Research

Assoc. Prof. Sosa-Tzec participates in panel hosted at Google Ventures San Francisco Office.

Omar Sosa Tzec — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 00:36:50 +0000

Assoc. Prof. Sosa-Tzec participates in panel hosted at Google Ventures San Francisco Office.

Author: School of Design

September 11, 2024

Photo Credit: Prof. Sosa-Tzec

Alumni from Indiana University's Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering and Media School gathered on the evening of September 10, 2024, to discuss the intersection of media and technology at the GV (Google Ventures) Office in San Francisco. Associate Professor Omar Sosa-Tzec was invited to elaborate on the intersection of AI and design. Dr. Sosa-Tzec, whose research and scholarships centers on delightful design and experiences, acknowledge that AI is useful to design for delight. He emphasized the role of AI as another tool in design—never a substitution of the practice—and the importance of (college) education to develop a level of professional maturity that helps practitioners utilize AI critically and responsibly.

Participating as panelists as well were Biz Carson, reporter at Bloomberg New, and Kristi Oloffson, Manager of Customer Marketing at Sigma Computing. The panel was moderated by Joanna Millunchick, Dean of the Luddy School, and David Tolchinsky, Dean of the Media School. The host was David Krane, CEO and manager at Google Ventures.

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Professor Trogu presents paper on Kinematic Modeling of a Flat-foldable Auxetic Metamaterial at the International Conference on Reconfigurable Mechanisms and Robots

Omar Sosa Tzec — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 17:01:10 +0000

Professor Trogu presents paper on Kinematic Modeling of a Flat-foldable Auxetic Metamaterial at the International Conference on Reconfigurable Mechanisms and Robots

Author: School of Design

August 5, 2024

Photo Credit: Prof. Trogu

Prof. Pino Trogu presented the paper "Kinematic Modeling of a Flat-foldable Auxetic Metamaterial" at the 6th IEEE/IFToMM International Conference on Reconfigurable Mechanisms and Robots (ReMAR Chicago, June 23–26, 2024). The paper introduces a novel, transformable, flat-foldable shape designed in 1996 by the Italian topology researcher Giorgio Scarpa, who was also Trogu's high school teacher and mentor. Trogu and his co-authors Feng, Shi, and Dai expanded on the original shape to create a rigidly flat-foldable "auxetic metamaterial".

Metamaterials are advanced materials with unusual properties derived from their geometry rather than chemistry. Auxetics materials have the property of becoming thicker when stretched. Rigid foldability is the ability of a structure to fold about crease lines without twisting or stretching component panels. The authors noted in the paper's conclusion that "The basic unit model can be tessellated to form large-scale metamaterials with high load-bearing capacity and ease of storage and transportation, which has great potential applications in lightweight shelters, sustainable furniture and building substrates."

In AY 2024–2025, Prof. Trogu will continue collaborating with his co-authors: Prof. Huijuan Feng, graduate students Wujie Shi, and Prof. Jian S. Dai, thanks to a sabbatical during which he will be visiting scholar at the Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Intelligent Robotics and Flexible Manufacturing Systems, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Shenzhen, China. Founded in 2010, SUSTech ranked among the Top Ten universities in mainland China in the Times Higher Education 2022 survey.

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Prof. Sosa-Tzec publishes sketchnotes exploring the visual essay as an academic object of study

Omar Sosa Tzec — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:06:54 +0000

Prof. Sosa-Tzec publishes sketchnotes exploring the visual essay as an academic object of study

Author: School of Design

July 1, 2024

Photo Credit: AIGA DEC

Associate Professor Omar Sosa-Tzec, along with other design faculty in the United States, participated in the first AIGA Design Educators Community (DEC) Design and Writing Fellowship in 2022. The AIGA DEC published a book comprising the visual essays developed by these scholars during this fellowship, all available at https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.14495980.

Prof. Sosa-Tzec's essay (starting on page 249 in the book) comprises sketchnotes where he explores the idea of a visual essay and humanistic approaches to develop and peer-review it. Below is one of Prof. Sosa-Tzec's sketchnotes (page 253), where he explores and defines the visual essay as a multimodal argument and research-through-design outcome.

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Assistant Professors Christensen and Hussaini presented about integrating social justice into visual communication design curriculum at the 2023 AIGA DEC Symposium

Omar Sosa Tzec — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 17:11:12 +0000

Assistant Professors Christensen and Hussaini presented about integrating social justice into visual communication design curriculum at the 2023 AIGA DEC Symposium

Author: School of Design

December 4, 2023

Assistant Professors Christensen and Hussaini presented together at the AIGA DEC Lens 2023 Symposium in New York City, as part of the AIGA National Design Conference. The AIGA DEC hosted Lens as a one-day symposium featuring peer-reviewed papers, panels, posters, and other work from educators, graduate students, and industry professionals that address ideas and topics connected to the theme LENS. Christensen and Hussaini introduced their work integrating a social justice lens into curricular development for visual communication design courses, specifically in relation to multimodal storytelling for two courses: the experimental Visual Storytelling elective class Christensen has introduced, and Research and Writing in Design, the core major requirement course Hussaini has re-envisioned. The presentation shared best practices formulated from these two case studies for pedagogical approaches to create politically engaged, community-focused classroom learning communities.

