Skip to Main Content

MAKE 2018 Design Educators Conference - Call for Participation

01 Dec 2017 (All Day)

Registration for this event has passed

Design educators, researchers, and practitioners know that making is complex and heterogeneous. We do not make as a way to simply sharpen the end of a pre-defined process. We make to think, explain, and conceptualize. We make to communicate, mediate, and teach, to formalize, plan, and provoke, to explore, process, and improve. [Make] seeks to establish a space where we can explore the full complexity of making and its applications within today’s contexts.

For many designers, being labeled a ‘maker’ may be perceived as a slight. However, we know that designers sit at a unique intersection of the arts and social sciences where making serves as a distinct asset to our process. Whether organizing a community, planning new healthcare services, building a website, or speculating on the future, designers have an inherent drive to make as a way to facilitate solutions.

This discussion is especially relevant as the AIGA Designer 2025 Trends are disseminated through our community. The role of making inside many of these trends challenges our traditional notions of the activity and ask us to rethink the role of the designer in an evolving paradigm. Authors are encouraged to frame their work in context with the Designer 2025 Trends.

The conference will be divided into four areas of focus. These areas provide distinct lenses through which we might discuss the act of making. Attendees will be able to move freely between the areas.

Make [ community ]
Relevant questions include: How and why do designers make connections with the community? How are designers facilitating community collaborations? How is design being used to promote resiliency? How can designers navigate the complexities of working—and making—with multiple stakeholder groups?

Make [ curriculum ]
Relevant questions include: How are educators beginning to respond to the Designer 2025 trends? How might we use the act of making as a vehicle for understanding?
What role does making play within contemporary graduate design programs? How might critical making be integrated into curricula? What kinds of innovative learning spaces are educators making to update the traditional college course experience?

Make [ form ]
Relevant questions include: How are innovative form or object making methods being used within contemporary practice? How does process change when making artifacts that bridge physical and digital domains? How is form-making integrated as a facet of STEM or healthcare research? How are designers using form generation as a vehicle
for sensemaking?

Make [ experiences ]
Relevant questions include: How are designers managing the complexity and scale of designing experiences? How can designers facilitate collaborations between the many stakeholders within an experience design? In what innovative ways are designers communicating experience designs? How are designers using aggregation or data collection to inform experience design? How can designers be more accountable for something as complex as designing experiences?

We will accept the following kinds of proposals. Submission deadline for all categories is 1 December 2017. Notification of acceptance and peer-review will be distributed on or before March 1, 2018.

Long Papers (20 minutes)

Submission: 500 word abstract, 160-character ‘Submission Brief’, and a detailed outline. Submissions should be framed through one of the four themes outlined above. Authors will have the opportunity to publish a full paper that will be disseminated in online proceedings. More information about papers will be distributed with acceptance notices.

Short Papers (10 minutes)

Quick announcements of recent projects, in-progress works, current research, requests for collaborators, etc. Submission: 300 word abstract of the content of the presentation/ paper, 160-character ‘Submission Brief’. Authors will have the opportunity to publish a full paper that will be disseminated in online proceedings. More information about papers will be distributed with acceptance notices.

Panel Presentation (40 or 60 minutes)

Chair plus 2-4 panelists on a particular subject related to one of the four conference themes. Submission: 500 word abstract and an outline of how each invited presenter will contribute to the overall panel, 160-character ‘Submission Brief’. Panel chairs will have the opportunity to publish retrievable scholarship (defined by each panel) that will be disseminated in online proceedings.

Posters

Posters can either exhibit a research project, an application/systems example relative to digital scholarship, or a student project(s) that demonstrate collaboration within the classroom setting. Submission: 300 word abstract that illustrates the research/educational value and supporting material, 160-character ‘Submission Brief’. Posters will be disseminated in online proceedings.

Workshops (1–3 hours)

Workshops should focus on making and challenge the attendees to expand their understanding of how and why designers might make something. Submission: 500 word abstract describing the goal and value of the workshop along with an outline of how the time is anticipated to be spent by the attendees, 160-character ‘Submission Brief’.

Grad Student Forum

This year, we are introducing a Grad Student Forum to showcase graduate work from
our community. Current students or those who have graduated in 2016 or 2017 are encouraged to apply. Work will be displayed as posters during the conference and included in the online proceedings. You can submit posters that discuss any course or thesis work. Submission: 300 word abstract that illustrates the research or project, 160-character ‘Submission Brief’, and a draft of the poster. Posters can have a maximum dimension of 40" (wide) x 60" (tall).

Submission Details and Logistics

If you submit a paper proposal that is accepted, we will distribute more details about formatting, word length, and deadlines with your acceptance notification. While you don’t need to write a full paper for this submission, plan on 5000-6000 words for full papers and 2000 words for short papers.

All submission must be in the English Language.

Direct link for the submission form: https://goo.gl/forms/8FuNGO5nmtaglu3p2

Peer Review Process

This conference may address issues of design research, design education, or design practice. Regardless of focus, we expect the highest standards of scholarship.

Once submitted, your proposals will enter a rigorous peer-review process. We will use a double-blind review process.The identifiable information you will include in your submission (name, title, institution) will be removed before it is sent to reviewers. Each submission will be reviewed by at least two individuals. Reviewers will come from the conference organizing committee (minus the individual overseeing the call/submission), the DEC Executive Steering Committee, or from an international call for readers. Borderline submissions may undergo additional review.

Conference Presentation and Proceedings

Authors of accepted papers are expected to attend and present their work at the conference. All accepted submission will be published in online conference proceedings, the details of which are still be defined.

Estimated Timetable

Submissions open: 24 October 2017 Deadline for submissions: 1 December 2017 Notification of acceptance: 1 March 2018 Deadline for full papers: 1 May 2018 Conference dates: 7–9 June 2018 Proceedings available: Summer 2018

Contact information

For any questions about the call or your submission, please contact the [MAKE] organizing committee at: aiga.dec.make@gmail.com

01 Dec 2017 (All Day)

Google Calendar
iCal

  • Indianapolis, IN, USA
Bookmark/Share