Graduate Studio: Technology A

Pratt Grad ComD MFA

DES 720A

Week 1-5: From Fixed to Variable

Sol LeWitt, installation view at Dia:Beacon.

Since the invention of the first tools, designers and technology have evolved together in a dynamic, reciprocal relationship. From movable type and mechanical presses to desktop publishing, and now computational tools and digital fabrication, designers have continually adapted to new languages and tools while simultaneously shaping and redefining those technologies to expand what’s possible in communication.

With the rise of digital printing and fabrication, the need for traditional platemaking has diminished. Designers can now work directly with digital values and variables, enabling design that is adaptable both digitally and physically. This shift opens new possibilities for creating flexible and responsive systems without being limited by fixed, one-size-fits-all solutions.

In this unit, you will explore foundational technological concepts such as variables, randomness, and functions that empower and challenge you as a designer. Moving beyond fixed, perfect proportions, you will learn to design “programs” that create, break, and modularize rules to generate flexible, dynamic systems. Throughout the making process, we will reflect on the evolving role of the designer in an increasingly digital and automated world.

Project 1: Flexible Manifesto

Choose a short piece of text in your preferred language. It can be a poem, a quote, an excerpt from your diary, or any other form of writing. The text should be personal, poetic, or culturally meaningful to you, serving as a manifesto or statement that reflects your values and beliefs.

You will reimagine this text as a flexible design system. Instead of creating a unique and fixed layout for each variation, your design system should be able to automatically generate and adapt to different scales, proportions, and materials and produce at least five distinct physical forms, each varying in material, dimensions, scale, or proportion.

You are encouraged to explore how different fabrication methods such as inkjet printer, UV printing, risograph printing, digital cutting and laser cutting (cut versus engraving) can change the dimension and shape the interpretation and impact of your text and design. This assignment challenges you to move beyond a one-size-fits-all approach and design with adaptability and variation in mind.

Martin Lorenz, Flexible Visual Systems.

Recommended Readings

• Gerstner, Karl. 1964. Designing Programmes.
• Reinfurt, David. 2021. A New Program for Graphic Design.
• Blauvelt, Andrew, and Ellen Lupton, editors. “Tool (Or, Postproduction for Graphic Designer)” 2011. Graphic Design: Now in Production.
• Pater, Ruben. 2019. “One Size Fits All.” Modes of Criticism 5: Design Systems.
• Madsen, Rune. 2015. On Meta-design and Algorithmic Design Systems.

Workshop 1

• What is laser cutting?
• What can it do?
• What can it not do?
• What bad things come out?
• What good things come out?

Week 6-10

W. E. B. Du Bois, Visualizing Black America.

Building on the understanding of variables, this unit introduces the concept of data as a powerful and complex resource.

Data is never neutral. It reflects social, cultural, and political conditions that shape how it’s collected, interpreted, and represented. Designers have long used data to drive change. From W.E.B. Du Bois’s visualizations of Black life, to Florence Nightingale’s medical charts, to Minard’s map of Napoleon’s campaign, and Muriel Cooper. In the late 20th century, advances in computing enabled designers to collect, analyze, and use large datasets, giving rise to generative and algorithmic design practices.

By treating data as both a creative and critical material, they can shape structure, embed deeper meaning into their work, and at times expose hidden biases or systemic injustices.

In this unit, you’ll not only learn how to translate data into dynamic, tangible objects using technology, but also critically examine what it means to introduce data into the design process. You’ll develop techniques for mapping real-world data into design and harness the computer’s ability to perform complex calculations and iterative loops, enabling forms that would be difficult or impossible to construct manually.

Project 2: Data Sculpture

Choose a structured dataset connected to a social, cultural, or environmental topic that holds personal significance for you.

You may work with existing and publicly available datasets and visualize it. However, you are encouraged to design and collect new data related to a specific aspect of your life or social issue. Possible themes include, but are not limited to, social inequality, cultural identity, environmental issues, or reflection on surveillance.

Using tools like 3D printing, laser-cutting, or hand-built methods, transform your dataset into a sculptural form. Consider how elements like color, shape, size, texture, and structure can communicate your data’s story.

