Wizinsky will share experiences with integrating different research and design processes into collaborative and community-engaged research and design projects. These projects are typically aimed at building immersive, communicative, and social urban experiences. Through a variety of case studies, Wizinsky will discuss how different—and sometimes competing—methods from Participatory Design, Speculative Design, and UX/User-Centered Design have been used to engage communities in studying the past to produce new public histories, engaging with public space and public data, and studying history at the scale of the neighborhood in order to collectively imagine healthier futures. From public history exhibitions to augmented reality experiences with climate data, these projects place designing at the center of social, cultural, and political discourses of place-based communities.

Participants can expect to learn about:

• the idea of “translational research,” how research activities can be designed to provide valuable knowledge, skills, or experiences for its participants, not just study subjects
• how different, sometimes competing, design mindsets can be convened within collaborative research and/or design projects
• Participatory Design, Speculative Design, UX/User-Centered Design, and Strategic Foresight approaches to research and design as complements to each other
• how core principles and competencies of graphic design transcend the flatness of their origins and contribute to making multi-dimensional “worlds”

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About Matthew

Matthew Wizinsky is a designer, researcher, educator, and lecturer on contemporary design practices and research. He was formally trained in graphic design at the University of Cincinnati (BS), the University of Illinois at Chicago (MFA), and the Institute of Visual Communication (FHNW) in Basel, Switzerland, and holds professional certification in Strategic Foresight from the University of Houston. Wizinsky has over 20 years of professional design experience, ranging from digital start-ups to international commercial agencies to in-house studios for major cultural institutions. In 2015, Wizinsky joined the faculty of the Ullman School of Design at the University of Cincinnati, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in design research methods, communication design, user-experience design, strategic foresight, generative design, speculative design, and design history. Wizinsky’s research, scholarship, and creative works have been awarded, exhibited, published, and presented internationally, including the Venice Architecture Biennale (2018), International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF, 2014), Exhibit Columbus (2019), and multiple awards from the Society of Typographic Arts. His work has been supported by grants, commissions, and sponsorships from the Mellon Foundation, Humanities Without Walls, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and the MAC AIDS Fund, among others. Wizinsky is an Associate Editor for Visible Language, the oldest peer–reviewed journal for design. His first book, titled Design After Capitalism, will be published by the MIT Press in 2022.

Learn more about Matthew's Studio Junglecat.

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