Interdisciplinarity is a given is design activity. What we can all benefit from is a closer examination of the methods, theories, difficulties and possibilities to form a stronger framework for how to be part of the shift that re-visions the role of the Graphic Designer in the current and next generation. In the Interdisciplinary Cluster we explored how to expand the role of the designer in the process.
We are looking to collect submissions from both designers and those who have or wish to bring a designer into their process for a special issue of MULTI (http://multi.cias.rit.edu/). We welcome submissions that are:
-theoretical
-applied
-pedagogical practice
-are we graphic designers/do we abandon this term?
-evaluation/effectiveness (how do we evaluate?)
-how does design bring together and integrate the views of science? psychology? economy? ecology? politics? etc…
-what are the factors of change? (i.e. social change such as feminist theory, technology…etc.)

Design isn’t dead, but it is at the crossroad of a new direction. Let’s explore the possibilities together as designers and collaborators.

Submission Deadline: February 1, 2009
We encourage any inquiries or letters of intent.
Laura Chessin
lchessin@vcu.edu
or
Alex Bitterman
alex.bitterman@rit.edu

You go first. We’ll tell you what we’ve thought, after you.

Our cluster, which was ‘Changing the Real World’ have already begun discussing our next action plan. Some of us are compiling notes from our cluster discussion so that we have that all to start off with. Many of us are very keen on keeping the discussions going so we are still finding the best way to doing this.

Our next plan was to ‘take over’ Design 21 (www.design21sdn.com/design21)  which is a website on design and social responsibility sponsored by UNESCO, and upload our own content and undertake discussions there. Though, once we’ve had a look, we had discovered that this may not be as productive as we were hoping. We are now talking about setting up our own blog and post up our content to generate the discussions from there. Once there are robust and cohesive threads, we could then upload to Design 21 for us to initiate and sustain a presence in the socially-oriented design platform.

So, that’s just an update of where our cluster is at the moment.

Miek and I were talking of how we could network all the conference images and blogs into this site, and here is what we thought. If anyone has images of New Views 2, please upload it onto a flickr website and tag their images with ‘newviews2‘. In that way we can link them all to this website. We also want to have a ‘blog-roll’ with anyone’s blog who has written about New Views 2. In order to do so, please e-mail me (Yoko) with your name and blog address. My e-mail is yoko.akama@rmit.edu.au

Y

We had been looking for a paradigm shift and this was it: we currently see design education as teaching people to design. Instead we want to teach people through design.

And from Laura Chessin’s post, Notes From New Views:

I suggested we might just be asking questions, but even as we agreed we began to make some definitive statements, e.g.: interdisciplinarity is inherent in practice but it is in pedagogy that we feel there can be enhanced intentionality and a richer theoretical and methodological framework.

Russell Kerr, another delegate, has been blogging about the conference. From WOW:

I have just been at the New Views conference in London for the past couple of days, what a great experience I really feel like it was a moment where a meaningful shift in thinking has occurred. I know it has for me.

Have you blogged about new views?
Tell us in the comments and we’ll put together a blogroll here on New Views.