Teaching
Interaction Design
In this Interaction Design course, students embark on a journey through the evolving landscapes of technology, art, and human interaction. We delve into the intricacies of user interfaces and experiences, emphasizing the importance of usability, data visualization, and learnability. The course also explores the cutting-edge realms of AI in creative fields, tackling how to design AI-powered products and systems with a focus on ethics, transparency, and societal impact. Through a combination of theoretical knowledge and practical application, students will engage with topics like immersive interaction using VR/AR/XR, tangible interactions through Arduino and robotics, and the emerging dialogues in human-machine symbiosis.
The course is designed to challenge and inspire students to become pioneers in shaping how we interact with technology and each other. It offers a unique blend of artistic exploration and technical proficiency, encouraging students to think critically about the role of technology in society. From considering the implications of AI in healthcare and social environments to understanding the nuances of internationalization and accessibility, this course prepares students to design interactions that are not only innovative and efficient but also ethically and socially responsible.
Eco-Centric Design: Interspecies Co-Creation
Human-centric thinking is causing us to damage our planet and wreak havoc on other forms of life in ways that can’t be repaired. As the Anthropocene evolves, the challenge for the next decade will be to reimagine how we live through the lens of the environment. This will call for rewiring many deep-seated behaviors and systems, evolving from human-centered, profit-driven design to a more all-encompassing concern for our environment and non-human species.
New scientific research and new tools are enabling humans to understand non-human species (animals, plants, artificial intelligence) in new ways. Many of our preconceived notions about our own human exceptionalism are being challenged – animals use tools, have language, grieve for their loved ones, show love to other species, and act in ways that are altruistic and socially minded. Co-creating with other species helps us to probe into different intelligences, shift perspectives, and interrogate ourselves. The collaborations go beyond passive looking and require a deep understanding of the non-human species’ intelligence, behavior, agency, and a shared umwelt in between the co-creators.
This course develops practices and strategies that decenter the human being in a world of ecological uncertainty and recalibration. We will explore eco-centric design, earth-centered design, and design for non-humans such as animals, plants, robots. We will discuss Descartes' view of animals, animals in indigenous cultures, ecofeminism, posthumanism, AI and animals, and animal ethics. Through collaborative and creative activities and assignments, we will research and question ideas of co-creating with another species and how to give them agency. We will have field trips and lab visits to observe, document, design for, and hence co-create with the non-human species. We will dedicate ourselves to creating actions, habits, products, practices, and artworks—in many mediums—that work to disrupt unthinking ego-centric and replace it with eco-centric consciousness.
This is an interdisciplinary course. We welcome your participation and contributions regardless of major or year.
Formats: Field trip, lab visit, observation, documentation, research, lecture, project, reading response
Bio Design
There is tremendous potential for positive advancements that can be made by bringing artists and designers into the conversation and process of biological design. Biotechnology has entered into many aspects of our daily lives, from advancements in medicines and greener solutions to the negative impacts of genetically modified foods and crops. The speed of these developments is incredulous, and should not be left to market forces alone. With a focus on people and their experiences, a deeper level of understanding and critical thinking around these technologies can emerge to envision and design a better world.
This course offers an interdisciplinary platform for students to engage, collaborate and experiment in regard to biotechnologies and our futures. The class will participate in the Biodesign Challenge, a global design challenge bringing together students among leading art, design, and research institutions to complete. Through speculative and creative thinking, the course will introduce students to new forms of fabrication, tools, and materials used in biotechnology. At the end of the semester, one team will be selected to present at the Biodesign Summit at the MOMA in New York City in June 2023.
We create artworks (not medium-specific) using production strategies that range from traditional to experimental. We have some hands-on bio lab experiences, experiment with edible materials, collaborate, and build new interspecies relationships. We discuss diverse strategies for living art and design production and go over other artistic approaches practiced, the boundaries of engineering life, far reaches of life sciences and ecology. Creative bioresearch is explored as a personal expression, collective experience, and political conundrum.
Throughout the semester, in support of the student productions in the class, we view an inspiring range of contemporary designs and artworks that reveal the aesthetic, conceptual, and methodological shifts in the way living art and design are constructed and perceived. We watch videos, take field trips, have guest lecturers, and practice bioactivities to identify and examine thematic issues central to ‘biological design/art’, and its aesthetics. As well we engage in heated debates about the ethical issues surrounding bio design/art as it deals so directly with life and death.
