Digital Facilitation Assistance for Collaborative, Creative Design Processes

People focus more and more on creating innovations collaboratively. Digital assistants (DAs) can accelerate such collaborative, creative design processes by supporting people in their work. Especially in the context of design, such as design thinking, moderators that facilitate collaborative, creative workshops can benefit from the support for their teams and themselves in the form of a DA. Based on interviews with experienced workshop facilitators from research and practice, we discuss implications for the design and usage of DAs in collaborative, creative design processes. We identify 16 distinct capabilities of DAs for task, process and interaction facilitation to guide design research and practitioners’ endeavors toward helpful automated DT facilitation support. Moreover, we outline a research agenda to foster future research on this young research area

Designing through craft practice: A woven textile approach for footwear

Commercial sandals are typically designed in a two-dimensional (2D) format with materials being applied during product development. In contrast, woven textile practitioners frequently utilize hands-on interaction with materials to produce design ideas through a craft-based approach. Hands-on making has been associated with a number of benefits including, but not limited to, knowledge generation and the potential for innovation. This article reports on practice-led research consisting of a sandal design project that integrates craft-based woven textile practice. Action research was used to develop the approach and evaluate the creative potential and practical considerations at different stages of the design process. Ultimately, this research determines where and how craft-based woven textile practice may be integrated into commercial footwear design and identifies the associated creative design potential. Qualitative data was recorded by written and visual means of documentation and analyzed using coding and clustering. The findings indicate that there is novel creative potential associated with the integration of a craft-based woven textile approach to sandal design and that it may be integrated to varying degrees at all stages of the design process. Benefits include opportunities for innovation, generation of in-depth knowledge, control, and immediacy in decision-making. Key challenges were noted in time and cost inefficiencies. The ability to consider material and product design in parallel ensured a considered relationship between the two. This led to benefits in the final designs that included the production of zero-waste, stitch free constructions. This research contributes empirical evidence and findings in relation to theoretical concerns in the area of craft practice as a vehicle for design innovation

The riddle of the mirror

The context of design is changing at a rapid pace. The impact of information technologies and digital creative tools continuously improving have revolutionized design practice. There has been a transition within the scope of a designer’s role - from simply giving form to a material to designing digital services. These developments have distanced design from tactile materiality. The designer, whose practice began as a material-based and rooted in the arts and crafts, must now rethink and reposition their creative processes and role within the current context of design. In this master thesis, I investigated this problem space by trying to answer the following research question: how does hands-on interaction with material influence the expressive and creative aspects of design practice? My method for investigating this research question is to engage in a practice-led research approach in which I explore the artistic potential of silver glass colors in glassblowing. I chose to research this topic in the field of glassblowing because of the intense physical interaction required between the artist and the material. In glassmaking, silver glass colors are used to create specific aesthetics, ranging from iridescent to silver mirrored surfaces. However, silver glass colors have been very challenging for many practitioners due to their unpredictable nature. I have considered this unpredictable material nature as a research opportunity to explore a reliable method of achieving silver mirrored results and to have artistic control of the wide metallic and iridescent palette. I have then applied these insights from material research to my artistic process and, with the help of relevant theory, I have reflected on both of these processes to investigate their intersection as a whole. My aim has been to determine the influence of hands-on material exploration on my design practice. The main findings are summarized in three points: 1) Hands-on interaction with the material has primarily influenced my early artistic vision and enhanced its expressive and creative aspects throughout my artistic production.2) Cyclical hands-on dialog with a material can support personal growth and help to develop an individual voice and creative expression; thus offering great potential for educational purposes. 3) The empirical data shows that silver glass colors provide a wide range of visual palette and can be preferred for local applications in particular, yet they require a long learning process to have control of them. This work provides information for readers who wish to know more about the role of hands-on studio practice and developing an individual voice through a creative process. Moreover, it presents helpful insights and data for people who are particularly interested in conducting material-based research in glassblowing and utilizing silver glass colors as an artistic technique

Interactive Technologies for the Public Sphere Toward a Theory of Critical Creative Technology

