Design Jam: Dark Patterns
We recently held our first Design Jam with MA Graphic Design and Visualisation students from Loughborough University. We asked them: what are the changing roles and responsibilities for designers in an era of quasi-intelligent media?
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
DARK PATTERNS
The Design Jam was designed to fit within the MA courses Dark Patterns module and focused on some of the more questionable aspects of digital media tools and services with a focus on AI.
We broke the day down into two sets of discussion and activity. The first session set the scene but was followed a student research session to uncover potential new tools that might empower the students in their future professional practice. The second session developed the idea of integrity in terms of intent and usage of tools that resulted in the students developing a personal media manifesto.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
We had an amazing day. Thanks to the students and staff for showing so much enthusiasm and really engaging with the subject matter. We live in interesting times and it really is up to us to shape the ways that we would like to work with OUR media.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
FINDING MEANING
We are living through a complex time and it’s full of contradictions. Generally we are wealthier than we’ve ever been and yet we feel poor. We know that there is rising inequality but we cannot agree on ways to rectify it. We have access to more knowledge than we’ve ever had and yet we cannot solve fundamental issues. As our media has become more open and democratic, we can all have a voice and yet, the things we choose to say fall within increasingly narrow conceptual margins.
For the fist time in history, we are negotiating with our tools. These tools are created by a specific group of individuals, in a certain part of the world. This group includes those that have attended certain courses that have trained them to develop data driven, digital manipulation. That industry is lucrative and where there is money, there are a certain group of people ready to dive in and develop our digital futures. This group will have certain agendas and we are quite aware that the developers of a very social media might, just might, not be the most socially well rounded individuals.
This is the cultural landscape that a new generation of students must navigate as they define for themselves the nature of graphics and develop communications for themselves and for potential clients.
This is a world where brand is god, where marketing is all pervasive and right and wrong is dictated by algorithms. How do you deal with this? How do we prioritise personal agency and develop meaningful brands that accurately reflect business in motion?
IS CODE THE NEW DRAWING?
Those that have been to art college will be familiar with the mantra ‘drawing, drawing, drawing!’. As our digital media develops and our options for communication multiply, wouldn’t it be empowering for creatives to code? With AI assistance, this is now possible. Could creatives build interfaces and could they design systems that build generative identity systems? We are living through a gap between paradigms. There is the world before and after the advent of generative AI. There are incredible opportunities available. Each time we use AI it has the potential to offer up clues for new uses. This progression will be exponential and it’s important for creatives to be engaged in potential developments.
While industry markets creative tools to creatives, it is up to the creative community to find the ways to use the tools to fit their own agendas, within a broader cultural framework.
DEVELOPING MODULES FOR EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY
Institute seeks to help develop communications across disciplines and across the boundaries of education, practice, institution and industry. The more we share our knowledge and skills, the more we all benefit. We have to take cultural contradictions head on and become more collectively proactive as we build our joint futures.
If you’re interested in joining the dots or you’d like us to develop an education module for your course or business then get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.