Vocational School of Justice
WORKSHOP ON CUSTOM DESIGN
Izmir University of Economics- Faculty of Fine Arts and Design, Department of Visual Communication Design held a workshop titled, “Designing with and for the User: the Power of Ecological Thinking’. The Department hosted Professor Emeritus Jorge D. Frascara from Alberta University, and his business partner Dr. Fabiola Guillermina Noël. 37 participants studies about the impact of the designed objects on users at the workshop.
Prof. Frascara, Fellow of the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada, Past President of ICOGRADA, and Advisor to the ISO and the Standards Council of Canada, and Dr. Fabiola Guillermina Noël, who has worked on the design of materials for people with severe speech and reading impairments, emphasized the importance of user-centred design and design for users with special needs. The 37 participants were divided in six groups at the workshop that focused on design’s impact on people, and worked on design solutions to problems that are encountered in immediate context/environment. The students focused on energy waste and time delays when using predominantly the elevators in the faculty building; traffic accidents due to indifference to traffic signs; false intake of medication by the elderly, and use of disposable gloves in the faculty cafeteria. Design solutions took form in animations, posters, ad designs, and social responsibility campaigns.