We’ve been working on drafts of our final poster for my design theory class with Hugh Dubberly over the past few weeks. The assignment is to create a concept map of our own synthesis of some aspect of design, and to present it as poster form in lieu of a term paper. It’s an interesting…
Tag: DesignTheory
DesignTheory: Network visualization 2
I am continuing to think about what it would take to create a robust visualization method for networked systems. If you want the visualization to be a way of teaching, I don’t think it’s enough to simply show nodes and connectors. My thinking on this topic comes largely from my experience teaching. In essence, teaching…
DesignTheory: Thoughts on entropy
As a scientist, I am used to thinking of entropy as disorder. It is the thing that takes a clear signal and turns it into noise. When entropy is introduced into a system, information decays. This week’s reading for my Design Theory class turned that idea on its head. We read Shannon + Weaver’s Mathematical…
DesignTheory: Concept map in progress
The weekly assignment for our Design Theory class is to make a series of concept maps that summarize the readings. I’m almost afraid to admit how much fun I’m having on homework, but I love watching the concept maps evolve from a messy collection of concepts to a more coherent, structured narrative. I’m going to indulge…
DesignTheory: Visualizing Networks
My Design History class with Paul Kahn got me very interested in the early 1800’s as a period of design innovation. People has access to public data and statistics tools for the first time, and developed a host of new tools to visualize this new kind of information. William Playfair invented bar and pie charts,…
DesignTheory: Concept of design
We’re only a week into classes, and already the semester is off and running. My design theory class this semester is taught by Hugh Dubberly, who lives in San Francisco, so we will meet via Skype once a week, and in person for a weekend intensive workshop a couple of times a semester. The first…