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The Art of Ethical Design Michelle Huang ┃ Max Heintz ┃Harley Holbrook┃ Randi Garacci

Art, Design, Architecture, and Community Development

Banksy

Course Description.

Architecture, community development, fine art, and graphic design serve critical functions in society. Whether constructing universal designs that value all levels of independence or employing sustainable fashion, designers shape our world. By researching issues facing humanity, such as sustainability, and underrepresented groups, like people with disabilities, and poor communities, we utilize critical thinking, orchestrate creative solutions to challenging problems, and reflect on new perspectives regarding existing social issues. Projects include constructing model buildings according to ADA standards, sketching and researching sustainable fashion design, and a group community development design project.

The history of modern art illustrates the ways artists, architects, and designers have challenged the status quo, using their creativity to reflect, enlighten, delight, and subvert social injustice, promoting equity and social equality through their work. Through social media, we can reach diverse groups of people around the world. Technologists consult artists and designers who imagine possible innovations. The building process begins with creators. As artists, we have the responsibility to design with humanity at the forefront of our efforts. Design has the potential to make the world more equitable, promote inclusion, and reduce suffering.

This course illuminates the necessity for ethical design. It challenges creatives to explore many options and find the best possible solutions. An emphasis on universality and sustainability will guide future designers to eclipse prior exclusive or traditional approaches to all forms of design and maintain a solid foundation that values social inclusion and ecological preservation.

By studying ethical design, finding innovative solutions to human-centered problems will become the cornerstone of our design process. The exploration of seemingly benign aesthetics such as typography and color can isolate and determine who has access to information and who cannot. As designers, we have the opportunity to leave the world a better place; by using our hands, our minds, and our ethics, we can build a brighter future.

We can build a brighter future.

Course Principles.

Students should have the proper tools to navigate ethical design as they begin their careers.

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Our mission for this quarter is to engage students to think ethically in their design. The design process is crucial to many projects and by including ethics, this allows students to learn how to design at a human and urban scale. By questioning the existing design tactics in our society, this engages students to rethink how designing for the people can greatly impact society and the well-being of others. Students are required to engage in discussions and provide insight based on experiences and/or readings. Students must be prepared to engage in discussions, meaning they must read/watch any given materials before the Zoom discussions.

Questions for the course as you explore and discover:

  • How can ethical design strengthen/build communities?
  • How can we create designs that recognize the complexities of our society?
  • How can we challenge our society through inclusive and diverse design?
  • How can we take into consideration the environmental spaces that our designs are being built in?
  • What is the meaning of social infrastructure and how does it benefit our society?
  • To what extent should we follow through with a design even if we don’t agree with what the client is asking for?
  • Defining empathetic design and how it changes our view of the environment.
  • How can the construction of new buildings help to address environmental issues?
  • As designers to what extent do we need to choose ethics over aesthetics or can we have a duality?

Students should have a comprehensive understanding of universal, inclusive, and sustainable design. With each unit, students should be able to connect each topic with each other and implement their understanding through their own designs and projects. These topics should allow students to recognize complex values, design tactics, and existing constraints that engage problem-solving in their designs.

Learning Environment.

Each individual is responsible for contributing towards the class in discussions and insight. This class is a communal and social form of learning. Each person’s ideas should contribute towards a bigger discussion and each response should be respected. Positive contribution towards the class allows for an engaging and dynamic community where people feel safe to express their thoughts and ideas.

Disability: Under the Disabilites Act and Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973, individuals with disabilities are protected from any discrimation and must be assured the accommodations that would provide an equal learning experience and opportunities provided by the University. The individual must provide proof of their disabilities

If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, you are encouraged to contact both your instructor and the Disability Resource Center, Building 124, Room 119, at (805) 756-1395, as early as possible in the term.

