Participatory Design, over the last 40 years, has begun to infiltrate mainstream commerce and culture in the US. Increasingly our always-on, instant feedback society of users demands a voice in the products, services and environments in which they engage. Many businesses recognize that without user-generated content, they cannot respond quickly and accurately enough to satisfy user needs.
Participatory graphic designers embrace user-generated content by scaffolding acts of amateur creation. Zvezdana Stojmirovic, Professor of Graphic Design at MICA, and I explored one technique for engaging users in the design process during a recent workshop with MFA CommDesign students at the Pratt Institute in NYC.
Test run in the xd:mfa studio at Miami U
WordBuild: A Workshop in Participatory Design
Oily, Fuse, Silo, Burn—Pratt CommDesign students established rules and then co-created letterforms. Rough cuts of the projects below. Finals to come in December.