As a problem-finding and problem-solving discipline design is infused into all aspects of modern ... more As a problem-finding and problem-solving discipline design is infused into all aspects of modern life yet finds its role little understood, underfunded and overlooked. Innovation by definition embraces new mechanisms and ideas, yet has become framed within an entirely reductive commercial agenda and research funding has become increasingly elusive. As a fusion of the concrete and the digital domains of design this paper employs ‘designerly’ thinking as a method of resolving a design problem: the visibility and value of design research in education. This methodology embraces institutional and commercial constraints as limitations used to stimulate new boundaries of practice and theory. The Offshore Artschool is conceived a critical tool through which to argue for design research’s inherent, but conflicted, socio-cultural value. It is a project through which design’s futures can be articulated in a spirit of creative and intellectual disruption. Rather than conforming to reductive notions of design research, or acquiescing to education as a product, the Offshore Artschool is a research-in-action project: an inter-institutional school within a school: an educational heterotopia. As a social, political, technological and commercial resource design research represents a nexus of innovation, service and exploration. As such, the Offshore Artschool contributes to an emerging alternative to restructuring the curriculum, cutting resources and reducing speculative research. As a response to current design concerns the Offshore Artschool refers to Department 21 at the RCA, Paul Elliman’s Wildschool and Dunne and Raby’s critical approach to design. Both withion and beyond the educational institution, the Offshore Artschool is based on a boat, the Costa Academia: a floating campus. This heterotopia par excellence (Foucault) is part MOOC, combining digital media to engage wider audience participation part experiential. By intermittently convening in educational design studios the projects aims to exploit the stimulation of design community debate and produce research outcomes. Although open-ended this educational heterotopia has a precise and determined function, to consistently make the case for design through research and design as research.
The manifesto is commonly defined as a call-to- arms, a public declaration of principles and inte... more The manifesto is commonly defined as a call-to- arms, a public declaration of principles and intentions and a “powerful purveyor of ideology” (Helfand, 2001). For the Italian Futurists, typographic experimentation allowed language itself to be a tool for attacking, disrupting or subverting convention. For the designer, the manifesto may be used to give more “meaning to our present way of life” (Garland, 1964), to “deliberately manipulate the public view” (Cawes, 2001) or to playfully blast and bless the cultural landscape. My hypothesis is that the manifesto is not only a forum for design debate, a framework for a visual argument, but also a script for action. From the pamphleteers of 17th century England designers have appropriated the most effective means of communicating an urgent message to the masses, forming a sphere of popular public opinion. Whether online or in print the manifesto demands a re-envisioning both message and medium, in this context a ‘Manifesto for Sustainable Design’ project given to first year graphic design degree students. By embedding notions of sustainability, responsibility and action into their design curriculum the manifesto has enabled individual students to engage in incendiary debate in a non-dogmatic format.
This document brings together materials produced for and during the two-day PhD by Design confere... more This document brings together materials produced for and during the two-day PhD by Design conference held at Goldsmiths, University of London, on November 5 and 6 2015. The conference was dedicated to explore what it means to "research across difference" when undertaking a practice-based PhD in Design.
As a problem-finding and problem-solving discipline design is infused into all aspects of modern ... more As a problem-finding and problem-solving discipline design is infused into all aspects of modern life yet finds its role little understood, underfunded and overlooked. Innovation by definition embraces new mechanisms and ideas, yet has become framed within an entirely reductive commercial agenda and research funding has become increasingly elusive. As a fusion of the concrete and the digital domains of design this paper employs ‘designerly’ thinking as a method of resolving a design problem: the visibility and value of design research in education. This methodology embraces institutional and commercial constraints as limitations used to stimulate new boundaries of practice and theory. The Offshore Artschool is conceived a critical tool through which to argue for design research’s inherent, but conflicted, socio-cultural value. It is a project through which design’s futures can be articulated in a spirit of creative and intellectual disruption. Rather than conforming to reductive notions of design research, or acquiescing to education as a product, the Offshore Artschool is a research-in-action project: an inter-institutional school within a school: an educational heterotopia. As a social, political, technological and commercial resource design research represents a nexus of innovation, service and exploration. As such, the Offshore Artschool contributes to an emerging alternative to restructuring the curriculum, cutting resources and reducing speculative research. As a response to current design concerns the Offshore Artschool refers to Department 21 at the RCA, Paul Elliman’s Wildschool and Dunne and Raby’s critical approach to design. Both withion and beyond the educational institution, the Offshore Artschool is based on a boat, the Costa Academia: a floating campus. This heterotopia par excellence (Foucault) is part MOOC, combining digital media to engage wider audience participation part experiential. By intermittently convening in educational design studios the projects aims to exploit the stimulation of design community debate and produce research outcomes. Although open-ended this educational heterotopia has a precise and determined function, to consistently make the case for design through research and design as research.
The manifesto is commonly defined as a call-to- arms, a public declaration of principles and inte... more The manifesto is commonly defined as a call-to- arms, a public declaration of principles and intentions and a “powerful purveyor of ideology” (Helfand, 2001). For the Italian Futurists, typographic experimentation allowed language itself to be a tool for attacking, disrupting or subverting convention. For the designer, the manifesto may be used to give more “meaning to our present way of life” (Garland, 1964), to “deliberately manipulate the public view” (Cawes, 2001) or to playfully blast and bless the cultural landscape. My hypothesis is that the manifesto is not only a forum for design debate, a framework for a visual argument, but also a script for action. From the pamphleteers of 17th century England designers have appropriated the most effective means of communicating an urgent message to the masses, forming a sphere of popular public opinion. Whether online or in print the manifesto demands a re-envisioning both message and medium, in this context a ‘Manifesto for Sustainable Design’ project given to first year graphic design degree students. By embedding notions of sustainability, responsibility and action into their design curriculum the manifesto has enabled individual students to engage in incendiary debate in a non-dogmatic format.
This document brings together materials produced for and during the two-day PhD by Design confere... more This document brings together materials produced for and during the two-day PhD by Design conference held at Goldsmiths, University of London, on November 5 and 6 2015. The conference was dedicated to explore what it means to "research across difference" when undertaking a practice-based PhD in Design.
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Papers by Cathy Gale
Conference proceedings by Cathy Gale
Graphic design: Maria Portugal
Graphic design: Maria Portugal