Visual Thinkingand the Art of Research and Writing

Stacy Brinkman, M.A., M.L.S.Diane Fellows, M.F.A., M.Arch.

Miami University

• 2 or 3 year program• 12-16 per cohort

• Design and Research Methods course

• Thesis: conference-ready paper + design

• Librarian as embedded partner

Context: M. Arch program at Miami University

I don’t know what to write about

I’ve never really done serious research before

Writing doesn’t come naturally to me

I’m excited to do something original, but I don’t know what that will be

How do I know if my topic is any good?

Common anxieties

How can

visual tools and methods encourage

design students to engage in the entire

research and writing process?

Familiar Practices:Sketch notebooks, media,hand drawings, posters

• 10 minute freewrites• 40 per semester• “Low-stakes” writing

• In-class freewrites are shared: developing voice

“Sketch” writing

Man on the Moon (1999)

Milos Forman, directorScott Alexander &Larry Karaszewski, script

CAST:Jim CarreyDanny DeVitoCourtney LovePaul Giamatti

Who is your audience?

Graffiti Boarding

Public, interactive concept maps and notes/sketches

PreliminaryPosters

overGraffitiBoards

“Final” posters in gallery

Sensory / feeling space / non-visual… Is this about haptic design?

What makes something “playful?”

See Michel de Certeau’s Practice of Everyday Life

Does atemporal = timeless?

How are these ideas [of empathy and community] necessarily related?

Liminal space as a PAUSE… “Ma” 間 　 in Japanese theater

Some student questions from poster/graffiti boards

Student/faculty “soiree”

Research process of graffiti boarding