Androids, and Other Haphazard Metaphors: Exploration of Asexual Representation in a Year of Digital Interaction

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Description

This creative project book details a year of research and design projects centering portrayals of asexuality in fiction, culminating in a virtual reality senior exhibition. It addresses how current popular media desexualizes and alienates asexual characters, and details ways that

This creative project book details a year of research and design projects centering portrayals of asexuality in fiction, culminating in a virtual reality senior exhibition. It addresses how current popular media desexualizes and alienates asexual characters, and details ways that we can start to change this by crafting better media role models. Interspersed in this discussion is a reflection on my senior graphic design experience, putting on events in a virtual environment.

Date Created
2021-05
Agent

Designerly Ways of Teaching: Reflecting on folk pedagogies in design education

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Description
The profession known as industrial design is undergoing a transformation. Design thinking and strategy are replacing form giving and styling. Critics are calling for curricular reform to meet the changing needs of practice, yet surprisingly little knowledge is available about

The profession known as industrial design is undergoing a transformation. Design thinking and strategy are replacing form giving and styling. Critics are calling for curricular reform to meet the changing needs of practice, yet surprisingly little knowledge is available about how and why design teachers do what they do. In an effort to frame the problem of (re)designing design education, this study provides a framework for understanding the pedagogical beliefs and preferences of design students and educators utilizing Bruner’s four folk pedagogies. This study also provides evidence that the practices of industrial design teachers exhibit what Cross (2006) has described as ‘designerly ways of knowing.’
Date Created
2020
Agent

Cultivating Comfort: Exploring the Connections Between Scandinavian Design & Wellness

Description
The look and feel of one’s environment, be it built or organic, has great influence on mood, behavior, and general comfort. Through exploratory qualitative research, this study intends to explore the presence of wellness features in Scandinavian Design throughout the

The look and feel of one’s environment, be it built or organic, has great influence on mood, behavior, and general comfort. Through exploratory qualitative research, this study intends to explore the presence of wellness features in Scandinavian Design throughout the growth of the Scandinavian modern movement, and how these practices may be integrated and adapted in both commercial and residential design in the United States (U.S.). What do Scandinavian designers perceive as the essential traits of the Scandinavian design style, and what relationship, if any, exists between these traits and the concept of wellness? To answer this question, the researcher made use of a purposive sampling method based on exploratory qualitative research methodology, conducting three in-person, semi-structured interviews and extracting themes based on thematic coding. During data analysis three primary themes were identified: sustainability, materiality, and community. The data reported in this study provides some insight into Scandinavian designers’ perceptions of their own practices, and begins to connect these factors to a more global approach to architecture and design.
Date Created
2020-05
Agent

Filtering the Media: Partisan Media Bias in a Divided America

Description
This project explores the impacts of partisan media bias on the American people and government through a book, website, and three-dimensional exhibit. It is meant to make audiences question the validity and reliability of the information around them while encouraging skepticism.
Date Created
2020-05
Agent

Animal Testing Through Visual Communication

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Description
Animal testing is a social issue often forgotten because it does not directly affect the individual on a daily basis. I believe animal testing is an important issue to combat because these animals cannot speak for themselves. I focused the

Animal testing is a social issue often forgotten because it does not directly affect the individual on a daily basis. I believe animal testing is an important issue to combat because these animals cannot speak for themselves. I focused the entirety of my senior year on creating projects within the Visual Communication Design program centered around animal testing. I felt it would be powerful to approach animal testing through visual communication design because it allows for the audience to digest the issue in a well-designed fashion, while also being informative. In the Fall of 2019 I designed and constructed a fully functional clock that highlighted the unaccounted for animal lives lost due to animal testing, specifically within the United States. In the Spring of 2020 I completed a virtual exhibit space advocating for individuals to switch to a cruelty-free lifestyle through the products they employ in their daily lives. This exhibit space was originally meant to be built and displayed in person, but due to COVID-19 this was unable to happen. Instead, I was able to work through this setback and construct an augmented reality exhibit. To view this and a process book of creating this virtual exhibit space, visit https://asudesignshow.com/Riley-Padua-Cruelty-Free-Beauty. Finally, I created a book to document the work I created within my senior year with an additional section dedicated to the social issue of animal testing. It is my hope that through my designs and throughout my life that I can be a voice for these animals and work to fight for the end of animal testing.
Date Created
2020-05
Agent

