Sarah, et al,
I said that I probably wouldn't say anything full and coherent; I think I can live up to my prediction. I'm in Los Angeles a little early for the College Art Association conference (if anyone on the list is going to CAA, get in touch so we can meet up) so I'm 2700 miles away from my stack of books on the subject of thinking through making. The only thing that I'm sure is on the stack is 'Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work' by Matthew B. Crawford. (In a much less satisfying and much more problematic way, 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' may be on the pile. I don't know what it is about motorcycles and this subject. When I'm back in North Carolina, I have to buy my biker friends and colleagues Dan Elliott and Seo Eo a couple of beers and see what they have to say. But I suspect my bicycle expertise is irrelevant to this.)
I can thank this list for my use of the phrase "thinking through making." (I am, by the way, far from the only one to have arrived at that phrase.) There was a discussion a few years back debating the relative importance of thinking and making and I replied something to the effect that thinking *through* making was what we did in my program at East Carolina University. Since then, "thinking through making" has been adopted as our semi-official slogan in the graphic design program and has spread to other parts of the School of Art & Design. I doubt all corners of SoAD share the same understanding of the phrase, however.
The subject became my next big project. Unfortunately for people holding their collective breath for anything full and coherent on the subject, my current project (about copies and copying) has expanded faster than my writing progress on it has so I'm no closer to tackling thinking through making than I was a few years ago. If anyone wants to adopt the project, I'd love to see it get done. I'd be happy to co-edit, kibitz, or just shut up and see whether I rate a line in the acknowledgments section.
One aspect of the phrase is a combined design process and educational philosophy. It's exemplified by something I say to students so often that I could be replaced by a parrot: "Make it real. Make it now." I have pencils inscribed with that slogan and give one to everyone who takes one of our design classes. I sometimes just say "Read your [obscene participle removed in deference to some email filters] pencil." Making each design question tangible is not just beneficial to the creation of worthwhile form but, to address Ricardo's comments, beneficial to learning to make objects that clarify a range of questions which in turn lead to objects that are part of the communication, social change, etc. being suggested.
From the start, I stress with my students that the way you talk about design affects the outcome more than anything you do sitting in front of a computer screen. By getting them talking strategically in the process of making, I hope I am teaching them to think strategically. The object is usually at the center of this. Maybe other people can teach strategy in a vacuum but I can't.
I am not going to try to address everyone's comments but I have read and noted everything but haven’t had time to follow all of the links and references. So far, I suspect that there is not all that much in the way of basic disagreement among us. Ferreting out the subtle questions is a worthy pursuit that I don't have time for now.
I will say that AIGA's change of name and focus isn't new but, even after all these years, I still share a little of Don's reaction. And he is right about AIGA's website. Maybe Ricardo can cite the quote from my post. I copied it from a personal email Ricardo sent me and he indicated it was from AIGA. The fact that it also appears in Meredith's book doesn't surprise me. It is my understanding that she was the center of AIGA's "Design 2025" project.
Sarah--If you want to bug me off list in a week, I'll look at the book pile and see if there's anywhere I should direct you. In the mean time, here are a couple of places I've bookmarked so long ago that I can't tell you their specific value:
Studies in Material Thinking http://www.materialthinking.org/smt-research-communication-platform
Interconnected http://interconnected.org/home/2006/07/28/about_making_things
And here’s a take on sewing, maker spaces, and engineering by the always-amazing Stephanie Vasko: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2015/06/stem_classes_should_include_lessons_about_low_tech_crafts_like_sewing.html
Gunnar
Gunnar Swanson
East Carolina University
graphic design program
http://www.ecu.edu/cs-cfac/soad/graphic/index.cfm
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Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville NC 27858
USA
http://www.gunnarswanson.com
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+1 252 258-7006
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