Events
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AIGA/NY @ PARSONS LECTURE SERIES THE NEW FUTURE OF DESIGN
You’re invited to a discussion featuring summer faculty emeritus Zach Lieberman, Artist in Residence James Bridle, and faculty member Carla Diana, in an AIGA/NY panel moderated by Liz Danzico.
What does design look like in the future? The outcomes that once defined us (print, branding, packaging…etc.) have expanded in the digital age, to include web, motion, UX and a growing list of others. But what happens when technology moves beyond the screen to merge with the physical world? What happens when our tools grow to include not just computers, but 3-D printing, open-source engineering and everything else? Join us as we meet a few of the talented designers who offer a glimpse into this future, revealing the possibilities of tomorrow’s designer.
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Wednesday, December 12
6:30-8:30PM
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Location
Tishman Auditorium - Parsons
(View Map)
66 West 12th Street
New York, NY 10016
On December 12th at Parsons, we’ll hear from Zach Lieberman, who created a font with a car, invented a way for paralyzed artists to draw using their eye movements—and created a way for that art to live in the physical world. We’ll meet James Bridle, who mapped a neighborhood using balloons, illustrated military drones in a surprising way, and coined the term ‘The New Aesthetic’—describing the visual language of our merging digital and physical space. Carla Diana—who designs domestic robots, sentient kitchen appliances and most-anything that intersects the physical and digital spaces—will reveal how she tries to live as close to the near future as possible.
The evening will be moderated by Liz Danzico, who—through her work—and as chair and co-founder of MFA Interaction Design at the School of Visual Arts, leads a new generation of designers to the future possibilities of our field.
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Spring Open House
You’re warmly invited to join us informal presentations, questions and answers, and open discussion during this Open House redux. Reception will follow presentations, when you can get to know some of the faces connected with the program. Prospective students can ask additional questions about applying.
What can you expect? Hear presentations, see student work, tour the studio and sign up to sit in on classes in the interaction design program.
Spend a Saturday morning considering your plans for fall 2013, and meeting some of the leading thinkers and practitioners in the field.
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Saturday, January 19
10AM–12PM
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Location
MFA Interaction Design
(View Map)
136 W 21st Street, 3rd Floor
New York City
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MEET-IXD 2013
MEET-IXD is where enthusiastic professionals meet talented students to exchange ideas and connect over employment opportunities. Guests—who represent a range of companies from small startups to large brands—get together with students to explore intersections and let new possibilities emerge. Traditional recruiting day it is not, MEET-IXD brings down the boundaries through a series of conversations about ideas that matter.
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Friday, February 22
3-6PM
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Location
MFA Interaction Design
(View Map)
MEET-IXD 2013 is a half-day event to take place on Friday, February 22. The event begins with a keynote presentation followed by a knowledge exchange session where prospective employers and current students share student work in progress. The event concludes with an informal cocktail hour.
Attending will be MFA candidates in interaction design who graduate in May 2013 or students available for internships between first and second year of their studies. Prospective employers from independent studios to large organizations will be attending to round out the day.
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On Social Design with Eric Fisher
Eric Fisher, author of the Facebook Social Design Guidelines, will join the department to speak about designing products to facilitate conversation.
For most of the technical age, we’ve been focused on building productivity and data curation tools and building the conversational/social ones in the same style. But with the advent of all the social sites, the Internet is putting people at the center instead of information and that requires a different strategy for digital product design.
—Eric Fisher
Please join Eric, and current students this Thursday at the Interaction Design studio.
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Thursday, November 15
12–1PM
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Location
MFA Interaction Design
(View Map)
136 W 21st Street, 3rd Floor
New York City
Eric Fisher is a storyteller turned product architect with a passion for building systems that connect the emotional realm to the physical and tell great stories.
Read more about Eric.
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2012 Visualizing Global Marathon
The Visualizing Global Marathon is a free, competitive, data visualization event open to all currently enrolled students (undergraduate or graduate) of all disciplines.
Never created a data visualization before? No worries! You don’t need to be a master programmer or design ninja to compete. The Marathon is a great opportunity to work with others and learn new skills while tackling a complex real world issue. And we’re offering over $10,000 in prizes in Interactive and Infographic categories.
Join us for the New York City Visualizing Global Marathon meetup event at the MFA Interaction Design studio.
The dates and times for the meetup at the school are as follows:
Friday, November 9, 6PM-12AM EST
Sunday, November 11, 3–9PM ESTAt the meetup, you’ll have a stimulating and fun space to work, interact, and plug-in to the event as it occurs on Visualizing. You’ll need to bring:
– Your computer and charger
– Snacks (meals will not be provided)
– Your valid school IDRegistration deadline is November 1.
