Within the current design-facilitated epidemic of loneliness, disconnection, and isolation, how might design practice create connection, community, and relational ways of thinking about the world? In this studio we will practice designing towards non-human relationships, building community with people, and designing/reflecting in a group to build consensus.

Together we will draw upon discourse around; First Nations design approaches, community building, collage and assemblage histories and theories, small-press, and DIY culture, change management, relationship, and creative collaboration research. Our studio connects to large ideas about how design can/should interact with the world in terms of its ability to create and maintain thriving communities and vital relationships. We will balance this with a very practical approach to building your community of support/practice, creating design artefacts that communicate nuanced relational ideas, as well as working in a team and building consensus.

How do you represent relationships visually in an authentic way that doesn’t flatten out complexity? How might your design practice uncover relationships and deepen them? What does it mean to design towards something non-human? 

These are the sorts of questions that you will explore through your designing, as you make artefacts and work that communicates and facilitates your journey of practicing relationship building within your designing. Together we will demonstrate progress through design work-in-progress workshops, presentations, milestone consultations and peer-reviews. 

This studio aims to co-create an open, welcoming, and generative space that acts as incubator for your great design ideas. As such we will have lots of variety in the pace and approaches. Studio time will consist of:

·      short lectures on relevant practitioners and research. 

·      hands-on workshops on techniques and approaches in collage, assemblage, DIY, small press with lots of making time – as a way to understand and practice theory.

·      studio guests that work in relationship/community/design space.

·      Multiple types of feedback – one-to-one consultation with lecturer, 3-1 small-group, written peer-reviews, milestone feedback presentations, online feedback.

·      Activities such as design sprints and excursions to connect with contemporary discourse.

·      Working towards group outcomes for the studio.

There are three assessment tasks for this studio;

Brief 1 – (SKO) Design towards group reflection and consensus. 35%
Brief 2 – Designing towards non-human relationships.  25%
Brief 3 p1. – Design towards community building – Milestone. 10%

Brief 3 p2. – Design towards community building – Delivery. 30%