Speculative Futures
Operating at the intersection of art, science and technology, this class will give students an opportunity to stretch their imaginations and develop new and boundary-pushing systems and prototypes for the future, addressing big societal issues with design processes and systems. Specifically, students will develop speculative design projects which explore the social and cultural implications of emerging technologies and sciences. These projects look beyond a functional instrumentalism to consider how design can be used to incite mindful reflection rather than blind consumption. The projects may require social research and invite creative use of software and hardware, physical modeling, experiments in science labs, sensing, fabrication, projection, and user experience design. The projects can be presented in a variety of formats including product design, wearables, objects, installation, rendering, film, or performance.
Introduction to Speculative Futures
Speculative design in fashion, furniture, architecture, food, game. Things from the future.
Speculative Everything: Guest lecture by Fiona Raby
Tools for imagining different futures: Digital fabrication, Digital rendering at Additive Manufacturing Center
Speculative furniture, product: Guest lecture by Lisa Krohn
Speculative kitchen: Guest lecture by Maciej Chmara
Multi-species future, eco futures, co-creation with animals
Critical ecologies and rewinding the Anthropocene
Bio-futures, biohacking, gene-editing
Human-machine symbiosis, posthumanism, augmentation, metaverse
Teaching Philosophy
I aim to motivate curiosity-driven life-long learning. The best way to motivate students is through self-discovery and the celebration of innovation and curiosity. In my own artistic and design practice, curiosity drives experiments and forms discoveries and novelty. I bring this process into my classrooms to create passion and positive energy that students take with them afterward. I empower my students to believe the originality and relevance of their ideas drive impact rather than the size of their budget.
Encouraging students to ask questions leads to proactive thinking, discussion, and learning. I require my students to keep a speculative eye on everything. What already exists can be questioned, improved, and remade. Speculation ignites students’ imaginations to flow freely and open up new perspectives and debates about alternatives. When I encounter something that is new to me, I acknowledge it, and often students can surprise me. We learn from each other and exchange knowledge.
In a multi-disciplinary class where students have expertise across design, art, engineering, and cognitive science, cultivating collaboration is crucial. Together, we know more than any textbook. Students appreciate pursuing diverse perspectives as part of their growth. The collaborative projects I create honor different skillsets and support students to teach and help each other. In a group project involving both design and technical components, it is common for an engineering student to focus on the tech role, especially when under a time constraint. To push students beyond their comfort, I instead assign specific roles and tasks to each student. Students use this challenge as an opportunity to learn from each other’s expertise. The learning process is as important as the outcome. While teaching technical skills, I use art and creative examples to motivate students and avoid letting technologies limit ideas and imagination.
I encourage every student to listen to each other and be heard. For example, if I see a quieter or interrupted student, I include them in the conversation using creative tactics such as anonymous and/or text contributions to class discussions. I also work with students individually to explore their unique interests and perspectives. It is essential for teachers to be mindful that not all students grow up with the same access to resources and people learn with different styles and speeds. I am sensitive to students’ emotions and vulnerabilities and cultivate a positive and supportive culture in peer reviews and critiques. I am tough on ideas, gentle on people. I stay proactive in learning and applying new methods for diversity and inclusion.
I believe design and artistic practice is a form of research. The research process for art and design should be taken as seriously as the research in science - to learn the context, history, material, precedence, and process. I take this process seriously, never viewing it as ornamental, and I ask my students to do the same.
In this fast-changing field, it is crucial to continue learning and growing. I use design research and art practice to renew and support my teaching. I constantly update my syllabus and teaching methods based on new discoveries, industry findings, newly established fields, and feedbacks from students. Teaching itself is a reformulating and relearning process.
Teaching Interest
Interspecies World Sharing
Co-creation with non-human systems
Art as Activism, Speculative Design, Research-based Design/Art Practices
Technology ethics, art and technology, media and society, climate change, surveillance, gender rights, capitalism, perception, philosophy of AI
HCI, Prototyping Design, Computational Design
Low-fidelity to high-fidelity, conceptual design to prototyping, design communication, design thinking, physical computing, digital fabrication (laser cutting, 3d printing, CNC), fast prototyping (Sketch, InVision, Principle, Unity), coding (C#, Javascript, HTML, CSS), 3d modeling (Rhino, Grasshopper, Cinema 4D, Keyshot), Adobe Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effect, Premier), AR/VR, AI
Experiential Media, Immersive Environments, Sensorium
Augmented reality, virtual reality, projection, media art, interaction, multimodal experiences, philosophy of perception, embodied experiences, performance art
Interaction Design, UX, UI, Branding, Graphic Design
Behavioral theory, typography, color, composition, animation, video, user study, design for screened & non-screen devices, responsive website and mobile applications, generative design, game design
Design × Science × Technology
Explorative design for emerging technology, use design to translate science into products
Data Visualization, Data Art
Data visualization principles, d3.js, art made of data