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IASDR CONFERENCE: DESIGN REVOLUTIONS · MANCHESTER METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY · 2nd – 5th SEPTEMBER 2019
DRAWING PRACTICE is a collaboration between design practitioners: Lesley Raven and Textbook Studio. This body of work is informed by and explores reflective practice: a process of considered thinking about a specific action or moment that facilitates subsequent development.
DRAWING PRACTICE is a collaboration between design practitioners: Lesley Raven and Textbook Studio. This body of work is informed by and explores reflective practice: a process of considered thinking about a specific action or moment that facilitates subsequent development.
The drawings included in the final publication are a selection of those made by delegates during the International Association of Societies of Design Research (IASDR) Conference 2019. They represent the diversity of expression across the disciplines of design and are a response to the conference theme: Design Revolutions. Within this, inherent norms of design practice are visualised and attempt to illustrate tacit thought occurrences during conference attendance.
The drawings included in the final publication are a selection of those made by delegates during the International Association of Societies of Design Research (IASDR) Conference 2019. They represent the diversity of expression across the disciplines of design and are a response to the conference theme: Design Revolutions. Within this, inherent norms of design practice are visualised and attempt to illustrate tacit thought occurrences during conference attendance.
Special thanks are made to all delegates that participated in the drop-in sessions, as part of the Radical Response exhibition, and the conference workshop.
Special thanks are made to all delegates that participated in the drop-in sessions, as part of the Radical Response exhibition, and the conference workshop.
All of the drawings made throughout the conference can be viewed below.
All of the drawings made throughout the conference can be viewed below.
Lesley Raven is a hybrid researcher spanning fine art, fashion/ textiles, education and occupational science disciplines. Central to this is investigating effective collaboration, interdisciplinarity and reflective practice. This has been undertaken over twenty years, encompassing learning and teaching and facilitating wide-ranging projects with students, academics, industry and community partners supporting sustainability, community resilience, intergenerational cohesion and arts in health. Partnerships include South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, the Institute of Imagination and the Children’s Discovery Centre, London. Lesley is currently an academic within the Arts and Humanities Faculty at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Textbook Studio is a graphic design studio based in Manchester, focusing on image-making, visual identity and publication design for arts, culture and education. The studio has considerable teaching and guest lecturing experience at Higher Education Institutions including University of Salford, London College of Communication, Sheffield Hallam University, University of Leeds, Liverpool John Moores and Manchester Metropolitan University. Textbook has also worked on various community outreach and art projects, working alongside practitioners and professionals from different fields such as artists, academics, councils and charities to plan and execute a variety of all-ages workshops and events programmes with the general public.
The project has three parts —
The project has three parts —
Interactive installation
Drop in sessions were held in a communal space throughout the conference
An open studio environment where delegates were invited to scribble, draw and use mark-making tools to visualise and reflect upon creative practice.
Conference Workshop
A 90 minute workshop with 30 participants was facilitated on Day 1
Delegates were invited to engage in individual and group activities to visualise reflection about design practice and the conference themes. Outcomes contributed to a limited edition publication.
Limited-edition Publication
A4 · 50pp · Edition of 50
Selected outcomes from the drop in sessions and the conference workshop were included in a limited-edition publication constructed in-situ via the collaborative partnership between the facilitators.
The publication was available for delegates to view and take away from the conference on the final day and is available for download.
ISBN: 978-1-910029-51-0
Scroll down to view the project outcomes.
The link to download the publication is at the end of this page.
Background context
Background context
Collaboration and interdisciplinarity are integral for professional working in art and design (Holley, 2017; Design Council, 2018). The multiplicity of participants within any collaboration facilitates complexity due to acknowledgement that there are varied epistemological perspectives and potentially differing disciplinary boundaries to be considered. These characteristics, described by Chick, Haynie and Gurung (2012) as signature pedagogies, are inherent to all disciplines and were intimated by Sims and Shreeve (2012) to be ambiguous within art and design. Further, design practice is commonly informed by tacit practice (James, 2007; Marr and Hoyle, 2016), which lends suggestion for design practice to be explicated to clarify understanding.
