Civically-Engaged, Multi-disciplinary Projects in the Design Classroom: Why They Should Be the Norm and How To Implement Them

Workshop Presentation
Anne M. M Giangiulio  

Civic Engagement in the design classroom, design for the common good, and multi-disciplinary teaching have all been hot topics in education for at least a decade. My work teaching graphic design students at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), located on the United States–Mexico border, puts these projects into practice and develops out of this larger, existing body of writing about design and civic participation. UTEP’s unique location, in a low-income, under-served community, that is also a hotbed of politically-charged discourse, offers many needs that can be met by design students. Why waste time with fictional classroom assignments when they could be, as Steven Heller and Veronique Vienne call them in their book “citizen designers”? As Milton Glaser notes, citizen designers require more than just talent, “the key is to ask questions, for the answers will result in responsible decisions. Without responsibility, talent is too easily wasted on waste” (Heller & Vienne, 2018, 21). Can civically-engaged design work in any classroom, anywhere? Definitely. I feel my research in teaching practice is innovative and holds value for both researchers and design educators. In terms of my own practice of incorporating such assignments into my lesson plans, I will expand upon three examples: A Bilingual Migrant Workers Booklet; an Exhibit of Low Crime Rates in Immigrant Communities; and Re-branding the Border through designs inspired by vintage travel posters.