Design Interactions

What differentiates acts of design from other, everyday processes? Looking across our environments, we might sense the spaces we occupy are the result of hyper-controlled, coordinated procedures. From this vantage point, design seems to be everywhere, and so, how do we locate it? This course will revisit historic and contemporary design methods, artifacts, and visions to better see the ways we conceive of, represent, and mobilize design to act on the world. Design will be presented across multiple scales--from the molecular to the bodily to the planetary--as both a normalizing and potentially subversive tool. We will question its limitations and push its capacity to address existing inequities through activist and interdisciplinary approaches. Guest speakers and field trips will supplement lectures and readings. Students will apply concepts presented in class to exercises conducted in design workshops.