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(PDF download) DESIGNING FOR A NETWORKED SOCIETY
Fall 2009
NC State University
Dept of Graphic Design
3.0 Credits
Prerequisites: GD310
Tues./Thurs. 10:15a - 12:05p
1. COURSE OVERVIEW
The ways in which we engage with people, objects, and settings continues to change as networked systems weave into every facet of our lives. Most obviously evidenced by mobile telecommunications and social software, “connection” is so pervasive that we expect immediate access to multiple information sources, and we consider ourselves eternally linked to virtual communities and spaces. In his book The Rise of the Network Society (2000)1, Sociologist Manuel Castells points out that, “The network society itself is, in fact, the social structure which is characteristic of what people for years had been calling the information society or post-industrial society.”
At the time, Castells questioned the role of designers within the networked society. The lack of visual vocabularies capable of dealing with networked complexity limited the impact expected of design. Today, however, the complex interfaces we grow to love and hate, in large part, reflect decisions made by designers. As the conditions of the networked society progressed, so too did design vocabulary, methodologies, and skill sets for working with the inherent complexity of dynamic interactive systems. Designers particularly invested in such work hold various designations—interaction designer, experience designer, user-centered designer, interface designer, and information architect.
Imaging III will provide opportunities to expand your design repetoire by envisioning, developing, and implementing moments of engagement within a dynamic interactive system (trans-media). While focusing on the experience of searching and waiting, we will examine the assumptions instilled by networked systems in order to identify novel design opportunities. In the process, appropriate methodologies for working with networked systems will become familar. 1Manuel Castells, The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture; Volume 1: The Rise of the Network Society, 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2000.
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