Collaboration and interdisciplinarity are integral for professional working in art and design (Holley, 2017; Design Council, 2018). The multiplicity of participants within any collaboration facilitates complexity due to acknowledgement that there are varied epistemological perspectives and potentially differing disciplinary boundaries to be considered. These characteristics, described by Chick, Haynie and Gurung (2012) as signature pedagogies, are inherent to all disciplines and were intimated by Sims and Shreeve (2012) to be ambiguous within art and design. Further, design practice is commonly informed by tacit practice (James, 2007; Marr and Hoyle, 2016), which lends suggestion for design practice to be explicated to clarify understanding.
Tacit practice is a key component of reflective practice: a process of considered thinking about a specific action or moment that facilitates subsequent development (Dewey, 1933; Schön, 2003), which is an ongoing focus of research by Raven (2016, 2018a, 2018b, 2019). Within this, Raven first collaborated with Textbook Studio to support the Manchester School of Art Innovation through Collaboration workshop (Crafts Council, 2016), in which paper was used as the fundamental medium to unite all design practitioners and elicit shared reflective practice. In this subsequent collaboration, paper is used alongside the concept of drawing: meaning a force to effect change, which supports Rodgers (2008) claims for the use of shared mark-making to reveal tacit practice.
Tacit practice is a key component of reflective practice: a process of considered thinking about a specific action or moment that facilitates subsequent development (Dewey, 1933; Schön, 2003), which is an ongoing focus of research by Raven (2016, 2018a, 2018b, 2019). Within this, Raven first collaborated with Textbook Studio to support the Manchester School of Art Innovation through Collaboration workshop (Crafts Council, 2016), in which paper was used as the fundamental medium to unite all design practitioners and elicit shared reflective practice. In this subsequent collaboration, paper is used alongside the concept of drawing: meaning a force to effect change, which supports Rodgers (2008) claims for the use of shared mark-making to reveal tacit practice.
The idea of using mark-making as a means of encouraging the understanding of varied disciplines in design is timely when multi-disciplinary collaboration is becoming an essential part of most design practice (Design Council, 2018).
The idea of using mark-making as a means of encouraging the understanding of varied disciplines in design is timely when multi-disciplinary collaboration is becoming an essential part of most design practice (Design Council, 2018).
Drawing Practice aims to reveal tacit thoughts via visual representations of delegates’ own disciplinary practice. This practice affords explication of opinion about the conference and enabled patterns, similarities and differences related to thinking to be identified, which supports the enactment of reflection in, on and for action (Cowan, 1998). This contributes to increase understanding of reflective practice across different boundary practices (James, 2007; Finlayson, 2015).
Drawing Practice aims to reveal tacit thoughts via visual representations of delegates’ own disciplinary practice. This practice affords explication of opinion about the conference and enabled patterns, similarities and differences related to thinking to be identified, which supports the enactment of reflection in, on and for action (Cowan, 1998). This contributes to increase understanding of reflective practice across different boundary practices (James, 2007; Finlayson, 2015).
Cowan, J. (1998). On Becoming an Innovative University Teacher; Reflection in Action. UK: Society for Research into Higher Education.Chick, N. L., Haynie, A. and R. A. R. Gurung. (2012). Exploring More Signature Pedagogies: Approaches to Disciplinary Habits of Mind. USA: Stylus.Craft Council (2016). Make : Shift programme. [Online] Available from: https://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/what-we-do/ms-2016/ [Accessed on: 26 April 2019].Design Council. (2018). Designing a Future Economy report. [online] Available at: https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/resources/report/designing-future-economy-report [Accessed 16 Jun. 2018].Dewey, J. (1933). How We Think. D. C. Heath and Co. Boston and London.
