Interdisciplinary
insights
intro
Before i delve into the theory and research for the week, i want to establish where my Brief two thinking is at. I’m envisioning my collaborative tool will be based upon working with children, although fr the final outcome i may reframe it as working with teachers: educating the educators on teaching principles of graphic design. Specifically, I want to design a lesson plan or workshop which introduces elementary (primary) aged students to typography. Creating, playing, working and listening to kids is the greatest way we can design for them. Maybe kids hate the typeface “Sassoon Primary”, maybe they love italics. Maybe maths is more fun when the numbers are in some crazy decorative font.
Ideally i would introduce some fundamentals: serif/sans, kerning, bold, italics, leading. In my experience kids love random simple facts. Having given a few class talks about publishing a book, teachers have told me the kids go off and talk about end-pages for weeks. Such a random fact to cling to: but young children are often so empowered by simple pieces of specialist knowledge.
From simple knowledge to games such as found alphabets and collaging ransom-style lettering. Cut it out, stick it together, find some serifs, see what you like and what works together.
And ultimately: kids designing their own typeface. Grided paper, construct an alphabet, as wacky or as coherent as they chose. From this they could work with a simple type generator, or the results could be uploaded/amalgamated into one typeface. A class type! A school font!
How amazing would it be to have a 6 year-old denounce poor kerning. How incredible would it be for a student with learning difficulties self-advocate to have their instruction manual to have more leading.
Working title :“I’m your type”. Whether I develop it this brief or next (how does it fit?) I’m going to use the school holidays to start experimenting on my kids.
RESEARCH: Junior Design Factory
A working design studio run by kids! And neurodivergent ones at that. This is such an epic concept - possibly more apt for the brief 1 but i am looking at it through the lens of collaboration.
Established by “Creative Briefs” (see more below), the aim of this studio is to expose and engage children - particularly those who ‘learn differently’ in the creative industries. Design briefs can be submitted to the JDF, whereby they are reviewed and if accepted go through the following design process:
Maybe my working title should be FontFace
Elizabeth B.-N. Sanders & Pieter Jan Stappers (2008) Co-creation and the new landscapes of design, Co-Design, 4:1, 5-18, DOI: 10.1080/15710880701875068 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15710880701875068
I discovered this article and found some great points for working with children.
In essence, it discusses the evolution of design research from a user-centered approach to co-design: wherein designers collaborate with users in the design process. Looking at the different paths of co-designing in the US and Europe Sanders & Stappers highlight the changing roles of designers, researchers, and users in this shift.
They emphasize the significant implications of co-designing for the education of designers and researchers and its impact on the practice of design.
Furthermore, they explore various perspectives on co-creation, including its connection to business, marketing, and brand development. They emphasize the potential of co-creation to bring about positive long-term consequences and address large-scale problems.
The article concludes by discussing the challenges and reasons for the slow adoption of co-creation in design practice and the emergence of new design disciplines such as interaction design, service design, and transformation design. These disciplines integrate traditional design skills with participatory and user-centered approaches to address complex societal needs.
Images c/ Jerome Whittingham https://www.juniordesignfactory.co.uk/photographs
creative briefs
https://www.creativebriefs.co.uk/
(not pants)
Experimenting with my kids (7,7, & 8) : “Let’s design a typeface!”
<blank stares>.
Take two: “Let’s design a … font?!”
<Now 1/3 is onboard>
The twins eventual response:
“what even is a Fontface?”
IRDERP - the “Industry tested Design Process at Junior Design Factory”
https://www.juniordesignfactory.co.uk/our-story
The masterminds behind the Junior Design Factory, this organization runs workshops to children/schools/students educating them on the creative industries.
Several projects have emphasized working with dyslexic children. I love that they are recognizing that neurodivergent often dont “fit” what has become mainstream education system. And yet their innate creativity can be such a strength in industries like graphic design.
Who better to think divergently than the neurodivergent?
CO-DESIGN
The traditional approach to design has been for designers to work alone, or with a small team of experts. However, this approach is increasingly being challenged.
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in co-design, which is an approach to design that involves users in the design process from the beginning. This means that users are not just consulted about their needs, but they are actively involved in creating the products and services that they will use.
There are a multiplicity of benefits to co-design. Obviously, it can lead to the creation of products and services that are more user-friendly and meet the needs of users more effectively. It also allows for new and innovative solutions, and a representation or inclusion that may otherwise be absent.
Bridging the chasm between designers and users can be complex, especially when those end users are children. But if we involve them in a design process or design thinking from early ages: will co-design not become a more naturally occuring process, beneficial for all? Perhaps this notion is simplistic, but it is something i believe worth exploring.