Eighteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

In the book The Reader, design researcher Ramia Maze suggests three possible forms of criticality in design. The first has to do with a critical attitude toward a designer’s own practice. The second form is “the building of a meta-level or disciplinary discourse”. In the third kind of criticality, designers address pressing issues in society. This paper considers these three modes of criticality, both in the classroom and in my own design practice. The meaning of the word ‘critical’ in relation to graphic design still remains unclear to me. Criticality in its many forms is intrinsic to graphic design. As a design practitioner I often struggled to match the ambitions of my political, social and cultural research with its visual output. My students struggled with similar issues too, especially post-pandemic. We all witnessed a shift in our classrooms. Students wanted to engage in projects that made a greater social impact. This made me rethink my entire approach towards teaching design. I decided to show up as my whole self in the classroom. As a woman of color, an immigrant with a culturally diverse background and as someone who struggled to express themselves in their second language. When I began sharing my own messy creative process with students, I saw a major shift in the classroom. In this session I showcase design prompts, in-class exercises, analog methods of ideation and experimental teaching methods. As with anything, growing these skills is a process. I am certainly still working to improve.