A STATEMENT OF DIRECTION
by Mari Nakano
Design Research
Design has proven to be a great arena for making statements and stimulating change. It’s an arena that serves as a catalyst for innovation and new inventions. It has always pushed the boundaries of
tradition. For those reasons, design as I have come to understand, fits into the realm of research indefinitely. To me, this is not a question. Rather, the question is more about the specific ways design research has been and will be contributing to the existing traditional research world. How can methods of understanding be enhanced by design and what advantageous results will emerge from design research endeavors?
Research is conducted everywhere – in science, in health, in politics, in education…the list goes on. If research is conducted everywhere, then design research has the potential capabilities to exist everywhere too. As a graduate student, I am not here to just show what already exists necessarily. That would be repetitive. I am here to see where else it can exist. By combining my own personal interests and my ongoing training in design research and media, technology and history, I am striving to uncover new spaces for design research, as well as new spaces for my audience to exist and thrive.
A Focused Purpose
Growing up, I was always taught to respect the land. Nature was as great as any god and could be unforgiving if you didn’t respect or understand it. In many cultures, the land is sacred, and how we treat it is a reflection of how we treat ourselves. I’ve always cared about it, perhaps because I come from a line of farmers and fishers.
My focus as a Media Design student lies in the improvement and practice of sustainable models of business, design and living. I am particularly interested in discovering practical and tangible methods of sustainable living for small communities and neighborhoods. Not only do I want to look into the design of the environment, but I also want to investigate the social aspects that hinder or allow sustainable practices to exist.
One of the concerns about sustainable practices is not the creation of infrastructure or the need for invention, but rather the social acceptance of it all. Sustainability is a long–term investment that’s hard for many to foresee, especially because it is only now in our history that we’ve had to start being this conscious of our actions.
My goal is to spend my studies understanding how we can better integrate our current living spaces with existing nature. Instead of competing with it, how can we co–exist in a way that is beneficial to our ecologies, as well as society? How can existing and developing technologies weave a stronger tie between our current culture and pre–existing or redefined forms of nature? And how can we, as media designers, benefit from a more in–depth understanding of nature, of botany, of biology, of ecology?
Organizing My Thoughts
Since the end of my first term, I have been attentive to my focus and have been sculpting its specifics slowly. My statement is a work in progress and will be evolving as I continue my studies.
Methods of organization include:
– collection of reference images
– compiling written data and research
– attendance of the 2008 AIGA Y–13 Seeds of Change Conference to get a better understanding of the current status of sustainability and design.
– documentation and sketches of my own discoveries
– in progress: documentation of personal encounters, photography, maintaining a more focused blog
