Contemporary Issues

This course examines current social and political issues through the lens of design.

As designers, we are change agents. When we wish to change people's beliefs and behaviors directly, we become activists.

Traditionally, activism requires that we be physically involved and engaged in a particular issue and activity. In graduate school, however, contributions are normally valued for their analytic or aesthetic remove. In this class, we will attempt to occupy both spaces - the close space of participation and the perspectival space of critical distance - in order to test a broader range of design strategies for social change, and to explore the powerful and different interventions that designers can make in the world. Our explorations will be framed through readings of contemporary texts and key passages from critical theory, as well as through discussions with outside speakers and with each other.

Project A is to develop a personal sustainability project and document it visually online.

Remember to blog weekly.

Keep in mind that the goals of the PSP are to:

• Demonstrate proven and visible real-world results

• Focus on changing values, not just making resolutions

• Expand the reach and impact of your project so that others may be influenced and inspired

Participate in an activist organization and/or serve a group or cause through design & imaging

Inspired by Foucault and Mulvey: Upload images that you brought to class. Provide comments if you'd like.

Upload a found or created image that was inspired by the Jameson reading and the Adorno reading. Include a few sentence description to explain the connection for each.