News and blog posts from our students and faculty

Austin Center for Design alumni Christina Tran recently presented at SXSWedu on the topic of Designing for Peer Learning. Her talk covered stories that illustrate many of HourSchool’s core beliefs. Christina has a great retrospective up, with audio and slides of the talk, here.

On Wednesday, March 6th, Austin Center for Design co-hosted a SXSWedu party with MyEdu and Stubbs. The event – the Design Movement in Education – highlighted three themes, represented in student work:

DESIGN RESEARCH: FINDING INNOVATION
Market research attempts to understand purchasing behavior of a small sample, in order to predict purchasing behavior of a big sample. Design research attempts to empathize with a small group, in order to identify opportunities for design-led innovation. It’s a strategic driver for new product and service functionality.

DESIGN ACROSS TIME
Service design considers how people change over time, and how products can evolve to meet their changing needs. It considers the multiple touchpoints people have with products as multiple opportunities to create engaging interactions, and treats people as co-creators of experience.

NARRATIVE AND STORYTELLING
Technological advancement has allowed even “non-creative” people to tell their story in a way that’s meaningful and engaging. Through rich video, the nostalgia of audio, and simple creative tools, people can claim control over the way they are perceived and represented in online, social media.

You can see some great pictures of the event below. Thanks to Kim Foster for her photography, and to Stubbs for some great food!

Check out this great article about Austin Center for Design’s student work, in CultureMap:

Jon Kolko, creative director of MyEdu (the visual resume-building and jobs platform for college students) and founder of the Austin Center for Design, sees interactive, digital design — that’s apps, online schedulers, content managers, websites, you name it — as the way to solve some of the “gnarly” social problems in our world, from the challenges of elderly care to the hoops same-sex couples jump through to start a family.

Read the whole article here.