Read more about the Visualizing Global Marathon event here.
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Friday, November 9
November 9, 6PM–12AM and November 11, 3–9PM
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Location
MFA Interaction Design
(View Map)
136 W 21st Street, 3rd Floor
New York City
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Fall Open House
You’re warmly invited to join faculty members, students, alumni, and staff for informal presentations, questions and answers, and open discussion. Reception will follow presentations, when you can get to know some of the faculty and students, and prospective students can ask additional questions about applying.
What can you expect? Hear presentations, see student work, and sign up to sit in on classes in the interaction design program.
Spend a Saturday afternoon considering your plans for fall 2013, and meeting some of the leading thinkers and practitioners in the field.
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Saturday, November 10
3–5PM
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Location
MFA Interaction Design
(View Map)
136 W 21st Street, 3rd Floor
New York City
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Data Narratives: The Art and Craft of Information Visualisation
The amount of data we create and consume in everyday life is increasing at a staggering rate. Over the past few years, we’ve seen companies and organizations of all sizes create–and make public–data for people to use. But only good visualizations tell a story.
This two-week summer program teaches students methods and techniques for telling stories with complex data. Students will learn how people process images, methods for making data clear, how to access APIs and other data sources, and how to make data interactive with tools such as Processing.
STRUCTURE
The two-week program takes place June 18-June 29 Mondays through Thursdays. In the afternoons from 4PM-6PM, students participate in a project-based studio where they apply the methods they learn to a problem in the urban environment in New York City. In the evenings, students take part in courses from 7PM-10PM. The week kicks off with a briefing on the first day.
CURRICULUM
Data Narratives is a credit-bearing, concise yet comprehensive program in data visualization, comprising the following courses:
Telling Stories with Data
Instructor: Jennifer Daniel
Thursdays, 7PM-10PM
In this course, students will focus on the story that graphics can tell through a focus on communication design displays with type, with points and lines, with area, and with color and organization. How do students use these principles to find and tell stories with data?Developing Narrative Structures
Instructor: Daniel Goddemeyer
Wednesdays, 7PM-10PM
Building on a foundation of core design concepts like typography, color and composition, students proceed through graph and map-making best practices toward advanced topics of data structure and programmatic visualizations.Programming for Designers
Tuesdays, 7PM-10PM
Using Processing as a central programming language, students will be introduced to concepts for making data concrete, including brief introductions to other tools such as Protovis. Students will have a firm understanding of geo-coding and how to integrate APIs to make data visual.Visualizing New York
Instructor: Hilla Katki
Mondays-Thursdays, 4-6PM
New York City is an infinite stream of infinitely intersecting datasets. Using the physical space of the city as inspiration, students will create a visualization that evokes a specific quality (or set of qualities) of New York City, and has the capacity to change over time or in response to the city. The visualization should push the boundaries of the ways that data is conventionally defined, conceptualized, and displayed by experimenting with ideas of utility, aesthetics, structure, typography, and image. The final project must be presented as a response to a particular site/location in the city, and may be installed at the site, if time permits. The program will culminate in a public show of the projects in the form of a (virtual) tour of the city.RESIDENCY
The program is collaborative residency program, and each student can work individually or collaboratively in the loft-like space during the course of the program. Situated on its own floor of a light-filled building in the Flatiron District, the MFA Interaction Design space has the workflow of designers in mind.
PREREQUISITES
Participants considering attending should have some prior experience with information design. A basic familiarity with programming is highly recommended to move along quickly within related lessons. Experience with JavaScript, Processing, ActionScript, or similar scripting languages should suffice. If you’re unsure if the program is right for you, contact the department. For those new to interaction design, consider attending the Summer Intensive in Interaction Design (July 9-August 2) instead.
FEE
The cost for the Data Narratives program is $2,000 USD.
REGISTRATION
Registration will remain open until all sessions are full. A partial waitlist will open once the program sells out to accommodate any late cancellations.
Payment may be made by American Express, Discover, MasterCard, or Visa. For payment via check please contact the department at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Unfortunately, the department cannot accept cash payments.
INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
The Interaction Design Data Narratives seminar is a credit bearing program, that does not meet the requirements for the F-1 student visa. A letter of invitation will be issued in support of entry to the U.S. as a visitor participating in an educational seminar. For more information about the U.S. entry requirements as a B-1/B-2 visitor or the Visa Waiver Program, please contact the U.S. Consulate in your home country. For information regarding the F-1 student visa for degree programs, please contact the International Student Office at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
HOUSING
NOTICE - SVA SUMMER HOUSING IS SOLD OUT! - 6/1/12
The School of Visual Arts has several affordable and comfortable housing options for visiting students coming to work, live and experience New York City this summer. SVA offers MFA Interaction Design Summer Program students single rooms with private bathrooms and air conditioning in our George Washington Residence Hall. Housing is available for the duration of the program from June 17th - July 1st at a flat rate of $420. For details and further assistance visit Summer Housing for Special Programs.
REGISTRATION CANCELLATION & REFUND POLICY
To withdraw from the summer program in Data Narratives, you may email your request to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Failure to complete a course does not constitute official withdrawal, nor does notification to the instructor, lack of attendance, or dissatisfaction with a course. A written notice of withdrawal must be received before the first class session for a student to receive 100% tuition refund. There will be no refunds after the start of the first class session.
All refunds for payment made by American Express, Discover, MasterCard, or Visa will be credited to the appropriate credit card account. Payment made by check or money order will be refunded by check, payable to the registrant. Processing of check refunds takes approximately four weeks.
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Monday, June 18
4PM - 10PM
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Location
MFA Interaction Design
(View Map)
136 West 21 Street
Third Floor
New York, NY 10011
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IN/VISION, 2012 MFA Interaction Design Festival
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Saturday, May 12
11AM–4PM
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Location
Visual Arts Theatre
(View Map)
IN/VISION, the 2012 MFA Interaction Design Festival at the School of Visual Arts, is a celebration of work from interaction design graduates who present their explorations in a public forum. On this day, you’ll hear talks from graduated interaction designers—a collection of scientists, humanists, artists, architects, and designers—who have completed work that connects them as people to ideas they’ll make public in the world. On stage, graduates present projects for discussion. At the exhibition, prototypes will be available for play and exploration.
You’re warmly invited to hear from the class of newly graduated interaction designers and surprise guests.
Schedule
10:00AM: Registration and breakfast
11:00AM: Liz Danzico: Opening remarks
11:10AM: IN/VISIBLEClint Beharry, Class of 2011: Keynote
Michael Yap: Memento Mori
Benjamin Gadbaw: Triple Take
Kristin Breivik and Carrie Stiens: SPOKED
Catherine Young: The Perceptionalist
Moderated discussion
12:15-12:45PM: Refreshments, Sponsored by Freshbooks
12:45PM: IN/VIGORATEKatie Koch, Class of 2011: Keynote
Allison Shaw: Scrit Scrit
Tina Ye: Hotpot
Adjoa Opoku: Showcased
JoJo Glick: The Lonely Porcupine
Cooper Smith: Recess
Moderated discussion
2:00-2:30PM: Coffee break, Sponsored by Cafe Grumpy
2:30PM: IL/LUMINATEColleen Miller, Class of 2011: Keynote
Erin Moore: Frank
Chris Cannon: Contextus
Sera Koo: Ipsis
David Bellona: Canary
Moderated discussion
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3:35PM: Paul Ford: Closing Keynote
3:55PM: Liz Danzico: Closing remarks
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5:00-7:00PM: Exhibition and reception at MFA Interaction Design Studio, 136 W 21 Street, 3rd floor
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The Next Step for Design: Social Entrepreneurship
As designers are increasingly recognized as both thought leaders and the drivers of large-scale change, it’s become evident that we’ve outgrown the traditional contexts of our work—as stewards of organizational change in large corporations, and as hired guns at consultancies. Entrepreneurship provides a third vehicle for design-driven change, yet designers have not traditionally explored this as a viable career path. In this talk, Jon Kolko will describe how a particular form of entrepreneurship—social entrepreneurship—is the new frontier for designers, and will provide illustrations of how a design led, double-bottom line, operationally self-sufficient company can create meaningful and deep impact.
Presented by Freshbooks
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Tuesday, April 10
6–8PM
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Location
MFA Interaction Design Department
(View Map)
136 West 21st Street
Between 6th and 7th Avenues
3rd Floor
New York, New York 10011
Jon Kolko is the Founder and Director of Austin Center for Design, a progressive educational institution teaching interaction design and social entrepreneurship. His work focuses on bringing the power of design to social enterprises, with an emphasis on entrepreneurship and large-scale industry disruption. He has worked extensively with both startups and Fortune 500 clients, and he has a breadth of experience in consumer electronics, mobility, web services, supply chain management, demand planning, and customer-relationship management. He has worked with big-brand clients such as AT&T, HP, Nielsen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Ford, IBM, Palm and other leaders of the Global 2000, as well as with startups like Socialware, Spredfast, Vast, Attivio, and more.
