Experiential Learning Spaces to Enhance Typographic Communication
Description
My research as a design educator focuses on creating experiential learning spaces to enhance design education. I define experiential learning as "designing educational experiences that allow the user(students) to understand information(knowledge) in an embodied, immersive manner by creating a positive emotional context". My session will illustrate methods and strategies that can be brought to a type class that engage students in learning type concepts in an embodied and immersive manner. This approach to design education is experimental in nature, and that is where it addresses the theme - its future manifestations also connect with the second phase and addresses how technology can be explored in design education.
Takeaway
A part of my session talks about balancing the gap between physical and digital realms that we design for today, while addressing it from the perspective of a design educator. A part of my analysis reflects on how different methods and strategies can be brought to design classroom that make the act of learning a designed and well thought out experience. The highlight will be my attempt at compiling an "Experiential Meaning Making Theory" that builds on Nathan Shedroff's "Unified Design Theory" that compiles information, interaction and sensory design to create an experience.
Abstract
Contemporary graphic design practice is shifting from visual design implementations to a design of experiences within complex systems (Davis,13). The Designer of 2025 Symposia (2017 AIGA Conference, Minneapolis, MN) compiled a list of trends for design educators for the upcoming 7 years. These trends have mentioned the need to create new sense-making platforms that will allow designers of the future to bridge the gap between the physical and the digital realms. This is necessary for users today, who are not passive observers of design but are rather engaged in the process of design through interactions within mediums. As a designer, my practice has evolved from designing print based work to designing experiences that allow the user to understand the information being communicated in an embodied, immersive manner. I believe this can be achieved through creating experiences that communicate information through all sensory channels, and through the use of multiple mediums. I define this approach to design as experiential design. I feel this kind of experiential design will allow future designers to effectively communicate information to the users.
Based on the above-mentioned trends and changes in the graphic design practice, I feel that experiential design is an emerging context for graphic design pedagogy. It is also an efficient method to create valuable emotional experiences. The aim of this thesis paper was to create experiential learning spaces in a typography design classroom to enhance student work. This paper is a compilation of my research of theories and explorations of strategies to bring an experiential teaching approach to a typography classroom. I created a class structure building on theories of meaning-making through semiotics, the contribution of materiality to add value and meaning to a designed object, and the impact of a positive emotional aspect on the success of a designed experience. In my first attempt teaching this, I introduced projects like Letterpress Postcards to understand materiality, Type in Space to understand layout and the grids in a spatial manner, and Type as an Experience to help students design experiences with type. Based on my reflections of my type call in Fall, in Spring I introduced core class concepts by arranging activities, workshops, leading in-depth discussions and with experiences around the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) campus that allowed students to observe typographic design examples in their environment in an embodied manner. I designed student project prompts to guide them through the process of designing an experience by creating typographic interactions for the user, which in this case were my students. They enjoyed understanding the theories and designing for a real user in an experimental manner. They were involved in varied methods of making and enjoyed a collaborative learning environment through my class.