emliy carr design futures alumni interviews 2011 - jayson rupert
DESCRIPTION
Emliy Carr Design Futures Alumni Interviews 2011TRANSCRIPT
PROJECT OBJECTIVE:
The following interviews are part of a larger project for a third-
year Directed Studies in Design Futures. We have conducted
these interviews with Emily Carr alumni to gather knowledge
about design practices, methodologies, experiences and
advocay, while simultaneously taking the opportunity to
showcase former students of Emily Carr University. The
interviews were prepared with two specific audiences in mind;
Current, the Design Research Journal, and the Design°, which
both are web based publishing mediums for design research
and degree content respectively.
We are excited to share with you the outcomes of our project,
and to create a legacy for Emily Carr, sharing the experiences
and insights of alumni.
INTERVIEW
Bree + Solveig
The following is an
interview with the
2010 Industrial Design
Graduate and Parsons
School of Design
student,
Jayson Rupert.
The interview was
conducted via email in
December, 2011.
Current:Tell us about transdisciplinary design and
what transdisciplinary designers are.
Transdisciplinary design is actually rather difficult
to describe as being a specific ‘thing’. It’s more
of an approach to problem solving which is just
as reflective of the individual using it, as it is
a methodology on its own. I guess one could
describe ‘transdesign’ as a bridge between
capacities in any number of disciplines, providing a
framework to address complex problem spaces.
A transdisciplinary designer is someone using
capabilities from one or more specific fields and
combining them with a design strategy to create
innovative solutions. There are an increasing
number of problems in the world today that do not
have an established discipline which addresses
them; problems which are too complex and have
too many stakeholders to be solved through
just one lense or approach. Transdisciplinary
design is meant to bring disciplines together to
work collaboratively on these types of problems,
developing a common working vocabulary. My
classmates are graphic and industrial designers,
computer programmers, photographers,
environmental scientists, dancers, musicians,
journalists etc. There is truly an amazing mix of
people in my program.
Current: How did you end up applying to
Transdisciplinary Design at Parsons after graduating
at ECUAD? What was the transition like for you, were
you prepared?
In my third year at Emily Carr, I was struggling
to figure out where I would fit in as an industrial
designer. The director of the transdisciplinary
design program, Jamer Hunt, was giving a lecture
one night at Emily Carr about his new program
at Parsons. The way he spoke of design really
resonated with me and seemed to open new
doors to the transformative potential of design. I
applied to Parsons while I was in the middle of my
final year at Emily Carr.
I was more prepared for transdesign than I was for
New York. Emily Carr really helped me develop
Our interview with Jayson Rupert was conducted via email
due to the fact that Jayson is now living in New York while
pursing a masters degree at Parsons School of Design.
Jayson graduated in 2010 from Emily Carr’s Industrial Design
program and is now in his second year of of graduate school,
studying transdisciplinary design.
a strong and thoughtful process in my design
practice. Collaborating on my senior project with
Angela Henderson, a fellow classmate and dear
friend, really helped prepare me for the highly
collaborative environment at Parsons. I don’t think
anything can prepare you for living in New York.
Current: What is the New School Collective? What
kind of curriculum/courses do you encounter?
The New School is a collection of schools focused
around social research, international affairs and
the arts. The best part of Parsons being under
the New School umbrella is that I have been
able to take a wide range of courses. So in
addition to my design studio courses, research
methods, seminars and intensives, I have also
been taking graduate level courses in public health
and epidemiology. There are so many amazing
courses to choose from, it’s hard to choose which
area to focus on, but I chose health sciences to
compliment my design background.
Current: What is it like to take a Masters Degree in
New York? How have your experiences at ECUAD
transferred?
Going to school in New York is beyond words,
almost. Everyday is an adventure and there are so
many talented people around to help inform your
work. New York, in general, has so many experts
in so many fields. It can actually be overwhelming.
While at Emily Carr, I was always encouraged to
go beyond the walls of the school, to meet people
and collaborate. The ability to engage outside of
my comfort zone has been incredibly valuable,
especially in New York.
Current: Tell us about your grad project “Insite” and
how this informed your journey as a designer. What
did your experiences with this project lead you to?
The project Angela Henderson and I did with Insite
definitely changed my life. I’m still asked to do
interviews about that experience alone. I guess the
biggest impact that experience had on me was
around the assumptions we often make as people,
which then informs design. I really can’t design
effectively until I’ve experienced the world from
their perspective. Research is critical to effective
sustainable design. My experience with Insite has
helped me see where my heart belongs in design.
I really enjoy helping people, particularly the users,
develop their voice within the design process, and
developing the outcome to be truly reflective of
their needs and desires.
Current: What does design research mean to you?
I guess to me it means contextualizing myself in the
problem; having the best possible understanding
of the problem space in a limited amount of time.
It’s about being effective, quickly getting to the key
issues through literature reviews and then primary
investigating in the field. Ethnographic skills and
communication skills will really help you unearth
important insights. It’s also important to be able
to make connections and to facilitate deeper
discussions about what you discover.
Current: How do you build trust and establish report
in your design research?
That’s probably the hardest part. Building trust
comes with being honest and transparent. People
can often be skeptical of what your intentions
are or what you want from them. It’s important
to respect that skepticism as being valid. It’s my
responsibility as a designer to plan ahead and
make time for participants or co-creators to get to
know me and what the project is about. People
also want to see that you’ve done your homework
and that you have taken the time to prepare for
collaborating. It shows respect and it goes a long
way with people when you are asking them to
share personal information.
Current: How do you see design as a tool for social
impact?
Designers have an appreciation for scale and what
forces are at play within a given problem space. A
design methodology can map systems of abstract
infrastructures, explore leverage points, and frame
them in ways that motivate people to become
interested and participate in the desired change.
People respond well to design when it reflects their
needs and wants in a way that doesn’t dictate
behavior, but demonstrates an opportunity for an
improved outcome.
Current: What is your ambition as a designer?
I’m very interested in public health and designing
health interventions. I would like to use design
methodologies to help develop effective ways
of improving physical and mental health in the
contexts of aging, privacy, addiction, and human
sexuality.
“Designers have an appreciation for scale and what forces are at play within a given problem space.”
INTERVIEW