At the outset of the project students are asked to come up with concepts that shape the type of product they are branding, defining it function and its audience. This level of involvement is increasingly more common in industry where rather than a designer being brought in to 'style' a product or service as a final stage, we are now assisting in the development, definition and naming.

WHAT CAME BEFORE....

I would like to refer to the last project just completed by the students also. This was an editorial design brief, and I have included here some photos from 2 of my case study students of their research and concept and visual development for that project.

Chloe:In this short movie I have just focused on Chloes' design development for the masthead of the Magazine 'Breathe' There are obvious similarities between the design of a mast head and the design of a logo and so I have just focused on that element here.


TRYING TO SORT VIDEO PROBLEM - ONLY 2 SECONDS CAME THROUGH!

Ita:

Here is a quick run through Ita's sketchpad for the editorial brief. It shows her research into editorial design - gathering examples and familiarising herself with some of the work of leading designers in the field. We can see the development of her own designs as she attempted to immerse herself into the subject matter of her 2 chosen articles. She delved into the experience of travel, in motion and also the investigation into a new type of camera - the LYTRO - that allows the view to decide the point of focus in the image so she investigated issues of control, framing etc. Her masthead work revolves around her investigations into flow and ease and the masthead reflect these notions.

I will upload the final designs for this project separately  - once I've had a chance to photo them

TRYING TO SORT VIDEO PROBLEM - ONLY 2 SECONDS CAME THROUGH!

One point I underline to students, and I refer to in my COP Google site (please see ‘Research Methods in Education’ and ‘Curriculum’ navigation's) is that while beauty and self-expression may be appreciated and admired, it is the wisdom and meaning in work that gives it its’ value, relevance and communicative definition. Meaning grows out of knowledge, and to become knowledgeable on a subject one must research it. It is through the exploration with materials in the studio, conversation with peers or lecturers and researching methods that involve online searching, library sources, and active research (or design as research) that provides the student with the complex tools to progress ideas and visuals in a creative and meaningful way.

It is my sincere hope that the emphasis I place upon research and the value they witness in it throughout the execution of the briefs will remain with them for their careers as professional graphic designers. In bringing their awareness to a more intellectual and meaningful design approach I hope that they realise the greater level of satisfaction to be gained from this rigorous and reflective practice, to value the reflective component of design as much as the active one.

In conversation and observation with my students I wanted to understand the methods of research they use. I find that internet based research is the first port of call for students. In this regard I endeavor to point them towards a particular attitude of selectivity. Also I have found that while they are generally good for using the library facilities in the college they need to be nudged towards other forms of participatory research such as interviewing relevant individuals or just simply talking to experts in different fields. Of course in large part too the act of designing forms part of their research. It is satisfying to see that when students embark on these various forms of research that they are motivated all the more to do so subsequently having witnessed the benefits within their own working practice and the final creative expression.

“There are enormous challenges facing the design profession; unprecedented complexity in the scale of problems that requires new work in interdisciplinary teams; rapid technological change under which users are more and more invested in the construction of messages and artifacts; and the need for new knowledge/research to support design decisions in a climate of greater accountability” (Meredith Davis, 2011).

It is my opinion that in order to make the value of meaningful design clear to my students I must encourage them to think not just creatively about their intended message, but to have that message well grounded in analysis and reason and also to have great awareness of the complexity in the larger context of what they do.

Graphic Design:Now in Production

This major international exhibition explores how graphic design has broadened its reach dramatically over the past decade, expanding from a specialized profession to a widely deployed tool. With the rise of user-generated content and new creative software, along with innovations in publishing and distribution systems, people outside the field are mobilizing the techniques and processes of design to create and publish visual media. At the same time, designers are becoming producers: authors, publishers, instigators, and entrepreneurs employing their creative skills as makers of content and shapers of experiences.

Featuring work produced since 2000 in the most vital sectors of communication design, Graphic Design: Now in Production explores design-driven magazines, newspapers, books, and posters as well as branding programs for corporations, subcultures, and nations. It also showcases a series of developments over the past decade, such as the entrepreneurial nature of designer-produced goods; the renaissance in digital typeface design; the storytelling potential of titling sequences for film and television; and the transformation of raw data into compelling information narratives.

Graphic Design: Now in Production is the largest museum exhibition on the subject since the Walker’s seminal 1989 exhibition Graphic Design in America: A Visual Language History, and the Cooper-Hewitt’s 1996 comprehensive survey, Mixing Messages: Graphic Design in Contemporary Culture. Appropriately, this exhibition is co-organized by the two institutions. A comprehensive, illustrated catalogue produced by the Walker accompanies the exhibition.

Below is a 1hr 26 min presentation from the curators and other exhibitors in the show. Each one gets 6 mins of show time. Well worth a look.

Curators:
Ian Albinson, artofthetitle.com

• Andrew Blauvelt, Walker Art Center
• Jeremy Leslie, magCulture.com
• Ellen Lupton, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution
• Armin Vit and Bryony Gomez-Palacio, Brand New

BUZZ TIMELINE

to follow

BUZZ STATEMENT OF INTENT

Over the course of BUZZ I will be engaging in case study research. To quote from Kieran and Maria… this “entails the close study of a single case, so case study inquiry is concerned with the complexity and particular nature of the case in question. The most common use of the term ‘case’ associates the case study with a location (such as a particular community or institution). examples of case studies are: Steph’s ideas on the nature and relevance of research in the creative working procedures of her third level visual communication students.”

