Thesis Project: Super Normal Abnormalities

OVERVIEW This thesis is a walk through the design (the process and the tangibles) of a wearable tool for a paraplegic artist who uses just her head to create work. The broader goal of the project is to consider abnormal objects, objects on the fringe and outside of easily perceived mass-market appeal or value and to demonstrate that they are worth further consideration.

This past summer I began a project at the National Institute of Art and Disability in Richmond, California. There, I worked with a fellow graduate design student, Matthew Baranauskas, to observe and record difficulties encountered by disabled artists with their current tools and environment. As two graduate students focusing primarily on industrial design, we hoped to design some solutions in the form of products or experiences that would make the artists’ working time more productive and satisfying. The opportunities for design at NIAD were bountiful. All sorts of tasks appeared to be unnecessarily challenging for the artists (who have a range of physical and mental disabilities and oftentimes combinations of disabilities that make their conditions difficult to categorize). We found ourselves inspired by those difficulties but perhaps more so by the unique atmosphere where eccentricity was the touted norm. READ MORE IN DOWNLOAD DOC