The New Idiom | The Student Newsletter of the IIT Institute of Design

Spring Classes, 2008

photos by Jordan Fischer

Before last Monday, I’d never seen the entire faculty in one place at one time. As usual, the topics of many recurring classes change from year to year, and there are also a lot of new classes which are, themselves, being prototyped. And so every semester, the faculty hosts this forum to tell us what’s new.

I came in a little skeptical, never having gone to one of these before, but it was very helpful for learning about the topics being covered in each class. Plus, it’s always fun to grill them when you feel they haven’t told you enough. It turns out that many of the topics are quite interesting. Personally, I need very few credits to graduate this May, and yet I was tempted to consider taking some of the new topics. I had to remind myself that it’s important to remember to take fewer classes.

Most of the courses now have descriptions up on SeeID, but we recorded the overview discussion so you can get a little more context if you want. Since some of the information can’t really be shared publicly, we’ve uploaded the video to the ID Wiki (accessible through SeeID, the “Course Overview Video” link). It’s a hefty 279mb file, so it’s easier to just download the whole thing (right-click and "Save link as ...") and skip to the segments on classes you want to learn more about.

Below are the timestamps:

Economics of Product Development, 26:38
Interaction Design Methods, 34:22
Design Languages, 54:42

Design Workshops:
Healthcare Research, 42:22
Prototyping Methods, 27:55, 33:31
Robotic Systems and Business Models, 40:26

Communication Workshops:
Visualizing Information, 53:32
Communities of Practice, 52:40

Product Workshops:
Interactive Systems, 36:43
Social Networking for Economic Development, 30:11

Planning Workshops:
Strategic Opportunities, 47:22
City Social Services, 06:18

Special Problems:
Re-Imagining Healthcare, 59:58
Applied Research, 11:45
Social Entrepreneurship, 13:33

Strategic Design Research:
Public School Systems, 14:57
Emerging Markets, 19:34
User Insight Tool, 22:46
Electronic Learning Record, 51:20

If you’re like me, you still signed up for more classes than you plan to take, test-driving them the first week and then dropping one or two later. This, of course, blocks others from signing up. But it also means that before February 5th, there’s a chance that closed class you really want will open up when someone else drops it. (Sometimes it pays to diligently camp in front of Web for Students.)

It's true, sometimes it seems like it’s too hard to choose, but the forethought is worth it. If you need more encouragement on choosing a reasonable schedule, you can jump to 55:44 and listen to the John Grimes decry the “Crime of Optimism.”

Welcome to a great spring semester, and let’s have some fun!

Welcome, 2008 IDSAB Team

Another year comes to a close, and the Institute of Design Student Activity Board (IDSAB) must be passed on.

We would like to thank everyone who has devoted so much. From the revamped Design Research Conference to the largest International Dinner ever; from the new flexible format of The New Idiom to the ever-growing RecruitID; from this year's rich and diverse Lecturette series to the recently established Charette series for constructive dialogue between students and ID faculty and administration. Thank you.

And so a new set of leaders has volunteered to take IDSAB for 2008. Please join us in congratulating next year's chairs: Bhumi Gajjar, Ruth Nechas, Yuhsin Chiu, Angela Robertson, Andy Conrad, Hanna Korel, Lin Lin, Amy Palit, Kate Pemberton, Judd Morgenstern, Lise Lynam, David Ofori-Amoah, Amy Seng, Amy Batchu, Daniel Erwin, Amanda Wirth, Matthew Gardner and Amber Lindholm. We are looking forward to another fantastic year of student initiative.

Again, thanks.

Your (former) IDSAB Chairs
Eric Niu & Irene Chong

Thanksgiving Lunch at Hugh's House

 It was the first snow in Chicago and my first Thanksgiving with an American family. Breathing the always chilly air on the way to Hugh's house, my heart was warm to join this holiday with ID student from different countries. Hugh and his family's hospitality made me feel like we were a big family.