Academic Dishonesty: Cheating and Plagiarism: The University will not condone academic cheating or plagiarism in any form. Faculty are expected to uphold and support the highest academic standards in this matter. Instructors should be diligent in reducing potential opportunities for academic cheating and plagiarism to occur. Students' rights shall be ensured through attention to due process, as detailed on the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities' website. (CalPoly Website)

“Cheating is defined as obtaining or attempting to obtain, or aiding another to obtain credit for work, or any improvement in evaluation of performance, by any dishonest or deceptive means. Cheating includes, but is not limited to: lying; copying from another's test or examination; discussion at any time of answers or questions on an examination or test, unless such discussion is specifically authorized by the instructor; taking or receiving copies of an exam without the permission of the instructor; using or displaying notes, "cheat sheets," or other information devices inappropriate to the prescribed test conditions; allowing someone other than the officially enrolled student to represent same.” (CalPoly Website)

“Plagiarism is defined as the act of using the ideas or work of another person or persons as if they were one's own without giving proper credit to the source. Such an act is not plagiarism if it is ascertained that the ideas were arrived through independent reasoning or logic or where the thought or idea is common knowledge. Acknowledgement of an original author or source must be made through appropriate references; i.e., quotation marks, footnotes, or commentary. Examples of plagiarism include, but are not limited to the following: the submission of a work, either in part or in whole completed by another; failure to give credit for ideas, statements, facts or conclusions which rightfully belong to another; failure to use quotation marks (or other means of setting apart, such as the use of indentation or a different font size) when quoting directly from another, whether it be a paragraph, a sentence, or even a part thereof; close and lengthy paraphrasing of another's writing without credit or originality; use of another's project or programs or part thereof without giving credit.” (CalPoly Website)

Attendance: Students may not miss more than the equivalent of 3 unexcused class-hours without receiving a lowered or failing grade. Given below, these are under the Universities of suggestable “excusable” reasons:

  • Injury, illness, death, or any extenuating circumstances¹ of close relatives (to include but not limited to natural, adopted, and/or in-law children, parents, legal guardians, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren as well as spouses or partners)
  • Active participation in university events (an instructor may require a statement from the adviser involved certifying that the student was actively participating in a recognized university event)
  • Field trips
  • Religious holidays
  • Selective service and military reasons
  • NCAA athletic competitions
  • Instructionally Related Activities (IRA)/competitions
  • Jury duty or any other legally required court appearances
  • Job or internship interviews
Assignments

Researching precedents/case studies.

  • Reading Assignments Journal Collage: due every Thursday
  • Research Paper: due either on Week 3,Week 6, or Week 9 on that Sunday at 11:59 PM
  • Researching precedents/case studies: due the last week of every unit (Week 3,6,9)
  • Group Project
  • Participation in zoom discussions/ discussion posts

Researching precedents/case studies: due the last week of every unit (Week 3,6,9)

Every other week students will be asked to do three research assignments of an existing project or buildings that are related to the topic. This will be a research assignment to help students understand how ethics, sustainability, and design roles are implemented into real-world projects. The precedent/case studies should showcase important aspects of the design to understand how these designers integrate the topics of this course into real-world projects. In their precedent/case studies, they should include drawings/diagrams from either the original designer or the students own interpretation, writing, and photos of the project/building that they are researching. The research assignment should inform enough information of the project/building while still connecting with the current topic of that week. The students’ precedent research will be presented during breakout rooms to understand.

Reading Assignments Journal Collage: due every Thursday

Students will be given weekly reading that requires to be read before the Thursday of that week. Thursday is when the weekly collage or drawing will be due based on the readings or videos of the week. The collage or drawing must take about an hour, should be fun, and relevant to the material of the week.

In addition, writing must be included into the collage to explain the students’ thoughts about the reading and provide some process or conceptual ideas to their creation. Writing must be a minimum of 300 words about what the student has discovered in the readings, collages, and/or thoughts.

Research Paper: due either on Week 3,Week 6, or Week 9 on that Sunday at 11:59 PM

Students will be asked to write a 3-4 page double spaced paper on a topic that was covered in the three weeks prior.

Paper Due on the Sunday of Week 3

A Topic that relates to what was learned in Unit 1 about the universal ethics of design

Paper Due on the Sunday of Week 6

A topic that relates to what was learned in Unit 2 about sustainability ethics in design

Paper Due on the Sunday of Week 9

A topic that relates to what was learned in Unit 3 Designs Role in Community and Public Use

Students will be asked to write a research paper about the topic of their choice using what they learned in class and outside research that they will do. Topics should be discussed with the teacher prior to make sure that it goes with the topics that were discussed. Students should also include their opinion on said topic in a one to two paragraph summary not included in the three to four pages.