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Assist. Prof. Sosa-Tzec discusses critical approaches to the visual essay in the AIGA DEC Symposium

Omar Sosa Tzec — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 17:31:41 +0000

Assist. Prof. Sosa-Tzec discusses critical approaches to the visual essay in the AIGA DEC Symposium

Author: School of Design

October 12, 2023

Photo Credit: AIGA DEC

The AIGA DEC Symposium Lens 2023 took place this October 12 in New York City, within the AIGA National Conference. Assistant Professor Omar Sosa-Tzec participated in the panel "Making Space for Graphic Designers as Visual Essayists." In this panel, Dr. Sosa-Tzec discussed the notion of the visual essay as a multimodal argument and outcome of research-through-design and the application of poetics, semiotics, rhetoric, and aesthetics as critical approaches to peer-review the visual essay in graphic design academia. Sosa-Tzec also discussed sketchnoting as a form of pre-writing and content for visual essays. Accompanying Dr. Sosa-Tzec were Patricia Childers (CUNY/CityTech/Pratt), Heather Corcoran (Washington University in St. Louis), and Joshua Unikel (University of Houston). All the professors were AIGA DEC Design + Writing Fellowship members in 2022. This panel and their work from the fellowship seek to legitimize the visual essay as a research product in graphic design academia and pluralize and diversify its voices.

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Prof. Chu presents at Design History Society Annual Conference, Matosinhos, Portugal

Omar Sosa Tzec — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 17:30:19 +0000

Prof. Chu presents at Design History Society Annual Conference, Matosinhos, Portugal

Author: School of Design

September 25, 2023

Prof. Hsiao-Yun Chu presented her current research entitled "Women's Work: Design on Display at the Centennial Fair" at the 2023 Design History Society Annual Conference in Matosinhos, Portugal. Her work illuminates the contributions of women designers and organizers to the 1876 Centennial Fair in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania--the first world's fair in which women's work was shown in its own pavilion.

Prof. Chu comments, "Design history is a small and rather unique field as distinct from art history or the history of science and technology in general. It's a rare treat to experience the current research of others in this field who are expanding the scope and methods of this discipline in real time."

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Assist. Professor Omar Sosa-Tzec Presenting on Delightful Screen Time Visualizations at NorDes 2023, the 10th Nordic Design Research Society Conference

Omar Sosa Tzec — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 00:00:51 +0000

Assist. Professor Omar Sosa-Tzec Presenting on Delightful Screen Time Visualizations at NorDes 2023, the 10th Nordic Design Research Society Conference

Author: School of Design

June 13, 2023

Photo Credit: Photo composition using template by Terje Sollie

Assistant Professor Sosa-Tzec will present an exploratory paper on delightful visualizations of screen time for smartphones at the 10th Nordic Design Research Society (Nordes) Conference, which will take place in Norrköping, Sweden. This paper focuses on how to help smartphone users to attain digital wellbeing–that is, a balanced relationship with technology–through unconventional, delightful screen time visualizations. This exploratory work applies Design Delight–Prof. Sosa-Tzec's experiential framework to design for a happy and flourishing life–and sketching to conceptualize such visualizations. Through this paper, Prof. Sosa-Tzec argues that delight (in relation to digital well-being products and experiences) plays an important role in helping people attain digital wellbeing. Moreover, he urges designers to recognize sketching as a valuable activity concerning research through design.

The paper is available in the digital proceedings of the Nordes 2023 conference, published in the Design Research Society Digital Library.

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Assistant Professor Christensen presenting on Extending the Visual Storytelling Narrative Arc through Augmented Reality at the Digitally Engaged Learning (DEL) 2023 Conference

Rosa Valencia — Fri, 26 May 2023 22:51:40 +0000

Assistant Professor Christensen presenting on Extending the Visual Storytelling Narrative Arc through Augmented Reality at the Digitally Engaged Learning (DEL) 2023 Conference

Author: School of Design

May 26, 2023

Photo Credit: Yixin Cai

Assistant Professor Christensen will be presenting her paper "Extending the Visual Storytelling Narrative Arc through Augmented Reality" at the Digitally Engaged Learning (DEL) 2023 Conference. For over fifteen years, DEL has been a place to share, explore, and evolve our digitally engaged teaching and learning in art and design higher education. The theme of the 2023 conference is "Realities and Futures."

September 21–22, 2023
Online from: University of the Arts London

Image designed by: Yixin Cai

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Assistant Professor Christensen presenting on story mapping spatial narratives of San Francisco at the 18th annual UCDA Design Education Summit (Theme: Same/Difference)

Rosa Valencia — Mon, 22 May 2023 16:03:01 +0000

Assistant Professor Christensen presenting on story mapping spatial narratives of San Francisco at the 18th annual UCDA Design Education Summit (Theme: Same/Difference)

Author: School of Design

May 22, 2023

Assistant Professor Christensen will be presenting her paper "Spatial Narratives of the City: Growing the Local Living Archive through Student Story Mapping" at the 18th annual UCDA Design Education Summit. The 18th annual UCDA Design Education Summit is a national summit for design educators, chairs, and students, and continues an ongoing community created specifically for graphic design educators with opportunities for professional participation and development.

The 2023 UCDA Design Education Summit: SAME/DIFFERENCE, will highlight research and pedagogical approaches that explore accessibility, disability justice, belonging, and inclusivity toward integrative systemic change.

May 22–23
Bowling Green State University (BGSU)
Bowling Green, Ohio
https://www.ucda.com/events/120/

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Prof. Chu contributes to Noguchi and Greece

Rosa Valencia — Mon, 10 Apr 2023 15:31:54 +0000

Prof. Chu contributes to Noguchi and Greece

Author:

April 10, 2023

Prof. Hsiao-Yun Chu has contributed an chapter to Noguchi and Greece, Greece and Noguchi. Designer and sculptor Isamu Noguchi (1904–88) visited Greece numerous times over the course of his career. This two-volume set explores the influence of Greek culture-- and Noguchi's engagement with world cultures more broadly-- on his work. This set is an extension of a research and exhibition project initiated by Objects of Common Interest with the Noguchi Museum in New York.

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