2018 AIGA Design Educators Community Conference: [MAKE]

Design educators, researchers, and practitioners know that making is complex and heterogeneous. We do not make as a way to simply sharpen the end of a pre-defined process. We make to think, explain, and conceptualize. We make to communicate, mediate, and teach, to formalize, plan, and provoke, to explore, process, and improve. [Make] seeks
to establish a space where we can explore the full complexity of making and its applications within today’s contexts. 

The conference will be divided into four areas of focus. These areas provide distinct lenses through which we might discuss the act of making. Attendees will be able to move freely between the areas. 

Make [ community ] 
Relevant questions include: How and why do designers make connections with the community? How are designers facilitating community collaborations? How is design being used to promote resiliency? How can designers navigate the complexities of working—and making—with multiple stakeholder groups? 

Make [ curriculum ] 
Relevant questions include: How are educators beginning to respond to the Designer 2025 trends? How might we use the act of making as a vehicle for understanding? What role does making play within contemporary graduate design programs? How might critical making be integrated into curricula? What kinds of innovative learning spaces are educators making to update the traditional college course experience? 

Make [ form ] 
Relevant questions include: How are innovative form or object making methods being used within contemporary practice? How does process change when making artifacts that bridge physical and digital domains? How is form-making integrated as a facet of STEM or healthcare research? How are designers using form generation as a vehicle for sensemaking? 

Make [ experiences ] 
Relevant questions include: How are designers managing the complexity and scale of designing experiences? How can designers facilitate collaborations between the many stakeholders within an experience design? In what innovative ways are designers communicating experience designs? How are designers using aggregation or data collection to inform experience design? How can designers be more accountable for something as complex as designing experiences?

Submission deadline for all proposals due 1 December 2017. See the conference website for more information about the range of proposals.