junior design office
TRANSCRIPT
JUNIOR DESIGN OFFICEcase study
Maia Rowan & Andreas EikenDirected Studies Summer 2012
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ForwardOpportunityOne Day Design Office
Concept: Junior Design OfficeMaking ConnectionsThe BriefRecruitmentScheduleSite Visit + Concept Development3 concepts PitchObservationFinal ConceptPrototypePresentation
Conclusion
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FORWARDIn the past year, Industrial Design students, Andreas Eiken, and Maia Rowan, have taken a special interest in the Vancouver design community. We started doing research to better inform ourselves about what is in store for us post grad. We have found that there is an active design community, that involves mostly small design firms and companies. They all do different things, from designing bags, to promoting and communicating design and art events, to making Vancouver their design project. They also have in common a lust for community, events, fun, and conversation.
As students at Emily Carr University of Art and Design we have come to appreciate the value of studio culture and working simultaneously, if not together. The inspiration and aha! moments that come out of conversations among students, faculty, and technicians is invaluable, and our projects would suffer without this contact. We’ve also noticed that the level of work with clients is somewhat shallow. As students we are often working with clients and providing them with concepts. The amount of contact with the client is quite limited and the solutions are often theoretical.
As design graduates in Vancouver the importance of connection, community, practice, and collaboration are going to be key, so we created Grey-sky Thinking. It’s our umbrella for projects like Words of Wisdom a design talk directed at students to provide insight on the transition from school to working. Also the Design Office series starting with One Day Design Office, where two emerging enterprises linked up with student teams to develop concepts that would enhance their business.
During the summer of 2012 Junior Design Office took place as the next step for us to connect students with business and social enterprise. The Junior Design Office is a week long design project with a client, and a student led design office. JDO aimed to show that students are capable of running design projects, that collaboration amongst disciplines is vital, and that the Vancouver design community is continuing to grow and expand, and young designers are involved in that expansion.
“The amount of contact with the client is quite limited and the solutions are often theoretical.”
Words of Wisdom event Jan 2012
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OPPORTUNITY
Junior Design Office acts as a platform for students and local business to collaborate
It was during our second year in the design program at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, that we started to notice that design at school felt very disconnected from design that was happening, or could be happening in Vancouver. We had little connection to industry or any professional input from designers outside of our faculty. We were practicing designing with a brief at school, but not always with a client. And even when there was a client present our professor would be the one in contact with them, and we had little means of really learning from the client-designer relationship.
We were able to identify two main gaps in our education, and in the design field in Vancouver.
2. Clients need design work and exposure to what design can do for business or social enterprise
1.students need real world experience
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ONE DAY DESIGN OFFICEIn February 2012 we ran One Day Design Office, our first experiment of the Design Office series. We started small with a one day workshop where we brought together two recent startups and two groups of students. Prior to the workshop we interviewed the two social enterprises, the first being The Vancouver Tool Library, and the second The Soap Dispensary. During the interviews we asked them to explain what they do, what challenges they face, and together we extracted problem spaces that could be addressed during the workshop. We provided the students with a profile on the business along with a design brief, and then they had an afternoon to develop some solutions for their according client.
The concepts that came out of the workshop were in the early stages, but they did provide the clients with ideas of how the design process works, areas of development within their business, as well as steps to finding designers to take a concept to fruition, if they so choose.
Emily Carr University played a key role in ODDO. We worked on this project as part of a class called Creative Lab where students had access to a professor who would support and challenge them to take their own ideas of design education, and apply them, developing a self directed curriculum. ECUAD also provided printing costs and space, that helped us to facilitate ODDO with as few barriers as possible.
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CONCEPT: JUNIOR DESIGN OFFICEInspired by our experience with One Day Design Office we set out to create Junior Design Office. It was a week long, student run, design office with the goal of developing a design that our client could apply to their programming.
Junior Design Office was a project in which we learned by doing. The curriculum of the course was emergent. The two of us (Andreas and Maia) set out after One Day Design Office to apply what we had learned there and develop a week long project. Ultimately we believe that JDO should be a summer-long program where the student design team gets paid for their work, and where we have the capacity to design and implement a project. We understand that a summer long program has it’s barriers, especially for starting up, so we worked with what was possible as a next step.