Digital media cultural practices continue to address the social, cultural and aesthetic contexts of the global information economy, perhaps better called ecology, by inventing new methods and genres that encourage interactive engagement, collaboration, exploration and learning. The theoretical framework for creative critical technology evolved from the confluence of the arts, human computer interaction, and critical theories of technology. Molding this nascent theoretical framework from these seemingly disparate disciplines was a reflexive process where the influence of each component on each other spiraled into the theory and practice as illustrated through the Constructed Narratives project. Research that evolves from an arts perspective encourages experimental processes of making as a method for defining research principles. The traditional reductionist approach to research requires that all confounding variables are eliminated or silenced using methods of statistics. However, that noise in the data, those confounding variables provide the rich context, media, and processes by which creative practices thrive. As research in the arts gains recognition for its contributions of new knowledge, the traditional reductive practice in search of general principles will be respectfully joined by methodologies for defining living principles that celebrate and build from the confounding variables, the data noise. The movement to develop research methodologies from the noisy edges of human interaction have been explored in the research and practices of ludic design and ambiguity (Gaver, 2003); affective gap (Sengers et al., 2005b; 2006); embodied interaction (Dourish, 2001); the felt life (McCarthy & Wright, 2004); and reflective HCI (Dourish, et al., 2004). The theory of critical creative technology examines the relationships between critical theories of technology, society and aesthetics, information technologies and contemporary practices in interaction design and creative digital media. The theory of critical creative technology is aligned with theories and practices in social navigation (Dourish, 1999) and community-based interactive systems (Stathis, 1999) in the development of smart appliances and network systems that support people in engaging in social activities, promoting communication and enhancing the potential for learning in a community-based environment. The theory of critical creative technology amends these community-based and collaborative design theories by emphasizing methods to facilitate face-to-face dialogical interaction when the exchange of ideas, observations, dreams, concerns, and celebrations may be silenced by societal norms about how to engage others in public spaces. The Constructed Narratives project is an experiment in the design of a critical creative technology that emphasizes the collaborative construction of new knowledge about one's lived world through computer-supported collaborative play (CSCP). To construct is to creatively invent one's world by engaging in creative decision-making, problem solving and acts of negotiation. The metaphor of construction is used to demonstrate how a simple artefact - a building block - can provide an interactive platform to support discourse between collaborating participants. The technical goal for this project was the development of a software and hardware platform for the design of critical creative technology applications that can process a dynamic flow of logistical and profile data from multiple users to be used in applications that facilitate dialogue between people in a real-time playful interactive experience

Translocated making in experimental collaborative design projects

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building.This thesis examines the activity of designing and making across geographical distances. Through critical reflection on the author’s own design practice, and the initiation of new collaborative design projects, the thesis develops and tests the concept of translocated making. Translocated making is explored as a form of production where activity, influence, media and understanding are shared across multiple locations, both physically and virtually. The author’s own design practice is situated and analysed in the context of how the manufacturing possibilities of mature western markets have developed since the 1990s. With the rise of digital technologies, greater degrees of interaction and collaboration between designer and manufacturer have been enabled; however, it is found that the effects of geographical and cultural distance on designing and making have not been systematically researched, nor understood from the perspective of the designer as creative agent. Drawing on theories of cultural interaction, and in particular Appadurai’s theory of suffixscapes, the thesis sets out a framework for experimenting with and analysing the effects of cultural and geographical difference on designing and making. Collaboration across distance is established as a key mode of designing and making, bringing to light the effects of difference in design outcomes. Gujarat in India is the location for a series of design projects in urban and remote locations. These are investigated through designing research and researching through design methods. New knowledge is articulated through the way in which the design projects allow for the testing and reflection upon theories of cultural interaction. The experimental design methods employed in the projects show how exchanging differences through collaboration in digital and analogue media can create new artefacts with hybrid cultural values. The value of this research for designers and makers in advanced and developing economies is through helping them to understand the possibilities of collaboration across geographical distance. For academics and researchers the value lies in critiquing and further developing practice-based design research methods, and in exploring the longer-term strategic, creative and cultural changes that globalisation and digital technologies are bringing to all forms of design and manufacture

ARTISTIC TRADITIONS OF THE EAST AND WEST IN CONTEMPORARY KAZAKH DESIGN

Purpose of the study: The purpose of the article is to determine the degree of interaction of the eastern and western art schools in the practice of Kazakh design and to identify their role in the formation and development of design in Kazakhstan. Methodology: The study is based on a complex methodology determined by an interdisciplinary approach involving the use of the methods of historicism, systematization, stylistic analysis, and comparative analysis. The methodology was based on research concepts of T. Stepanskaya, R. Yergaliyeva, E. Balabekov, B. Amanov, A. Mukhambetova. Main Findings: Based on the studied sources, the authors can draw the following conclusions: 1) The interaction of artistic traditions of the East and West is due to the fundamental unity of the human race, ensuring the permeability of cultural boundaries; 2) The diversity of creative individuality, originality of modern approaches combined with the achievements of traditional culture are the distinguishing features of the professional values of contemporary Kazakh design. Applications of this study: Thus, the scientific and practical significance of the study consists in the fact that: - the results can be the basis for the development of lecture courses in the framework of educational programs of higher education institutions for the specialty “Design”; - the conclusions can serve as an impulse for creative development in the modern practice of transmitting national traditions in design. Novelty/Originality of this study: The originality of the research is associated with the identification of trends and prospects for the development of fashion, advertising, interior, and environmental design in the modern cultural environment of Kazakhstan, as well as the establishment of the importance of spiritual and aesthetic foundations of color scheme in the disclosure of the figurative components of design projects. The novelty of the research consists in determining the influence of the traditional color scheme of Kazakh decorative and applied arts on the shaping and color scheme in the products of modern design, many of which are the main bearers of the regional ethno-semantics