Surprised by the vivid and warm colored setting, the paintings and collections around the house opened my eyes. The beauty is not only the art itself, but how Hugh and his children made collages and paintings together; they caught the meaningful moments and stored them in memory. Discovering the art and pictures became an interesting way to know more about Hugh, and it also opened a topic for me to start knowing other ID people. All the guests also left our chalk messages in Hugh's blackboard cabinets.

Last year, I watched the food channel for one week to enrich my cultural knowledge. This year, I am so happy to have all these delicious foods with my friends. Before lunch, Hugh told us about the origin of Thanksgiving and these traditional foods; eating cranberry sauce with turkey and stuffing was very special for me.

Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate life and share gratitude. Before eating, Hugh shared another tradition with us, and we all took a quiet moment to think about what we are thankful for. At that moment, I was thinking of my family in Taiwan. And then back to the foods and chatting with Hugh and other ID people; I thank for those happy hours we enjoyed and relaxed in this holiday. Thank you very much, Hugh. 

Leveraging Diversity Charette

Video games shall bring us together. Ok, maybe we’ll need more than that, but it could be a start.

Last Saturday, Improve ID hosted a charette titled “Leveraging Diversity.”  Originally focused on the international student experience at ID, it turned out to cover a bigger arena of diversity, and how to turn potential stumbling blocks into advantages.

Over thirty attendees including students, faculty and staff were divided into five groups.  From there, each group examined its diversities.  As easy as it sounds, a lot went into this analysis. Sure, there is a large part of the community that calls a foreign country home, but diversity goes well beyond that into such things as various professional backgrounds, ages, and even the academic structure here at ID. (Foundation, First-Year, Second-Year, MDM, PhD)  It was interesting to hear that such issues as cultural differences and holidays were just as problematic as classes being isolated from each other. I was forced to think about the problems First-Year students who didn’t go through Foundation encounter, feeling somewhat like an outsider to a group of friends who have already had a year of class experience together.

Next, each group presented their findings, along with simple solutions, to the rest of the attendees. And surprise, the diversity we have is in fact an advantage. In the global marketplace, we need to understand and learn from cultural and ethnic differences. We also need to learn from each other’s various backgrounds and not get caught up in living in a “design bubble.”  Some solutions offered were as simple as establishing a cultural calendar where the student body can get together and celebrate a different holiday while learning about that culture.  But the one theme that every group seemed to come up with is that we need a place to congregate, where MDM’s and Foundation students can grab a coffee and eat lunch; a place to go to and socialize with people from other classes.  And it should also have video games, because they are what transcends every culture and can bring people together while taking the edge off a looming deadline.

If you ask me, the charette was a success.  More people showed up than had signed up, and the faculty was involved as well, showing that they are committed to the students’ needs and improving ID.  Now hopefully we can all get together and have a Wii tennis competition as the next holiday approaches.

Mystery Lecturette

Need a break from the monotony? Did you lose a mouse or lunchbox?

Come to this surprise Lecturette! You never know what will turn up, but we promise  it will be fun. Here are the words of the presenter himself:

Design is sometimes about the unexpected. Come next Tuesday, November 13 to hear a
lecture from a mystery guest you will at a minimum find entertaining, but who could
change the way you think about problems.

Who: Tomas Medina (but who is this guy?)
Where: 6th floor, Nathan room
When: Tuesday, Nov. 13, 12.30 pm

Jakob Nielsen Lecturette

Ever think someone could love business applications?

It may sound crazy to say that you can love your business applications. But, you know that special something about certain products that somehow gets you to fall in love with them? It is this very phenomenon that we on the Microsoft Dynamics User Experience Team are seeking to understand. It is our mission to develop products that go beyond simply being useful and usable but are actually desirable. We highly value research as exemplified by our Customer Model approach which led us to develop Role Tailored design. Now, by learning what is desirable to the people who use our products, we can deliver business applications that are a delight to use and feel as if they were made for you leading to higher job satisfaction and therefore even more enhanced productivity.