Finlayson, N. (2015). Reflective Practice: has it really changed over time? Reflective Practice: International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives. 16(6), 717-730.Holley, K. (2017). Curriculum and Pedagogy, Educational Theories and Philosophies, Educational Administration and Leadership. Interdisciplinary Curriculum and Learning in Higher Education. doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.138.James, A. (2007). Reflection Revisited: Perceptions of Reflective Practice in Fashion. Learning and Teaching. Art, Design and Communication in Higher Education. 5(3), 179-197.Marr, A, & Hoyes, R. (2016). Material Boundaries. Association of Fashion and Textiles Courses, Loughborough. pp 21-33. ISBN 9781911217084
Schön, D. (2003). The Reflective Practitioner; How Professionals Think in Action. UK: Ashgate.Raven, L. (2016). Investigating the theory and practice of 'meta reflection': developing skills for higher-order thinking to enhance how learning is processed and organized. Postgraduate Research Conference, Staffordshire University in partnership with Buckinghamshire New University, Glyndwr University, Harper Adams University.Raven, L. (2018a). 21st Century Crafting: Interdisciplinarity and Reflective Practice. Graphic Design Educator Network (GDEN) Conference. School of Design, Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.Raven, L. (2018b). Interdisciplinarity and reflective practice: supporting skill development in art and design Higher Education learning and teaching. SRHE Annual Conference. Celtic Manor. South Wales.
Raven, L. (2019). The complexities of collaboration through a lens of reflective practice. National Association of Fine Art Education (NAFAE) Student Conference. Royal College of Art, London.Rodgers, A. S. (2008). Drawing encounters: a practice-led investigation into collaborative drawing as a means for revealing tacit elements of one-to-one social encounters. PhD thesis. University of the Arts London.Sims, E. & Shreeve, A. (2012). Signature Pedagogies in Art and Design. Chick, N. L., Haynie, A. and R. A. R. Gurung. (eds.) In: Exploring More Signature Pedagogies: Approaches to Disciplinary Habits of Mind. USA: Stylus. pp. 55-67.
Interactive Installation
Drop in sessions occurred throughout Days 1–3 of the conference. Set tasks were posed across these days as prompts to elicit throughts about the conference tracks, design practice and research.
Demographic details of each participant were recorded for each drawing. This is useful to gather data for insights into the influence of these upon reflective practice and visualisation.
There were a total of 9 Tasks (3 per day). Click below to see all outcomes or scroll further down the page to see each task and individual outcomes.
Drawing Practice outcomes.mp4Task 1
Explain the relationship between research and practice, either for yourself or others.
Task 2
Who does your work impact/ influence and how?
Task 3
Consider your creative process/ thought process and try to express through drawing , using the materials provided.
Task 4
Illustrate the collaborative element of a project where you have worked togther with others.
Task 5
How does your discipline interact with others?
Task 6
Quickly illustrate each of the 9 conference tracks to depict your immediate response to each:
CHANGE | LEARNING | LIVING | MAKING | PEOPLE | TECHNOLOGY | THINKING | VALUE | VOICES
Task 7
Where am I (in my career)?
Where am I going (future facing)?
Task 8
Make a drawing that reflects on your micro/ macro perspectives about the conference e.g. the rooms, building, city and outwards, and consider how this relates to you and your practice.
Task 9
Co-design task (5 mins max) - Talk to one of our facilitators about your practice, whilst you draw to interpret.
Conference Workshop
Scroll below for details of the workshop presentation, workshop plan and outcomes from 4 participants
DP workshop_final.pdfworkshop_Task List.pdfDP_A3_DecorativePosters.pdf24 drawings to depict understanding of Reflective Practice used within the Conference Workshop(from a previous series of interviews conducted with academics at Manchester School of Art)
innovation design_worshop.pdfarchitect_workshop .pdfIndustrial design_workshop.pdfservice design_workshop.pdf
Participant responses to reviewing drawings of Reflective Practice created by academics within the Manchester School of Art.
Limited-edition publication
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1M5YNo8Y75_oIBmJ_GmYFsBP-dekOK7tPClick here to download a digital version of the publication.
Drawing Practice: Interactive installation (part of the Radical Response exhibition)
Limited edition publication
RR-catalogue.pdfIASDR-2019_Workshop-Drawing Practice.pdfPage updated
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