A cognitive walkthrough towards an interface model for shape grammar implementations

The present study arises from the interest in computing as an important partner in the design process and the new paradigms in design practice that emerge with the use of computation. Shape Grammars (SG) are an example of ruled-based systems that, used in applications in the field of computational creativity, might assist architects, designers and artists in the creative process, not only creating solutions but also as a way of developing new ideas. However, SG applications developed so far developed so far address neither the specific work of creative projects nor the computational knowledge and habits of the designers-in-general. With this in mind, this research intends to reveal our proposal of IM-sgi (the initials IM stand for Interface Model and sgi for shape grammar implementations), a model of interface for SG implementations that can help SG to be introduced in the project practice, as this is not a reality yet and could mean a great contribution for new creative and complex architectural and design projects. This paper presents the description of the analysis used to define the IM-sgi model, with the result of a Cognitive Walkthrough (CW) made to a group of SG implementations and with the interaction model of Scott Chase [1] as the basis to define the users and how they communicate with the SG implementation.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

From Audience to Inhabitant: Interaction as a medium in architecture

This paper presents a framework for conceiving and implementing interaction as a medium in architecture. Architecture is the theoretical and practical art of creating a plan of a complex object or system in which the subjective mapping from a human perspective to components of the system is the core design focus. Traditional architectural design involves the specification of materials, which implement creative expression in the mediums of space, light and time. Interaction, or the reciprocal action between a human and another entity, is the basic medium of expression manipulated by the interactive artist. The aim of the paper is to outline a logical framework for considering the techniques and materials of interaction, as used in interactive art, in the context of architecture. The framework is a four-part collection of interlinking concepts that we established to define i. architecture, ii. medium, iii. interaction, and iv. interaction as a medium in architecture. Following, the implications for implementation of the framework are discussed, based on works by several hybrid artist-architects. The framework is an analytical ground point to base practice and research occurring in this emerging field of spatio-experiential design

Time, Culture and Identity: A Digital and Creative Professional’s Perspective on Interpreting Historical Clocks in Museum Environments

Digital media offer unique opportunities for museums to bring to life the secrets and stories of their historical collections. To bring insight into the process of developing digital media exhibits, this paper presents the perspective of a creative practitioner in approaching technology- and media-based interpretation for collection objects. It follows the Time, Culture and Identity digital workshop held in Beijing in October 2019, which explored and shared ideas about collaborative research and interdisciplinary practice in digital interpretation between academics, institutions, creative practitioners, and developers. Following the direction of the workshop, the paper takes as its focus the clocks and automatons of the imperial collection at the Palace Museum in Beijing. Observations are based on the author’s practice-led experience in running a design studio, Harmonic Kinetic, developing new media exhibits using digital technology and audiovisual media for museums, galleries, and exhibitions in the UK, including the Science Museum, V&A, Barbican, Tate, and the Tower of London. Taking a broad interaction-design-led outlook, the paper explores a personal design perspective for developing interpretive content and considers the particular opportunities and approaches these historical devices suggest. The paper concludes with a final section that reviews the process and reflects on outcomes from the Time, Culture and Identity digital workshop. This explored possibilities for an interpretive exhibit on the Country Scene clock from the Palace Museum collection

Contemporary Craft in Iceland: Communicating

This doctoral project develops an interdisciplinary collaborative approach to furniture designer\maker practice. At its core is a practice-based framework that can be used to assess and reflect upon the tacit, primarily visual nature of makers’ knowledge and the way that this can be communicated in order to develop design outcomes. The enquiry takes as its focus a two-year collaboration between the author – a British-based furniture designer/maker – and six indigenous Icelandic craft practitioners in which the ultimate goal was the creation of artefacts that, it was hoped, would be expressive of Iceland’s native craft traditions. During the ‘Iceland Project,’ as it came to be known, interaction between and among participants was grounded in a predetermined plan developed democratically through consultation and dialogue. The project successfully develops new knowledge through a contemporary reinterpretation of indigenous Icelandic craft-making knowledge and demonstrates this through the making of artefacts imbued with recognized cultural status. It also extends furniture designer/maker research by developing an innovative practice-based method of collaboration rooted in the multimedia archiving of the making process which can then be used to illuminate and facilitate future practice. The project is a scholarly display of makers’ knowledge: the process is shared democratically among peers; the decisions that articulate design and methods of making are reviewed; and inter-subjective outcomes are generated. To facilitate learning from designer/maker practice-based research, the creative narrative is necessarily partly articulated through visual media and artifacts