I’m feeling a little overwhelmed today by the sheer number of people speaking out about their own experiences. Literally every single woman I know has experienced toxic masculinity and been harmed by the normalisation of rape culture. I recognise the problem as pervasive and systemic, but when I tried to…

Notes from a lecture by Cameron Tonkinwise. Discussion Leaders: Saumya Kharbanda, Calvin Keetae Ryu

With the industrialisation and mechanisation of the world, for a long time, human needs have been directly related to commodities. However, Max-Neef defined a new paradigm to think about the basic human needs. …

Discussion notes from 10 Feb 2016 (Saumya Kharbanda and Dixon Lo) — Schedule for the day: 9:00–9:20 Discussion on David Orr and Stewart Brand readings 9:20–9:40 Warm-up futuring exercise. 9:40–10:40 “Thing from the future” game (made by the Situation Lab) 10:40–11:20 Reflection and Expansion of Thing from the Future game Discussion on David Orr and Stewart Brand readings Discussion revolved around the need for different layers of civilisation operating at…

Thoughts on interaction design, revisited. — I started off this semester, by defining interaction design as the process of identifying a problem and understanding the context it exists in, simplifying the complexities of the situation, and trying to find the most efficient, and visually appealing solution. Over the last four months, we’ve taken a closer look…

The Lovers and Art of Pablo Picasso — Objective: To craft visuals that communicate data and highlight emerging patterns Defining a Topic and an Interesting Question Most of my initial ideas revolved around colours. One early idea was to look at dominant colours in paintings and map out colour trends across different art movements or by different painters. The biggest challenge would be sorting the…

Or, Considering the realities of context — In our studio class, my teammates (Lisa and Kate) and I are currently looking into ways in which the waiting time at Pittsburgh bus stops can be made a less frustrating experience. In her post, Lisa talks about our strategy for initial exploratory research. Initially, we approached people together, introduced…

Bringing Clarity to Calculus — Objective: To clearly convey an abstract concept that is difficult to grasp without visual aids. Medium: Video/Animation Topic: “What is a derivative, exactly? Duration: 5weeks Exploration of abstract concepts Week 1 The ideas I came up with for the topic for this video included: Why is the sky blue? …

…we need to think about — As the internet of things becomes more pervasive, some of the major concerns surrounding the idea are those related with privacy and security. However, I would like to highlight some more concerns that we, as designers, need to consider before designing for such a system. I visited a friend who…