Join Jakob Nielsen, Principal User Experience Manager for Microsoft Dynamics, and Safiya Bhojawala, User Experience Researcher in the Microsoft Dynamics User Experience team and 2006 ID Master of Design graduate to hear more about how we think about designing business applications that people love.

When: Thursday, November 8th, 12:30 pm
Where: 6th floor, Nathan room

recruitID is here

Monday, 29 October and Tuesday, 30 October 2007

Now in its 6th year, recruitID is once again poised and ready to provide a fruitful two-day networking and recruitment event. This event provides a unique forum for ID students to interact with design and business professionals and showcase their talents. Planning and coordination of recruitID is done each year by students and is head up this year by co-chairs Alexis Baum and Lise Lynam. The history of this event can be found in our archives.

Representatives from over 25 companies (and counting) will be are in attendance, and several will be presenting and available at open table sessions over the lunch hours. Space is also available for students to present ID methods and their application to solve design problems.

Check the Presentation Schedule

Remember, guys...
With any interview situation there can be anxiety and worry about what to expect and how to present oneself. But I found from talking to other students who have already been through the experience that the most important thing is to be able to tell people your story. Think about who you are, why you are at ID, and where you are hoping to go. Being able to confidently speak of your motivations and goals provides the interviewer with a good picture of you as an individual.

And keep in mind that even if you aren't in a formal interview situation, there are still lots of opportunities to meet and learn about the attendees and companies at the event. Make sure to stop by the company presentation tables and mingle at the cocktail party Monday night. If you see someone wandering around the building, help show them the way. You never know when a chance encounter might lead to that next interview!

Do these things.
• Do your homework. Research the companies that you are interested in and talk to other students who have worked there.

• Think ahead about what you can present. It doesn’t have to be finished work, but should be work that you can tell a story about. If you can explain the purpose and your thought process behind what you have done so far, it's worth showing.

• Have a plan. If you are showing a portfolio (web, printed out, or files on your computer), make sure that it is quickly accessible.

• Don't underestimate yourself. If you are worried about not having a portfolio or a previous design background, don't worry. Talk about the unique skills and viewpoint you can bring to the table.

• Dress the part. Make sure to dress to the level of the position that you want to be in.

• Arrive early. Leave plenty of time to sign-in and find the location of your interview.

• Take your time into account. If your interview is in the afternoon on Tuesday, you may not need to spend a lot of time talking about how great ID's methods are – the interviewer has heard it 40 times already. Explain your take on the project/method briefly and then dive into what you specifically did.

• Have a conversation. Make sure to ask questions about the company and the work that they are doing too. You should also be trying to figure out if the company is a right fit with your values and future goals.

• Share the love. If you realize in the middle of the interview that the position isn't one you are interested in and you know another student that would be a perfect match, tell the interviewer.

• Relax. Don't let your nervousness hide your enthusiasm about the projects.

Mark Dziersk Lecturette

Wed,  November 7th, 12.30 pm, 6th floor Nathan room

Mark Dziersk has recently joined laga, a design and innovation partner to the world’s leading companies, as VP, Industrial Design. Dziersk is a Fellow of the Industrial Designers Society of America, of which he is a 20-year member and has held several leadership positions including president of the organization. He has also served various council and board positions for the Association of Professional Design Firms. 