Group Project

Students will be asked to give a presentation on a topic they were able to relate to during the quarter. There will be sign ups so that students are able to form groups with others that also enjoyed a certain topic. This will be the final and will happen in the last week of classes. Students are asked to give an oral presentation that:

Discusses the significance of the topic they chose

Why they chose the topic

What ways it affects the world that we live in

How they can relate it back to their own lives

Why this is something others should care and be concerned about

Participation in Zoom Calls

Students are asked to come to every class meeting having already done the reading and be ready to discuss topics. This class is meant to help facilitate conversation on weekly topics so students are able to learn and explore more things about Art, Design, Architecture, and Community Development. The hope is that students will participate in discussion and are able to feel that they are learning and that their own voice is being heard.

Grading.

  • 5% participation of zoom calls
  • 10% collages/drawings or journals of weekly material
  • 25% researching precedents/case studies
  • 25% group project
  • 35% Research paper

Reading Schedule + Assignment Due Dates.

Unit 1: Universal Ethics in Design.

WEEK 1

PDF's are located in the Modules Section on Canvas

Tuesday

Thursday

Reading 1: ADA in Design, Francis D.K. Ching, Steven R. Winkel, and Frank Ching: Building Codes Illustrated Chapter 11

Collage/ Drawing #1 Due

WEEK 2

Tuesday.

Video Yinka Shonibare - How Art fosters questions about inclusion and colonialism.

Thursday.

Reading 3: Alexander Von Hoffman- High Ambitions: The past present and future of American low income housing

Collage/ Drawing #2 Due

WEEK 3

Tuesday.

Reading 3: Noel Carroll- Architecture and Ethics; Autonomy, Architecture, and Art

Thursday.

Reading 4: Another Lens ( News Deeply)

Collage/ Drawing #3 Due

Sunday

Research Paper due for Unit 1 at 11:59 PM

Unit 2: Sustainability Ethics in Design

WEEK 4

Tuesday.

Reading 1: James Mitchell Crow: The Concrete Conundrum

Thursday.

Reading 2: Modern Construction Handbook by Andrew Watz

Collage/ Drawing #4 Due

Week 5

Tuesday.

Reading 3: (William Braham: How Much Does a Household Weigh?

Thursday.

Collage/ Drawing #5 Due

Fashion Project Due: Check three brands of clothing you own. If they are not sustainable, find similar articles of clothing in a brand that focuses on sustainability.

Week 6

Tuesday.

Reading 4: Challenges to Sustainability in the Graphic Design Practices of a Developing Nation by Ginn Assibey Bonsu,Alettia V. Chisin & Johannes Cronjé

Thursday.

Collage/ Drawing #6 Due

Due: Unit 2 Sustainability Project Due: Sustainable Fashion/Product Sketches and Notes. All materials and sources must be noted

Sunday

Research Paper due for Unit 2 at 11:59 PM

Unit 3: Design's Role in Community and Public Use

Week 7

Tuesday.

Reading 1: Community Energy: A Social Architecture for an Alternative Energy Future - Steven M. Hoffman, Angela High-Pippert

Thursday.

Collage/ Drawing #7 Due

Week 8

Tuesday.

Video- Ken Burns, “East Lake Meadows: A Public Housing Story” is a feature-length documentary that will air on PBS on March 24.

Thursday.

Reading 4 Murray Forman, “Space Matters: Hip-Hop and the Spatial

Collage/ Drawing #8 Due

Week 9

Tuesday.

Reading 3: Patrick Sisson, “Space is the Place: The Architecture of Afrofuturism.” Curbed, 2018

Thursday.

Collage/ Drawing #9 Due

Community Development Group Project

Sunday

Research Paper due for Unit 3 at 11:59 PM

Week 10

Tuesday

Group Project Presentations

Thursday

Group Project Presentations

Credits:

Created with images by Gradienta - "Distorted Sun" • Amauri Mejía - "Hands" • Gradienta - "Artificial Nature" • Ales Nesetril - "Follow @alesnesetril on Instagram for more dope photos! Wallpaper by @jdiegoph (https://unsplash.com/photos/-xa9XSA7K9k)" • Victor Garcia - "Bosco Verticale, Milan" • Brandon Jacoby - "untitled image"

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