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MAKING CONNECTIONSGREY-SKY THINKING: conceived, developed, and executed the project. Andreas Eiken: Creative Lead Maia Rowan: Project Manager
Networking was a fundamental part of Junior Design Office. We had to develop symbiotic relationships with each of our partners.
Maia approached Architecture for Humanity to work as an intern over the summer. Eventually the work she was doing for them turned out to be the same work that was going into preparing for Junior Design Office. As an intern she balanced working on a project that she wanted to do anyways, while contributing to an existing project of AfH.
Andreas talked to the Dean of Design and Dynamic Media to see if Emily Carr was interested in being involved, and if it was possible to do the project as a directed studies. In the end, Emily Carr hosted Junior Design Office and Andreas and Maia, the two student organizers were able to get credits for the work. The student design team who participated for the one week however were not able to get credits because of time limitations.
Over the course of 6 months we had several meetings with AfH and Emily Carr to ensure that everyone’s needs were being met, and that the collaborative process was functioning.
STUDENT TEAM: The student team was in charge of addressing the design brief provided by AfH through research, design development, 2D and 3D communication, and designing a solution during the week.
Architecture for Humanity: Client for Junior Design Office, provided mentorship, critique, and guidance. Linus Lam: Executive Director AfH Vancouver ChapterHeather StuartMatthew Lahey
ECUAD: Provided space for the project, along with supplies, and other support from the Dean’s office. Bonne Zabolotney: Dean of Design and Dynamic MediaAndrea Nunes: Admin Assistant E, Deans Office
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THE BRIEFContextArchitecture for Humanity Vancouver is collaborating with the City of Vancouver (COV) and various Chinatown stakeholders in an effort to revitalize Chinatown - our main strategy is to activate the lane-ways.
This project seeks to give character to the alleyways of Chinatown, to upend their current characterization as dank and dangerous locations to be avoided, and highlight new potential uses. It is a part of the COV’s mission to revitalize Chinatown while preserving its unique heritage (see COV website in Appendices).
AfH Vancouver has conducted a variety of research and produced a report outlining its vision for the development of the alleyways (see AfH document in Appendices).
MissionThe brief calls upon the designers to conceive of an installation that will help give character to the alleyway and support new uses.
Design an overhead structure within the identified Chinatown lane-way. The design should consider among other things, creating an identity, drawing people into the lane, weather protection canopy, lighting, viewpoints. Be creative - this overhead structure could take on many forms.
The project should be considered as part of the Phase 1 vision for the alleyways, as defined in the AfH document Lanes: Shortcuts to a Vibrant Chinatown Experience (see attached). The overhead structure is to be temporary, and nothing should be conceived that will impede the regular service use of the alleyway for an extended period of time. Installations should be de-mountable, with minimum permanent brackets affixed to existing infrastructure.
Conditions- Must be easily mountable / de-mountable, requiring no specialized knowledge or tools.- Must be easily compacted for storage. Consider segmenting the objects.- Consider ability to scale objects to larger or smaller conditions.- Must be easily reproducible. - Presentation must include a construction outline and cost estimate.
The lane-way in the block bracketed by Columbia, Main, E Pender and Keefer streets as identified on the map.
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RECRUITMENTSTUDENT TEAM: The student team was in charge of addressing the design brief provided by AfH through research, design development, 2D and 3D communication, and designing a solution during the week.
-Aida Rezaeiaida 3rd year Industrial Design -Jesi Carson 4th year Interaction Design
-Warren Cheng 4th Year Industrial Design
APPLY:MISSION:
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ABOUT:
Design a project with Architecture for Humanity as yourclient through a week long student led design consultancy. AUGUST 27-31
Are you interested in being part of a collabora-tive design process, and working with Architec-ture for Humanity to develop a Vancouver based design project?
We are looking for students or recent alumni from Industrial Design, Communication Design, and Interaction design. Applicants should be passionate about design, collabora-tion, creativity, and have a commitment to developing designs to their potential. It is important you can commit to the full week: (August 27th to 31st)
Please include in your application:
-A Letter of interest with a description of your work style, what you love about working in a design team, and why you are interested in participating in the project. Letter is not to be longer than one page. -3 pieces from your portfolio.
