EXPLORING MATERIAL RELATIONS IN THE AI ERA
Year: 2024
Editor: Grierson, Hilary; Bohemia, Erik; Buck, Lyndon
Author: Green, Clare
Series: E&PDE
Institution: Institut Superieur de Design, Rubika, Valenciennes, France; UNIMES (University of Nîmes), France; Laboratoire LARSH Département DeVisu, Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France
Page(s): 521 - 526
DOI number: 10.35199/EPDE.2024.88
ISBN: 978-1-912254-200
ISSN: 3005-4753
Abstract
Recent evolutions in the accessibility and widespread uptake of generative AI tools have already affected the way we teach at university level, including in the design and engineering domains. Exploring AI related tools and technologies is increasingly part of formal design study and informal and peer learning. It is however important to place recent evolutions in a longer temporal context; design activity and education have seen a progressive move away from “thing-based” approaches and towards capability, service and experience. Another important evolution that can be observed is the need to teach more systemic approaches, looking at the wider context and impact of design projects. These evolutions in design and design education create a learning environment where the abstract, virtual and experiential are, in some cases, more present than the material and tangible. Unsurprisingly design educators comment on students’ growing appreciation of hands-on activities and on their sense of lacking material knowledge. In the context of rethinking the design curriculum for the fundamental changes that AI will bring to design, the form that the teaching related to material relations should take will also be increasingly critical. We argue that design teaching may need to refocus on the importance of materials and materiality and on tangible everyday material experience, but needs to be reconsidered as part of a balanced and already crowded design curriculum. This paper presents two different “families” of teaching modules that have evolved over a period of five years with a focus on materiality relations, materials and touch. One module family is based around a protocol of careful and detailed self-observation of student’s everyday material relations followed by mapping, sense-making, presentation and group discussion. The second family is related to the hands-on making of small daily-use objects in materials generally unfamiliar to students, and evaluating them both for visual but also tactile qualities. As the two modules represent quite different ways of exploring materials and material relations, they together permit a reflection around forms of tangible/material learning activities that may be relevant in future design curricula. Both modules have been tested with different groups of students, and in some cases have been followed by reflective student reports, contributing to a rich source of student feedback. This paper highlights a number of themes that emerge from the analysis of student and tutor feedback including corporality, sense of touch, material knowledge, awareness of our material relations and sense of agency. These themes are discussed in relation to recent design research literature. We argue that teaching focused specifically on material relations and materials will remain highly relevant and perhaps even more essential in the context of the fundamental changes the AI era will bring to design and design teaching.
Keywords: materiality, material relations, touch, teaching practice, product design