Read more about Jon.
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On the Verge: Geoff Manaugh and Jer Thorp
Poster by Zack Davenport
Geoff Manaugh is the author of BLDGBLOG, dispatches critically examining “architectural conjecture, urban speculation, and landscape futures” and Co-director of Studio-X NYC, a “multifunction outpost” consisting of a research lab, exhibition space, and event venue, situated within Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. Jer Thorp is the current Data Artist in Residence at the New York Times and Co-organizer of the EYEO Festival, the foremost event for creative coding, data visualization, and interaction design.
Manaugh and Thorp convene to discuss cities-as-sensors and subsequent opportunities for coders, visualizers, and designers, such as, algorithms creating meaning in the construction of the 9/11 Memorial.
On the Verge format
As a department, we continually work to evolve interaction design and inform others about its role and importance. Recently, disciplines previously understood as running on parallel vectors, such as architecture and data visualization, now run oblique and are fast approaching interaction design. On the Verge is meant to explore the many seams and intersections between disciplines through conversation.
The On the Verge series is presented by Freshbooks
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Friday, March 23
7–9PM
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Location
MFA Interaction Design Department
(View Map)
136 West 21st Street
Between 6th and 7th Avenues
3rd Floor
New York, New York 10011
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Interaction Salon: Notes on the Design of Participatory Systems - A Talk with Usman Haque
Cooperation is difficult. Even when everybody agrees on an end goal, and even when everybody agrees on what is needed to achieve that end goal, it does not mean that everyone (or even anyone) will be able to take the first step, which is the most important step. The talk will discuss the paradoxical structures of collaboration and ways that the paradoxes can be harnessed, illustrated occasionally with concrete examples from past work. http://www.haque.co.uk & http://www.pachube.com
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Tuesday, March 20
5–6PM
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Location
MFA Interaction Design
(View Map)
136 W 21st Street, 3rd Floor
New York City
Haque is a designer, entrepreneur, and director of Haque Design + Research. His work creating devices, installations and performances have been exhibited widely throughout the world. He is a former researcher at the Interaction Design Institute of Ivrea and instructor at the Bartlett School of Architecture. His writings have be featured in Interactions Magazine, Situated Technologies Pamphlet Series, and Volume Magazine.
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On the Verge: Zach Frechette and Molly Wright Steenson
Molly Wright Steenson is a designer, researcher, and strategist. She is a Ph.D. candidate at the Princeton University School of Architecture, where she researches the history of architectures of information. Zach Frechette co-founded GOOD Magazine and is currently the editorial director of Very Short List. He is also the founder Quarterly.co, a “subscription service that lets you receive awesome things in the mail.”
Frechette and Steenson team up to unearth pre-Internet technologies that bridge time and space: the postal service and metropolis-scale pneumatic tube networks. They will also discuss things, thingies, and thing-ness: their evolving significance, dematerialization toward experiences and data—i.e., SPIMES—and the shifting role of the designer as thing-maker.
On the Verge Format
As a department, we continually work to evolve interaction design and inform others about its role and importance. Recently, disciplines previously understood as running on parallel vectors, such as architecture and entrepreneurism, now run oblique and are fast verging interaction design. On the Verge creates conversations that explore the intersections and seams between disciplines through exchange, inquiry and the emergence of innovative ideas.
The On the Verge series is presented by Freshbooks
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Friday, April 6
6-8PM
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Location
MFA Interaction Design Department
(View Map)
136 West 21st Street
Between 6th and 7th Avenues
3rd Floor
New York, New York 10011
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On the Verge: Dennis Crowley and Mark Shepard
Left: screen of Shepard’s Serendipitor mobile app; right: screen of Crowley’s foursquare mobile app
Dennis Crowley is the co-founder of foursquare, a service that combines social networks, location awareness and game mechanics to encourage people to explore the world around them. Shepard is an architect investigating the implications of mobile, communication and information technologies for architecture and urbanism. In 2009, he curated Toward the Sentient City, an exhibition that critically explored the evolving relationship between ubiquitous computing and the city.
Crowley and Shepard convene to discuss how the built environment affects the development of “situated” technologies and conversely, how technology is increasingly shaping our physical surroundings.
