Real Stories
The Modus Operandi of the Graphic Designer Robin Fior View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Maria Bom
This work focuses on the theory and praxis of the British graphic designer Robin Fior who was the subject of a PhD thesis and later converted into a book. This work may be viewed as an attempt to unveil aesthetic and political issues that formed the basis of the designer’s way of thinking in an attempt to understand how he used them in his work. These issues have been examined according to the author’s practical understanding of design issues and processes always having in mind Robin Fior’s role within the contexts (Portugal, UK) in which he lived and worked. The interest for Robin Fior’s work has consolidated during the two-year period in which we worked with him in his studio. Through this experience we have learnt that his graphic art was the result of an approach focused on content and completely unique, symbolising what can be described as avant garde versus mainstream. At first we attributed the character of his work to his having been born and started his career in the UK, an influential country in terms of graphic design since the sixties. We soon would learn that just like modernists such as El Lissitzky went beyond the boundaries of design, Robin has also gone beyond conventional graphic boundaries when he started developing his own personal style. Aware that his graphic style was somewhat unique in a positive sense, it has become imperative for us to understand its meaning.
Research and Storytelling in Design Practice: A Visual Design Project Unfolding the Forgotten Stories of the Mothers’ Movement During WWII in China View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jing Zhou
This paper presents the motivation, exploration, and growing outcome of the project “Finding Jiang Jian”—a forgotten heroine who was called the "Mother of Wounded Warriors," "Mother of Refugee Children," and "The Chinese Nightingale” during WWII. After an expanded and unexpected development, this project evolved from a visual design practice to a scholarly research. Not only does this project portraits Ms. Jiang Jian’s extraordinary life, but also entails the overlooked Mothersʼ Movement—a major achievement of the Chinese Womenʼs Movement in the first half of the 20th century—to a wider audience. During its eight years of operation, about 30,000 refugee children were saved and educated in over 60 Refugee Schools throughout China, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia organized by the Chinese Wartime Refugee Childrenʼs Relief and Education Association supported mainly by donations. Because of its large scale and sophisticated operation system, perhaps the Mothersʼ Movement, which reflects universalistic ethical and social values, is an unprecedented accomplishment in the human history.
Our Data Day Lives: Co-design for Sensemaking
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Georgia Newmarch
This paper describes the Qualified Selves co-design project, exploring new ways in which individuals can derive meaning from large, predominantly qualitative datasets. Personal data management has become ever present in our daily lives, with the technology to track various information about yourself readily available. However, how we use this information is locked into ways decided for us by the companies who design and develop these products, meaning users often become frustrated and unable to use their information how they wish. We describe an ambitious and multi-layered co-creation process, focusing on the methods employed to push participant-driven challenges pertaining to their real-world aims and future desires to develop new tools for managing their data. By combining traditional UX techniques with design research methods such as provotyping and design fictions we demonstrate how through involving avid ‘data collectors’ as designers throughout the process we have been able to empower users in creating systems that really work for them. In doing so, we highlight how the project’s methodology has wider implications for co-design, as we are not focused on direct solutions, but rather changing ideas about data practices and day-to-day living, considering the ‘building blocks’ needed to shift future systems.