Running on Empty

Description
Everyone knows a female who participates in sport; if not you, a daughter, sister, or friend. She started out competing for the love and fun of the game. But slowly that changed. She began to feel the pressure. The pressure

Everyone knows a female who participates in sport; if not you, a daughter, sister, or friend. She started out competing for the love and fun of the game. But slowly that changed. She began to feel the pressure. The pressure to succeed. She steps up to the line, into the blocks, onto the mat comparing herself, thinking, if only she lost those 2, 5, or 10+lbs she could achieve her goals, look more like the competitors around her. Fit the mold of an elite. This narrative manifests itself in far too many female athletes. One where body image and weight are harshly linked to one's potential for success rather than their actual talent, fitness, or strength. Along with this ideology comes a multitude of mental and health problems such as disordered eating, premature bone loss, and nearly 70% of female athletes have experienced some form of athletic amenorrhea (period loss). “Running on Empty” examines this issue and brings awareness to the byproducts, allowing those who are struggling to know that they are not alone.
Date Created
2020-05
Agent

Loss of Language: A Designed Exhibit and Campaign on the Widespread Social Issue of Loss of First Language in the United States

Description
This is a collection on research into, and designed pieces pertaining to, the loss of language in the USA. In particular, the analysis and social consequences of English-as-a-second-language learners losing their native language as they progress through American society. A

This is a collection on research into, and designed pieces pertaining to, the loss of language in the USA. In particular, the analysis and social consequences of English-as-a-second-language learners losing their native language as they progress through American society. A number of factors have caused many American immigrants or natives to lose their first or family language, causing a cascade of personal and societal issues that range from educational deficiencies to federal and healthcare system failures.
Date Created
2020-05
Agent

The Psychology of Transition and Architecture: The Aftermath of Trauma and Recovery from Abuse

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Description

Place and memory are strongly intertwined based on the human experience. So what can a new place become in the mind of an individual who has garnered distressing perceptions of one’s current environment due to trauma? How can the environment

Place and memory are strongly intertwined based on the human experience. So what can a new place become in the mind of an individual who has garnered distressing perceptions of one’s current environment due to trauma? How can the environment support or facilitate periods of transition caused by a traumatic event? The aftermath of abuse that occurs in romantic relationships of late adolescence leads to a rocky crisis stage that often results in isolation, loss of identity, and social stigma. It is a period of transition in which recovery can be a long journey. This is where concepts of acceptance, mental alleviation, and appreciation of the present moment evoked by a nonjudgmental architecture can come into play. A space with the purpose of evoking a mental and emotional respite is of great need, especially when considering the current severity of today’s fast paced society. An architecture of this nature holds relevance and importance on campuses of higher education when considering the specific demographic. In order to reverse the perception of one’s surroundings as tarnished spaces and override the sensations to which distrust and exhaustion have claimed ownership, this center of healing should be integrated into an individual’s life as a facilitator of comfort. In short, it should provide the ability and opportunity to take a breath.

The Intermission is a healing space located at Arizona State University in Tempe, specifically where Forest Mall and Orange Mall meet. Abuse in intimate relationships is the most prevalent amongst college-aged individuals and those of late adolescence. This architecture exists specifically for the survivors of this particular traumatic experience, but welcomes all of the student body. It takes into consideration the general sensory overload placed on today’s youth who are existing in a specifically stressful and challenging developmental phase of life. The intention lies in eliciting a reprieve through the use of nature as an enclosure and an undulating platform as a labyrinth, which ultimately offers up a positive form of both a sensory and traversing experience. It offers the discovery of stimuli that users are able to easily adapt to and appreciate. It allows for and calls one to take part in deceleration. The goal is to bring the users to the awareness of themselves, their surroundings, and that of the present moment through spatial means. With this, the environment is able to support and facilitate a period of transition through the re-building of identity and memory. Ultimately, The Intermission is architecture as pause from a harsh and sometimes unforgiving life. It is an in-between moment for the in-between individual— an alternate, but necessary route (as well as pit stop) in the loop of daily life.