You are welcome to mix and match different materials or use the 3D printed form as a reference to recreate the sculpture in other materials, expanding the possibilities of how your data is experienced physically.

Domestic Data Streamer, Design Museum of Barcelona.

Recommended Readings

• D’Ignazio, Catherine, and Lauren F. Klein. 2020. Data Feminism.
• Lupi, Giorgia, and Stefanie Posavec. 2016. Dear Data.
• Pater, Ruben. 2021. CAPS LOCK: How Capitalism Took Hold of Graphic Design, and How to Escape from It.
• Hall, Peter A., and Patricio Dávila. 2022. Critical Visualization: Rethinking the Representation of Data.
• The W.E.B. Du Bois Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. 2018. W. E. B. Du Bois's Data Portraits: Visualizing Black America.

Workshop 2

• TBD

Week 11-15

Daniel Rozin, Mechanical Mirrors.

Building on our work with data, this unit introduces live input as real-time data gathered from sensors and devices to create interactive, responsive systems.

The invention of participatory systems and feedback-centered communication models, from early cybernetic experiments by Norbert Wiener to Douglas Engelbart’s vision of augmenting human intellect through collaborative computing, gives birth to the field of interaction design. This shift moves communication design beyond static, top-down messaging to dynamic, dialogic processes that emphasize agency, social context, and co-creation.

Interaction design emerges as a critical practice concerned not only with technological innovation but with the politics of participation, empowerment, and how technology mediates human relationships in complex social systems.

In this unit, you will learn to think in interaction and build time-based designs that respond to real-world inputs. You’ll investigate how embodied interaction challenges traditional design practices by introducing unpredictability, immediacy, and physical presence into both digital and physical forms. We’ll consider how designers can work with live, sensor-generated data to create responsive systems that evolve over time and foster connection and community through design.

Project 3: Community Protocol

Design and program an interactive, time-based system that fosters ongoing participation from a community of your choice. Your project will establish a dynamic protocol—a set of rules and interactions—that shapes how the community engages with your design. The experience will unfold over time through real-time input from multiple participants or environmental factors.

Consider the environment where your system will be situated. Whether it’s a public space, park, classroom, gallery, or another setting, select input devices (such as keyboards, mouse, camera, microphone, motion sensor, light, sound, or touch) that best capture meaningful interactions within that context.

Your design should respond dynamically as the community interacts, generating evolving visual or physical outputs that reflect the collective input over time. Document how the work changes throughout the day, from the installation’s start to its deinstallation. Considering different time spans and documentation intervals. Reflect on how your system fosters a sense of togetherness and actively encourages community participation.

Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin, Listening Post.

Recommended Readings

• DiSalvo, Carl. 2012. Adversarial Design
• Benjamin, Ruha. 2020. Race After Technology.
• Haraway, Donna. 1991. “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century.” In Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature, 149–181. New York: Routledge, PDF.
• Galloway, Alexander R. 2004. Protocol: How Control Exists After Decentralization. Cambridge.
• Giampietro, Rob. 2021. I Am a Handle.

Workshop 3

• What is physical computing?
• What can we do?
• What can we not do?
• What bad things can come out?
• What good things can come out?

Your performance will be evaluated on its own merits, not based on comparing your work with other students. We focus on your understanding of concepts and your ability to apply them in a meaningful way. We don’t prioritize technology efficiency or professionalism as the primary criteria. We value the learning process and recognize that everyone progresses at their own pace.

Should you have any inquiries regarding grading, please don't hesitate to reach out to the faculty directly.

Active participation is essential and comprises 25% of the final grade. This includes, but is not limited to: keeping up with readings, assignments, and projects, contributing meaningfully to class discussions, active participation in group work, and coming to class regularly on time.

While attendance is one aspect of active participation, absence from a significant portion of class can compromise successful attainment of the course objectives. We consider a significant portion to be three weeks or 20% of class time. Lateness or early departure from class may be recorded as one full absence. We encourage you to let us know as much in advance as possible if you need to miss a class, are running late, or need to leave class early. More than three uncommunicated absences, late arrivals, or early departures will result in a deduction from your final grade.