Beyond Grad Studio Walls As designers, researchers, and educators, students and faculty work together to foster an outward-looking community of learners and contributors The topics that we explore, the investigations we conduct through design, by design, and for design, evolve in response to contemporary concerns, anticipating future opportunities. As the content of the 2018 Bulletin reveals, a few themes have been emerging in recent years. Were I to assign keywords, they would include machine learning, inclusivity, uncertainty, smart objects, social good. The keywords could be perceived as mere buzzwords, were it not for the convincing concepts that students and faculty developed, and for their thoughtful design solutions, speculations, and theories within these big topics. In addition to the representative work featured here, MGD students further prove that the design research projects to which we commit resonate with people beyond the college. In Fall 2017, five second-years traveled to Lisbon to represent the work of thirteen students at the first annual Food & Design conference, “Experiencing Design, Designing Dialogue.” In Spring 2018, a student presented “Design as a Tool for Cultural Preservation” at the Conference on African-American & African Diasporic Cultures and Experience (CACE). Another student presented research on “Visualizing Uncertainty in Data Journalism” at the Sackler Student Symposium in Washington D.C. And two 2018 graduates will join a 2016 alumna this summer in Limerick, Ireland, to run a workshop at the annual Design Research Society conference. We always anticipate enfolding additional, pertinent issues as new students enter the program propelled by their own inquiries. Our ideas and activities echo the design challenges everyone faces. We aim to be generative participants, if not humble leaders, in the complex work of addressing them. 1
Foreword
Denise Gonzales Crisp Professor and Director of the Graduate Program
Opposite Top: Graduate students install research posters representing a 2016 semester’s worth of studio work* in the main stage auditorium at the Food & Design Conference, Lisbon, Portugal. Opposite Bottom: Four of nine posters that students compiled, wrote, and designed in September 2017 for the conference. *Read the story: “Experiencing Food, Designing Dialogue,” 2017 Bulletin, 14–21.