Two Scottish designers are lecturing and working with students April 1-5 at The University of Memphis.
Art professor and practitioner Marlene Ivey spoke Tuesday with 35 students and faculty members at The U of M Engineering Auditorium, sponsored by the College of Communication and Fine Arts Department of Art.
Ivey, a practitioner and course director at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design at the University of Duke, works in design research. Design research is the study of the process of developing prototypes that are to be tested on the market in order to help businesses and organizations better understand the development process.
“My work falls under the area of experience economy and how we experience things,” Ivey said.
There are many different projects she is currently studying. One of these projects is designing the prototype of a dinner plate that allows room for all courses of the meal. It can even be turned upside down to reveal a bowl for salads, soups and desserts.
“I’m trying to look at the way we experience prototypes and models and I’m looking especially at, in terms of the plate, creating a medium to a high degree of novelty to reawaken our awareness of what a plate is and how we use them and observing that,” Ivey said. “Next I will look at (other) models and how they function in terms of how people receive innovation. Simply, what can I bring back to the design process.”
Ivey and design journalist Richard Carr plan to judge students on April 4-5 who will be designing a computerized kiosk, or building directory and information center, for the lobby of the new Fed Ex Technology Center. Architecture and interior design students will be put into teams of two and given 24 hours each to come up with their design proposal. The design that wins has a chance of being used, given that it’s feasible.
Carr, a design historian and journalist at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design at the University of Duke, has written for major European design periodicals including The Guardian, Crafts Magazine and Building Design. He currently writes for a Web-based periodical, Studio International. He will speak to interior design students on April 2.
“I think we’re very privileged to have them here,” said Cynthia Mohr, associate professor of art at The University. “They are very well respected in their country as well as their university. I think they will bring a different face that our students don’t normally see, a different face of design and design history and theory and practice that our students are not normally exposed to.”
Students said they welcome these new ideas.
“It was nice,” said Gautam Malik, graphic design graduate student at The U of M. “She showed that the idea is to paint a bigger picture, which facilitates better thinking in students.”
The College of Communication and Fine Arts Academic Enrichment Fund funded Ivey and Carr’s visit to The U of M.