The key purpose/aim of my research...  The central aim of my research in BUZZ revolves around an examination of how (and if) research is embedded into the creative design process, in a non-linear way. I encourage my students to undertake extensive research throughout the creative process - to guide them in all aspects of that process - from building an understanding of the issues involved in a brief, through to the concept and visual development for it. It is my belief that research is fundamental to the design outcome and is involved at every stage of the creative design process. A key research aim in BUZZ is to set about finding evidence to prove or disprove this hypothesis. I will undertake this research with a case study group formed among 5 of my third year students in BA (Hons) Visual Communication at AIT.

What needs to be the focus... 

In order to address the central research question, the focus of my study will be in the examination of the embedded nature of research in the students design process and the influence (or not) of the research on the visual development and final creative outcome from the students.  I will distill the information I gather in an effort to progress my specific research purpose as I observe in my case study group.  

As part of the statement of intent for BUZZ I felt it important to include an issue that sits to the side of my main hypothesis, but which is also at the very heart of understanding the key issues being addressed within it. Specifically, I am referring to analytical thinking being a fundamental part of the creative practice of a graphic designer. Perhaps unlike artistic practice where generally the creative spark is free to roam and the journey of visual discovery and expression is at the heart of the creative process, in design practice the rationale and conceptual bases are intertwined wholly, and the creative visual expression of those elements through the final piece is the best attempt at capturing that.
In essence the beauty is in the aesthetic, and in the way in which the aesthetic embodies both the concept and the research behind it .

If we think of a graphic design artifact it can take many formats – posters, books, magazine design, marketing materials, branding, packaging etc. etc. I believe the research the designer does into the parameters of the brief (whether that be as set by a client, or a looser outline set personally)  and every single aspect of the design thereafter will be affected by the research undertaken as part of the creative design process. For example, the research will help identify the visual culture of the target audience, and therefore influence everything from the copy writing to the typeface choice, to the imagery, and even the format.

Research methods and reporting on research...
Research methods I will use are the ones which reveal themselves as most relevant and intuitively useful as the research and reporting upon it evolves and changes over the course of BUZZ. For now I anticipate using “analysis of documentary evidence” -  the analysis of the design artifact (predominantly the students’ sketchpads and notebooks) as my primary research method.  I will be filtering the elements I observe through the lens of my central hypothesis, so that ultimately my response to this will take the form of both a written offering and a visual one. I intend on approaching this through photographing and documenting my learners’ sketchpads in journal form on my blog.  This blog journal will feature firstly * student research methodologies and the influence and impact of research on their creative process and the designed outcome; and secondly * the journal will express my own analysis of it and my own design progress for the BUZZ reporting.

The second research method I intend exploring will be “structured interviews” with the learners involved. This will take the form of one to one tutorials with the student throughout their project, which I do weekly, the difference for the purposes of my central BUZZ hypothesis will be that I will be reflecting on these discussions through the lens of my central research aim, and cataloguing my responses as well as the responses of the students. I will examine the 'hows' and 'whys' of the student study groups' researching methods.

The final research method I anticipate using will be in the form of “art practice as research” and this will culminate in the concept, design and layout of a final visual artifact that reports on the experience of BUZZing.  I have been producing on my own research throughout the REV creative output and on into visual mapping within COP. Thankfully without the parameters of a brief the artifact itself is open ended until the information gathering and analysis of it is in full swing and setting the creative trajectory. I may re-vist a book format used in SynaeScape or move more in the direction of visual mapping which I explored within COP, or possibly it could become an onscreen piece featuring mapping and/or motion.

COP Ended

Please see "Sites I Like" panel to the left to link to my COP Module Website

I have continued to tease out some elements I identified during REV and have attempted to evolve them in the context of my undertakings in COP.
While the primary subject matter of my visual explorations during REV related to Synaesthesia as a subject (the outcomes of which can be seen on my blog – http://stephsmythmasters.blogspot.com) it became more and more evident that the act of researching itself was forming a huge part of the creative output. The creation of my book 'SynaeScape' revolved largely around the process of researching and the sense of overwhelm in ordering and processing of that research visually. Additionally, areas I encountered as part of the creative practice - for example visual mapping and data visualisation (as referred to in my Voice Threads) – started to come to the fore.

COP has provided me with the opportunity to explore these areas further and I have also attempted to visually capture the design process of my students and my own efforts as their lecturer in instilling an appreciation of the value and influence of quality subject and visual research as part of their own creative design practice. There is a transformation that occurs when research moves from being a passive act of observation and discovery to its application as an active agent of change. There is an element of complexity to this, and I have attempted to capture that visually here in taking the opportunity to explore visual mapping in my own work.

Below is the piece finished in the course of COP.
It visually describes the design process in the studio culture of my 3rd year students.
In it I have tried to encompasss my COP focus points of research, studio culture and complexity.