A Post about Posters
Every year, I tell myself that I should trek over to CMU and take a look at the masters thesis posters, but it’s difficult for me to just skip out of the office in the middle of the afternoon and drive across town. Today, I decided to do it, and I’m glad I did. There were a number of intriguing ideas presented, and I enjoyed chatting with a number of the students, as well as saying hello to my past professors (and a couple of classmates-turned-professors).
It’s not surprising at all to find that the thesis topics have followed current industry trends. Service Design, social networks, and sustainability were all conspicuously in evidence. I’m not suggesting that these topics were absent ten years ago, but they were a smaller percentage and didn’t go by those terms. One project is centered around self-organization and time management, although the student admitted that she hasn’t yet read Getting Things Done—a to-do for the holidays. Many of the projects were focused on improving local communities, from wayfinding to rehabilitation of prisoners. Interestingly, two dealt specifically with sound in interaction design.
I’m not sure which was the bravest topic to tackle—the prisoner rehabilitation or a service to help divorced parents collaborate in raising their children. All of the projects were quite ambitious, and I’m looking forward to going back for the presentations at the end of the Spring semester.
- Renna Al-Yassini, CPID
Seeing the In-Between: Cross-Cultural Design in Practice - Leanne Libert, CPID
Designing for Women Empowerment & Leadership - Marina Posniak, CPID
Green Clean: Communication Planning for Vida Verde Co-op - Paul Robare, IxD
Sound in Interaction Design - Wei Zhou, IxD
Designing for Collecting - Alexander Cheek, CPID
Salon Classroom Interaction & Visualization - Julina Golze, CPID
The Poetics of Mapping - Christina Payne, CPID
Designing an Organization System for Paper Clutter to Enhance Time Management - Kara Tennant, CPID
Lawrenceville Wayfinding - Kyle Vice, IxD
Community / Embodiment - Melissa Cliver, CPID
SHAKE ! (Sharing Arrangements for Kids Everyday) - Lesley Fleishman & Wiebke Poerschke, IxD
Eco-Lux: An Exploration in Sustainability, Luxury, and Interaction Design - Christopher Michaelides, IxD
Sound, Character, and Interaction: Giving a Voice to Snackbot - Phil Robinson, IxD
Even Ground: Designing a Second Chance