About On the Verge
On the Verge is a series of moderated conversations-between-pairs presented during the Spring 2012 semester. Pairs of practitioners inhabit practices verging interaction design (architecture, data visualization, entrepreneurism et al.). Conversations are meant to explore the intersections and seams between practices through exchange, inquiry and the emergence of innovative ideas.
On the Verge format
As a department, we continually work to evolve interaction design and inform others about its role and importance. Recently, disciplines previously understood as running on parallel vectors, such as architecture and data visualization, now run oblique and are fast approaching interaction design. On the Verge is meant to explore the many seams and intersections between disciplines through conversation.
The On the Verge series is presented by Freshbooks
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Thursday, February 9
6-8PM
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Location
MFA Interaction Design Department
(View Map)
136 West 21st Street
Between 6th and 7th Avenues
3rd Floor
New York, New York 10011
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Workshop: “Intro to Designing and Prototyping with NFC and RFID”
This workshop is for:
Graduate students in any design discipline who are familiar with concepting techniques such as brainstorming and prototyping. Workshop participants should also be comfortable with digital design tools such as Photoshop, and Illustrator. Experience with Flash timeline and AS3 is preferred but not required.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTORS
In the recent past, interaction design was mostly confined to screens, but the proliferation of digital technology has created a landscape in which physical and virtual forms are constantly interchanged with one another. This new combination of factors has empowered designers to craft product behaviors that have not previously existed. Carla Diana and Jeff Hoefs are two such designers. In their practice, they face the challenges of navigating an ever-evolving spectrum of new product behaviors that combine the physical objects with dynamic information. In this workshop, they will identify the opportunities and challenges involved in crafting hybrid physical/digital projects and discuss case studies for hybrid approaches that led to deeper solutions than those attained through traditional processes alone.
Carla Diana
Jeff Hoefs
WORKSHOP AGENDA
Hands-on intro to RFID
10-10:30AM Demonstration
10:30-11AM Participant setup
Break
11:15AM-12:45PM Working with Flash & Phidgets
Group assignments
1-2PM Lunch
Concept Creation
2-3PM Brainstorm/bodystorming exercise
Physical Prototyping
3-4PM Mockup creation
4-5PM Iterations and refinement
5-6PM Presentation and critique-
Saturday, January 14
10AM - 6PM
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Location
MFA Interaction Design Department
(View Map)
136 West 21st Street
Between 6th and 7th Avenues
3rd Floor
New York, New York 10011
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On the Verge: Mike Migurski and Sarah Williams
Left: detail of Crimespotting; right: detail of Million Dollar Blocks
Mike Migurski and Sarah Williams inhabit practices verging interaction design.
Migurski is partner and Director of Technology for Stamen Design, a design and technology studio known for their civic-minded data visualizations and development of open-source mapping tools. Williams is currently the Director of Columbia’s Spatial Information Design Lab, overseeing the lab’s efforts to connect social data with geography. Prior to her appointment at Columbia University, Williams assisted in the development and eventual establishment of the SENSEable City Lab at MIT.
Migurski and Williams convene to discuss a range of topics related to their respective practices, such as delightful moments in cartography and the ethics of data visualization.
About On the Verge
On the Verge is a series of moderated conversations-between-pairs presented during the Spring 2012 semester. Pairs inhabit practices verging interaction design (architecture, data visualization, entrepreneurism et al.). Conversations are meant to explore the seams and intersections between practices through exchange, inquiry and the emergence of innovative ideas.
On the Verge format
As a department, we continually work to evolve interaction design and inform others about its role and importance. Recently, disciplines previously understood as running on parallel vectors, such as architecture and data visualization, now run oblique and are fast approaching interaction design. On the Verge is meant to explore the many seams and intersections between disciplines through conversation.
The On the Verge series is presented by Freshbooks
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Friday, January 20
6-8PM
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Location
MFA Interaction Design Department
(View Map)
136 West 21st Street
Between 6th and 7th Avenues
3rd Floor
New York, New York 10011
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About MFA Interaction Design
The MFA in Interaction Design program trains students to research, analyze, prototype, and design concepts in their business, social, and cultural contexts. It explores the strategic role of interaction design in shaping everyday life, and intends to increase the relevancy of design to business and to society so designers can make a difference.
Recently
- The Graduate Show: The MFA Interaction Design 2013 Thesis Exhibition
- Facebook Design Presents Quartz Composer
- The Maker’s Row Story
- Visiting Lecturer Series - High Line: The Inside Story of New York City’s Park in the Sky
- AIGA/NY @ PARSONS LECTURE SERIES THE NEW FUTURE OF DESIGN
- Spring Open House
- MEET-IXD 2013
Read more in the Archives.
