1. (re)
CONNECt
Marina Brant . MS in Communications Design . Prof. David Frisco . Pratt Institute . Fall 2012
2. PROBLEM
Digital technology is increasingly influencing our every day lives.
At a time when so much attention goes towards its development
and use, it is important to emphasize the physical world, especially
in the big cities, where people tend to have more individualized
interests, and human connections seem to be left behind.
4. HYPOTHESIS
The post-digital era introduces new perspectives to digital
technology, dissipating it from focus and moving efforts to more
humanized aims. Design practice also evolves around thoughtful
and systematic solutions for society.
Considering this context and perspectives from overlapping design
approaches – including Participatory Design and Interaction Design
– this thesis presents the hypothesis that Communications Design
can provoke involvement and social engagement.
Using a human-centered design, I propose to recontextualize
forms of digital interaction to develop an analogue experience
that stimulates co-creation, brings awareness to the body, and
highlights the importance of human interactions.
6. Research POST-DIGITAL
Post digital
Participatory Design
Interaction Design
ANALOGUE DIGITAL
• response to digital wave
• human-centered approach
• deeper experiences in physical objects
• new perspectives to digital technology:
natural
intuitive
hybrid
7. RESEARCH
Post digital Interactivity is an essential feature of
INTERACTION Design human-being: a chat, a kiss, a dance, a
work of art are all modes of interaction.
PARTICIPATORY Design
Dan Boyarski
• Primarily thought of in the digital realm
• Has basic principles focus on human communication
• Considers broad aspects of interaction
• Human-centered approach
• Integrates multidisciplinary perspectives
• Uses digital and/or analogue media
• The “user” influences final outcomes
8. RESEARCH
Post digital “Participation” in Participatory Design means to
Interaction Design investigate, reflect upon, understand, establish,
develop, and support mutual learning processes
Participatory Design
as they unfold between participants in collective
“reflection-in-action” during the design process.
Toni Robertson and Jesper Simonsen
• People as partners, involved on the process as partners
• Began with civil rights movements
• Pioneered in Scandinavia to transform the workplace
• Applied as methodology by other design areas
• Aims the designed pieces to meet needs and be usable
9. CASE STUDY: PHYSICAL DIGITAL MEDIA
SIX-FORTY BY FOUR-EIGHTY (By Zigelbaum + Coelho, united States)
• Interactive digital installation
• Digital to physical
10. CASE STUDY: PHYSICAL ANALOGUE MEDIA
APPEEL (By TeGreenEyl, GERMANY)
• Interactive analogue installation
• Digital to analogue
• Collective result
11. CASE STUDY: PHYSICAL ANALOGUE MEDIA
drawing machine #1 - to your hearts content (By joseph l griffiths, Australia)
• Interactive analogue installation
• Primitive technology
• Collective result
12. CASE STUDY: DIgital to analogue
Vista Sans Wood Type Project (By Tricia Treacy & Ashley John Pigford, United States)
• Digital/analogue dialogue
• Hybrid media
• Collaborative result
13. CASE STUDY: DIgital to analogue
Handmade visualization tool-kit (By JOSE DUARTE, colombia)
• Digital/analogue dialogue
• Participative results
14. SYNTHESIS
By analysing the Post-Digital
domains and principles of
Interaction and Participatory
Design, my research validates
the importance of a
human-centered process
in the contemporary DIGITAL
design context. INTERACTION
ANALOGUE Taking this scenario
EXPERIENCE further, I propose to
recontextualize forms of
digital interaction into an
analogue experience, in order
to assess the communicative
potential of the media. Its intrinsic
physicality can highlight the role
of real environments and the
importance of human-interactions.
15. DIRECTIONS
1 Create an installation piece
in a public environment
that invites people to
collaboratively interact,
by providing analogue tools
to complete the design. analogue
EXPERIENCE
that stimulates
participation and
human-
2
interaction Develop an interactive
piece that translates
intangible digital attributes
into tactile qualities,
stimulating the audience in
the co-creation of a tangible
library collection that could
result in an exhibit.
16. THANK YOU!
Marina Brant
Fall 2012
Grad. CommD.
Pratt Institute