Throughout his distinguished career, Dziersk has earned over 100 U.S. product design and engineering patents and garnered numerous awards, among them the Industrial Design Excellence Award, ID Magazine’s Annual Design Review Design Distinction, and the Appliance Manufacturer’s Excellence in Design. Dziersk is a frequent commentator on design trends, innovation and the strategic value of design in the national media and as a lecturer at events, conferences and universities worldwide. Currently, he is an adjunct professor for the Master of Product Development Program at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., and was a founding member of the Design Council of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Special Exhibit: Bauhaus to Chicago

Sunday, October 14

Sunday, October 14, a group of 15 current ID students made the trek to the home and gallery of Paul Young and Margaret Fox, in Michigan City, Indiana for a special showing of the exhibit "Bauhaus to Chicago". The cool day and the simple modern architecture of the home placed in an Indiana suburb gave the perfect setting to the collection that combines work from the famed Bauhaus, New Bauhaus, Institute of Design, IIT architecture and local Chicago artists.

The food and artwork were beautiful, but we were not the only guests. Also on hand were distinguished alumni to share tales about the good old days. Through their stories, it quickly became clear that the history of this school, IIT, modern architecture and the city are amazingly intertwined. The collection is as much a result of this as it is evidence.

It is never a surprise to hear from someone older than you that things aren't as good as they used to be, but this conversation was different. As they went on, it became very clear that the arrival of Jay Doblin as director had been a very dramatic and polarizing shift for ID. Where his predecessor,  Bauhaus alum Lazlo Maholy-Nagy told students to "see the world as a child sees," Doblin advocated that discipline be brought to large projects. Still, it was surprisingly familiar to hear experienced designers wrestling with the same issues of intellect and intuition that we ID students deal with everyday.

But the rhetoric of the two directors could not have been more different, and that seems to have led to lots of misunderstanding among alumni, students and the school. While we reached no true resolution, the conversation was enlightening. Each year, more ID alumni go out into the world. Each year, ID changes itself a little more. We need more of these conversations to maintain the community. Maybe, over time, we can convey a sense that the current ID and those of years past, aren't that different. Let this be the first of many to come.

See more of the extensive photo documentation

Gabe Biller on flickr    Eric Niu on flickr    Sarah Jones on flickr    Jordan Fischer on flickr

Why designers should care about philosophy: Uncertainty lecturette given by Daniel Erwin

Tuesday, October 23rd

Ok, I have to admit, I’ve always been skeptical of philosophy.  To me, talking about philosophy is like listening to a drunk guy talking about politics at a party—in the right state of mind, any crazy idea can be right.  With that being said however, I have to admit that new IDer Daniel Erwin challenged the idea that philosophy is just conversation among the elite and/or inebriated.

On Tuesday October 23rd, Daniel gave a lunchtime lecturette on what he called “The Destruction of Certainty.”  After summing up 2,000 years of the history of higher-level math and western philosophy in about 15 minutes, he posed the question of “what’s next?”  If all the great theories of mathematicians, and all the great laws of physicists are eventually proven wrong, then should we keep looking for the answers?  If science is searching for the grand theory to tie everything together, will it ever be found?  And if so, will it be proven wrong in the future?  Or, as Daniel asked, if we find the right answer, then what’s next?  Will science cease to exist if we answer all of our questions?  How far down does this rabbit hole of science go?  Or better yet, does the rabbit hole even exist?  Now we’re starting to sound like we’ve had one too many at that party.

But as I listened to everything, trying to make sense of it, I kept asking, “how does this relate to design?”  The frightening answer seems to be, how does it not relate to design?  If design is about solving problems, then usually the first step is to identify the problem.  To identify the problem, you want to question everything with the same inquisitiveness as a philosopher, but don’t stop there.  It seems the best questions for situations like ours are a lot like the ones the philosophers posed, the ones that challenged the most established ideas.  At what point can you really make breakthroughs if you accept the status quo?  A couple thousand years ago the idea that the Sun revolved around the Earth was status quo.  Daniel was somehow able to make me finally realize that philosophy not only can be applied to every discipline, but should be.

But enough of this, it’s starting too get a little to deep for anything I say to be credible at this point.  I have to get going, I think some people on the third floor are talking about a party.

If you would like to check out the slides from Daniel’s lecture, check out his pdf, or check out his website at http://www.dqe1.com/