Awareness and Action
Enhancing Environmental Awareness Through Interactive Education: Design and Implementation of a Mobile Urban Module View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Didem Kan-Kilic
This is a social responsibility project that aims to provide design-oriented solutions to create a positive change by fostering awareness about recycling, and environmental issues among children in disadvantageous neighborhoods and all the public spaces prioritizing schools in İzmir, Turkey. The project used a co-design approach to gather insights and determine the needs of the community in disadvantaged neighborhoods, offering an interdisciplinary perspective to the design process. Based on the workshop session findings which is conducted with a focus group of children a mobile urban module is designed to circulate within the city and host activities according to the needs and dreams of the community. The “PLAY” concept was the central aspect of this social responsibility project; therefore, students from the İzmir University of Economics (İUE) collaborated with children and stakeholders -the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) and Izmir Chamber of Commerce (İZTO)- to design various aspects of the mobile urban module, including graphic identity, service-system strategy, interior design, and product design. We believe that children need to be actors in their own education life and raise their voices in the situations and decisions that affect them. This approach allows them to be included as a designer in the design process without disregarding their ideas. With this project, an interactive education model is offered that will put a trace in children’s daily academic routines.
Investigating the Influence of Student-Design Tutor Relations on Design Learning: A Critical Analysis View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ali Aslankan
Design studios are mainly focused on projects and students and serve as advanced learning environments. It is essential to create a social and pedagogical environment for design instruction that enables students to develop mutual trust with their design instructor as well as self-confidence. Novice design students in the first-year design studio often copy the strategies and teaching methods of their teachers. Since every communication moment directly affects students' learning behavior, design thinking, and cognitive structure, it is imperative to carefully plan each one. Using a case study involving 158 first-year students from five different design departments in the project-based design studio, this paper explores ways to regulate teaching the "design process" to students while preserving their motivation and sense of self in balance. There are two concurrent and carefully crafted design projects in this scenario, each lasting two weeks. Through panels and one-on-one critiques, the design tutor(s) involve the students and break down the design process into manageable steps so they can identify their comfort zones. In doing so, this study illustrates what students "can" learn at different stages of the design process and examines how students' self-awareness with direct relation to the design tutor influences their grasp of the design knowledge.
Tracking Visual Cues: Understanding Design Student’s Perceptions of a Space View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Milagros Zingoni, Cecilia Torres-Panzera, Abbie Simon
The human eye is the primary receptor for all perceptions related to the design of a space. Using this information to the field’s advantage, design professionals can identify the human’s understanding of a space through the occupant’s visual cues and perception. This research explores design students’ ability to identify the environmental settings that contribute to the attribute of wellness using eye tracking. Prior eye-tracking research analyzing the effects of interior design on wellness has been performed by the University of Economics and Innovations in Lublin, Poland, led by Wioletta Tuszyńska-Bogucka. Based on Ulrich’s theory of supportive design and Malin’s healing environment, participants’ reactions to interior scenes were measured. This pilot study analyzed design and non-design major students’ visual perceptions of wellness through two-dimensional images of spaces. Twelve first-year students voluntarily participated, measuring every eye fixation and time allotted. After viewing each scene, participants were asked to rate the scene on a five-point Likert scale according to how well the scene promoted wellness and provide an explanation of the rating. The data was then visualized and studied with corresponding fixation and heat maps. Among the findings, design students tended to gauge the entirety of the scene rather than the non-design students that focused on the center horizons of the scene. Both groups spent a large amount of time in the center of the scene and then diverted to mainly people, foliage, windows, and signage in the scene. This study can lead to further research on design students’ perceptions.
Exploring Product Design for Active Birth Rooms View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Marina Puyuelo Cazorla, Monica Val Fiel, Ana Torres Barchino
Healthcare spaces are demanding a more humanised approach that is becoming more relevant for design in some particular healthcare environments. In this line, birth rooms stand out, which try to provide a less surgical but more familiar and active environment for women at their birthing experience. This study summarises previous research carried out to address the design of the most commonly used products in this physiological process for women. Based on a documentary analysis of this type of space, products used and registered models, we have worked iteratively with the different stakeholders (midwives/health personnel, biomechanics specialists, manufacturers of some products and users). This made it possible to focus the design brief on two elements of use that are decisive in the quality of the experience: the bathtub and the birthing chair. The results of this analysis constitute the briefing for the design of these products in the research project "Estrategias y modelos para la mejora de la seguridad, funcionalidad y experiencia de usuario en centros de nacimiento" GVA. INNEST/2023/93.