Deadline is August 20th, early applications are appreciated, and may get priority. Please send applications to:
-Empower community-Learn by doing-Collaborate across disciplines-Demonstrate design as a fundamental part of social enterprise-Build networks of design supporters-Inspire transformative thinking
JUNIOR DESIGN OFFICEone week student led design consultancy
Recruitment poster
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SCHEDULEThe schedule we outlined for Junior Design Office was based on the design process we learn at school as well as our idea of how this process would be applied in a design firm setting. We began with the brief, and some initial time for concept ideation. We then visited the site where the project would be installed. On Tuesday we develop three concepts to present to AfH and held our first client presentation. For the final three days of the week we developed our final concept, developed a prototype, and hosted a final client presentation.
JUNIOR DESIGN OFFICEone week student led design consultancy August 27-31
SCHEDULE: Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
A.M.
A.M.
Lunch
P.M.
IntroductionsBrief delivary
Initial research
Present FindingsLunch
Idea Generation---
Begin narrowingconcept selection
Develope 3-5concepts
---
Lunch
Client meetingpresent directions
Debrief + planwork load for
Wed/thurs
User ReseachSite visitsInterviews
Work period-
Lunch------
Check inon progress
Work period-----
Lunch------
Planning forFriday
Finalize concept
Printingprep
Lunch
2-4pm client presentations
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SITE VISIT + CONCEPT DEVELOPMENTWe conducted site visits multiple times during the week so that we could better understand the problem space, and to help inform our concept development.
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3 CONCEPTS PITCHDuring our initial client meeting we pitched three concepts. The client was not impressed with the designs we were proposing, which after further exploration we began to understand was due to the lack of clarity amongst their organization, thus we were working with a brief that was too open ended. We had to regroup with new knowledge of what the client wanted, and start from scratch. A key learning experience from this meeting was that we needed to address the brief but also clarify the brief and highlight the areas we wanted to explore and address.
We revisited the alley the next morning to get more inspiration and look at it with a new lens.
A Chinatown influenced archway entrance made from recycled materials
Vignettes placed in the back alley to envision the future Abstracted tree forms to attract pedestrian traffic
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OBSERVATIONWHAT IS UNIqUE ABOUT THE LANE-WAYS?
THEY ARE NARROWTHEY ARE NOT UNIFORM
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FINAL CONCEPTUTILIZE FLExION TO CREATE FORM WITH POLES
USING CORNERS AND DOORWAYS TO SECURE THE POLES
A unique structure that can be built and adapt to the variety of features found in a lane way. Creating a canopy that enlivens the lane way, drawing people in to an intriguing and welcoming environment.
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PROTOTYPE
We decided to make full scale prototype out of 3/4” tubing from Home Depot to use as a proof of concept.
*The straps are made out of recycled bike tires and velcro.
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PRESENTATION
On Friday we held our final presentation. Architecture for Humanity came with their three representatives, along with two guest critics, Tom Becher ( Emily Carr faculty), and Pat Christie (alumni). We used a slide show presentation to communicate our final concept, and then revealed our prototype. We had managed to grasp the essence of the project and develop a design that addressed the brief and the project AfH was working on. The client is making efforts to install the design in the next year.
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CONCLUSIONJunior Design Office was a huge success in our eyes. We had a lot of support to carry the project out, and lots of constructive feedback from the students and our community partners. After struggling with the brief at the beginning of the week the design team managed to pull together a cohesive concept that fully addressed the need of our client.
Architecture for Humanity was thrilled with our work over the week and they will be working towards using the design as part of their Chinatown Activation Project.
The students were a little frustrated with the design brief that was proposed at the beginning of the week. It was essentially too open ended, and prevented efficiency in concept development. Mid-week we were able to extract the essential parts of the brief and re-design based on that, which led to a more successful outcome. The students also remarked that it would have been helpful to know who the client was, and what the design brief was before they had applied so they could fully evaluate if the project was a good fit for them.
Bonne Zabolotney explained to us after the project concluded that from the Universities standpoint, we were effective in our self-directed work. We were able to execute the project with little supervision from Bonne, and proved that student led curriculum is possible and rewarding.
The biggest lesson from Junior Design Office is that people are willing to support you in whatever way they can so long as their involvement and work is limited. Our roles as Project Manager and Creative Lead were as much about facilitation as they were about design and curriculum planning. We were constantly negotiating between Emily Carr, Architecture for Humanity, and the student design team.
The generosity from all our partners is much appreciated. Our advice to any future students is to embrace their own initiative and ask people to be involved. It also helps to find those people around you who are accustomed to saying ‘yes’ when approached.
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