Thinking through Making

About this video

Description

Gunnar discusses 'thinking through making', an educational philosophy being developed and refined in the graphic design program at East Carolina University.

Graphic designers and graphic design educators have a somewhat ambivalent relationship with form. We love it. Making stuff is what we do; it's arguably what we are. Like the prom queen, we don’t want to be thought of as pretty and vapid. It comes out in many forms but the emphasis on theory in some education quarters and on design thinking more broadly often imply a duality: thinking vs. making. This talk will be a look at thinking through making—a consideration of the value of rejecting the thinking/making duality.

Designers have a way of thinking that goes beyond “design thinking” and it is bound up in making. Thinking through making allows grounded thinking. It allows a concrete connection with the lives, thoughts, and emotions of others. It allows self-revelation on the part of the designer. It answers and raises questions. It connects to societal values that are worth preserving even while it focuses on the future.

Thinking through making is a pragmatic educational philosophy and connected with a variety philosophical and practical considerations.

About Gunnar Swanson

Gunnar is a graphic designer, media designer, writer and educator. His graphic design has won over a hundred awards. His articles have been published by How, Design Issues, the AIGA Journal of Graphic Design, Virginia Commonwealth University and others. His writing is included in three major graphic design anthologies, translated into Spanish, and published internationally. He is the editor and designer Graphic Design & Reading. In addition to his more than two decades as a designer, he has taught at the Otis College of Art and Design and the University of California Davis, headed the graphic design program at the University of Minnesota Duluth and directed the multimedia program at California Lutheran University.