Date Created
2019-05
Agent

Eat your heart out: framing design, experience, street foods, and globalization

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Description
Eat Your Heart Out is a visually rich qualitative ethnic food research that examines consumption, production, and distribution practices transnationally. Through the example of Mumbai’s street foods, the study aims to discover how design participates in fashioning the street food

Eat Your Heart Out is a visually rich qualitative ethnic food research that examines consumption, production, and distribution practices transnationally. Through the example of Mumbai’s street foods, the study aims to discover how design participates in fashioning the street food experiences locally and globally.

Food is an important cultural artifact in the world. However, past research in design suggests that the discipline has mainly focused on food as a catalyst for creativity and imagination or as a tool to examine materialistic, economical, sensorial, and emotional connections. Studying the user-focused involvement in the creation of food artifacts and focusing on cultural, global, and historical aspects of that participation are important to address the gaps in the knowledge required to solve increasingly “wicked problems” (Buchanan, 1992; Rittel, 1971). To achieve this goal, Eat Your Heart Out implemented a comparative practice-based study of the Indian street foods in Mumbai and Phoenix to examine consumption, production, and distribution practices at both places. The methodological design was highly multi-disciplinary in nature and included rapid ethnographic assessment, interviews, visual research, and a generative method of co-creation.

The study revealed that street foods as cultural artifacts were deeply rooted in specific traditional values specific to the context, which significantly influenced personal and communal consumption, production, and distribution practices of Indian street foods in Mumbai and Phoenix. The values of standardization, formality, and higher food regulation practices limited the diversity and radically transformed the central values of Mumbai’s street foods when the foods re-territorialized in Phoenix. This resulted in lowering the consumption.

Eat Your Heart Out presents cultural and practical insights into the interactions between contexts, artifacts, practices, and participants. Eat Your Heart Out recommends new frameworks of correlation for various consumption and production practices and suggests how street food artifacts alter when they move across cultures. Such knowledge can be valuable for similar ethnic food culture studies and the development of innovative research tools incorporating transnational and multidisciplinary methods in the future.

On a broader scope, Eat Your Heart Out provides a unique opportunity to study a culture that has not been examined by scholars much in the past. It also focuses on gaining knowledge about ethnic culinary practices of Indian immigrants in the United States and encouraging enhanced cross-cultural acceptance.
Date Created
2018
Agent

shiFT: an exploration of empathy

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Description
“shiFT: An Exploration of Empathy” is a document detailing the process of

creating the evening length dance performance, “shiFT,” through the theoretical,

somatic, kinesthetic and choreographic research of empathy. This research specifically

addressed the ability to consciously take on an empathetic perspective and

“shiFT: An Exploration of Empathy” is a document detailing the process of

creating the evening length dance performance, “shiFT,” through the theoretical,

somatic, kinesthetic and choreographic research of empathy. This research specifically

addressed the ability to consciously take on an empathetic perspective and the change

that must occur within oneself to co-create empathy. It focused on the factors that

impede empathetic function and the role of vulnerability in experiencing empathy.

Throughout the creation of this concert, the choreographer employed empathy building

exercises and concentrated creative processes constructed from her research into the

neurological, emotional and physical aspects of empathy with a cast of ten dancers.

Choreographer and dancers worked collaboratively to create an empathetic

environment, a pre-show film installation titled GREY MATTER, and the culminating

evening length concert piece “shiFT.”
Date Created
2018
Agent