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Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon
The Material Culture of Book as a Historical and Design Object: The Past Experience, the Present Life and the Expectations for the Future View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Vagner Basqueroto Martins
This study is a set of ideas in an articulated way, in the sense of making an attempt to understand material culture, from the perspective of the artifact called book, which is part of humanity, as a practical, aesthetic and symbolic object, which also has accompanied and been influenced by technological, behavioral, social, cultural and economic changes. Characteristics that bring consequences in the form of production, development, commercialization, use and, consequently, in the habits and forms of consumption of the book by people. And so, from the concept of material culture, temporalities, experiences, practices and expectations, we sought to show how this relationship has already occurred, happens and what will happen in the future, in order to contribute to the discussion about the historical and design artifact, which is the book, an object that is widely associated with knowledge, an essential aspect for human life, which is synonymous of freedom.
Orientalism in Package and Label Design: Pride of Arabia View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Neela Imani
Conventional understandings of racism are rooted in overt, violent manifestations, only recently extending to more implicit varieties (e.g., unconscious bias, microaggressions). However, present within the social fabric is an inconspicuous, almost invisible subgenre. A banal form marked by gross abundance, occupying both commercial and public spaces, subsequently finding its way into our homes, stocking our refrigerators, lining our shelves — watching us, consuming them. A ubiquitous kind that has desensitized us to racism. Taking a cue from Ruben Pater’s The Politics of Design, this paper unwraps the generation and reproduction of racism, specifically orientalism, in packaging and label design. Drawing on key marketing concepts, namely (unethical) market segmentation, autoethnography is coupled with purposive sampling for data collection of racialized consumer packages, in which the packages and labels graphic design is foci. The sample, the package for Pride of Arabia — a Toronto-based coffee brand introduced in 1930 — is subject to a comprehensive visual analysis informed by ethnic and racial studies. Developing an analytical and theoretical approach that can support the identification of racialization, racist typologies are situated in graphic design. Themes derived from the analysis include racism, orientalism, exoticism, and cultural appropriation, among others.
Inclusive Play Framework: An Approach to Promote Awareness about Gender Neutral Play in Portuguese Context View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Alakesh Dhibar, Antonio Gorgel Pinto, Eduardo Gonçalves
The paper focuses on the practice of developing the Inclusive Play Framework. Being a medium of alternative perception, the framework addresses the need for gender-neutral toys by promoting awareness in adults about gender-neutral play and equal opportunity in children’s formative years. It attempts to connect the intangible idea of being aware of how a toy can be gendered to the tangible formation of utilizing this knowledge in the community and society. This framework is critically formulated, holistically connecting different approaches of Design for Behaviour Change and Inclusive Design to bridge the socio-political differences of gender and establish the significance of Design in ethical and intellectual emergence. The study emphasises Portuguese culture and how different socio-cultural and socio-economic agents affect the initiation of the multidimensional wicked problem of gender discrimination which starts from childhood and with toys as one of the critical objects of play. The framework investigates the necessity to associate multiple scales within these agents connecting design ethnography and the practice of inclusion through changing behaviour. The pragmatic implementations of these agents are Children-Parents, Children-Educators, and Children-Designers. The proposed framework is operationalizable for different users with different levels of complexity to fulfil the need for a comprehensive analysis of the issue. In a systematic way, connecting through logical reasoning, the framework proposes three stages of activities - Identify, Diversify and Inclusivity. This enables to understand different elements of gender discrimination; motivate towards diverse perspectives; and be aware of real-life contextualization with the help of varying change attributes.
Design’s Intrinsic Influence in the Creation of Reality: A Semiotic Analysis within the Context of Our Current Hypermobile Era View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Patricia Barros Francisco, Edirlei Soares de Lima, Rodrigo Morais
As technological innovations advance at fast rates, the boundaries between the physical and cyber worlds are becoming blurred. The emergence of a multidimensional aspect of space, is triggering changes within the spatial rules as we know them, while also raising questions about our perception of reality. In this hypermobile era, humans have transcended their ability to move around physical spaces as they now are also able to navigate through cyber realms. Thus, opening infinite new ways for human-kind to rethink, shape and create spaces to their will, ultimately shaping the reality we experience. Design has also grown in social significance over the latest years, playing an important role in human life, both in how our world is perceived as well as how we navigate and experience it. Thus, design seems to have an intriguing relation in the creation of our surrounding spaces of reality, but also in the way we navigate and experience them. Consequently, it can be deduced how design might actually affect the fundamental nature of reality as we perceive it. This investigation seeks to explore the intrinsic relation between design and reality within the context of our hypermobile era. To do so, a qualitative analysis of a design case study using Charles S. Peirce’s semiotic as a scientific analysis methodology is conducted. By analyzing design as a sign system through the exploration of its dynamic and immediate object, a deeper understanding of the intrinsic relationship between design and the creation of our experienced reality can be obtained.
