Inspire Volume 11 Issue 1 by College of Design Iowa State University

VOLUME 11 | ISSUE 1 SPRING 2021

College of Design

146 College of Design 715 Bissell Road Ames, IA 50011-1066

VOLUME 11 | ISSUE 1 | SPRING 2021

Iowa State showcases innovation in weeklong celebration Iowa State University’s first Ignite Innovation Showcase will celebrate students’ contributions to and engagement with the university’s culture of innovation. Events scheduled April 16–23 will feature the collaborations, inventions and opportunities that set Iowa State apart. The College of Design will play an active role in the showcase. Dean Luis RicoGutierrez and other members of ISU senior leadership will present “On Civic Innovation: Leading Social Engagement,” which will include discussion of the university’s land-grant mission and public-service, social innovation and community engagement initiatives.

Other College of Design events include an online social entrepreneurship ’zine launch; an in-person panel discussion of high-impact practices in service learning, community engagement and civic innovation across the curriculum; a Wearables Design Show virtual community workshop and a live Zoom discussion of the immersive design opportunities the show is bringing to the first-year student experience. Students from every department will engage in the two-day Dean’s Charrette on the Future of Design Education: Places of Learning. During the charrette, they will continue the civic debate on higher education through the lens of the post-

COVID-19 era and explore whether the future of education calls for different learning environments and approaches. We’ll share their solutions for more equitable, accessible and inclusive places of learning on our website and other communications.

Christian Petersen Design Award King & Ann (Wright) Au forge successful careers with complementary paths, mutual support

Top: The family that plays together: Au family band members, from left, King (BArch 1982 / MArch 1985 Architecture), Simon, Samuel (BID 2018 Industrial Design) and Ann (BA 1981 Craft Design). Middle: Ann’s distinctive jewelry shines in King’s merchandising photography for 2AU Limited. Left: Two summers ago, the Aus collaborated on an exhibition at 2AU called 6 Miles Up + Down to Earth. During King’s frequent air travel, he composed photos looking out the windows of planes and turned those images into 32 fine art photographs. Ann designed and made 32 pieces of jewelry inspired by the aerial views in those photographs. All photos courtesy of the Aus.

VOLUME 11 | ISSUE 1 SPRING 2021

College of Design

146 College of Design 715 Bissell Road Ames, IA 50011-1066

VOLUME 11 | ISSUE 1 | SPRING 2021

Christian Petersen Design Award King & Ann (Wright) Au forge successful careers with complementary paths, mutual support

C OV ER S TO RY

wanted to do. I like the noise, I like the smell, I like the torch and the saw. I like making jewelry and getting my hands dirty,” Ann said. “I wouldn’t have learned the techniques that I did had I not gone to ISU,” she continued. “You go to college to get that foundation: how do you bend the metal, score it, hammer on it? And you’re taking other art classes, attending lectures and events where you start to see how you can see. That was an invaluable part of my learning.”

Opposite: King Au selects aerial images he shot from plane windows for a collaborative exhibition with wife Ann (Wright) Au. Above: Ann designs and crafts custom and one-of-a-kind jewelry in her studio at 2AU. Photos courtesy of the Aus.

By Heather Sauer

DESTINED FOR SUCCESS Alumni find fulfillment through creative work and giving back King and Ann (Wright) Au are the recipients of the College of Design’s 2020 Christian Petersen Design Award, which recognizes alumni, staff and friends of the university for contributions to the advancement of design through personal aesthetic achievement, exceptional support or extraordinary encouragement and service. They were honored in early April during the ISU Alumni Association’s virtual 89th Honors and Awards Ceremony.

When does coincidence begin to seem like destiny? Looking back on their early careers, King and Ann (Wright) Au experienced a series of coincidences that appeared bound to bring them together. The Aus met at a Halloween party in 1989. At the time, King (BArch 1982 / MArch 1985 Architecture) worked for Charles Herbert Associates in Des Moines as an architectural intern/ photographer. He arrived at the party after photographing the wedding reception of one of the firm’s partners. Ann (BA 1981 Craft Design), a professional jeweler then working for Susan Noland Designs in Gold, created the rings for the same couple and was invited to the wedding — “but I couldn’t make it because I was helping to throw the Halloween party!” Ann and King clearly enjoy telling this story, but wait… there’s more.

As undergraduates attending Iowa State University, they were among the first group of students to occupy the new College of Design building when it opened in 1978. Years later, they discovered they each had rented the same basement apartment on Story Street in Ames at different times during college. “We also owned the same piece of art when we met, a little figurative print, bought at the Memorial Union,” King said. “We kept one, and I recently had it reframed as a surprise for Ann.” “That’s another reason we were meant to be together — we both had started an art collection. Neither of us had any furniture then,” Ann laughed, “but we had art!” After the fateful Halloween party, the two began dating and married in 1992. The next year, they founded 2AU Limited — a jewelry design studio and art gallery in West Des Moines’ Valley Junction — and

King opened his multidisciplinary design practice, Studio Au Inc., in a Des Moines warehouse.

Getting their feet wet Starting one’s own business is always an undertaking. The Aus encountered unexpected challenges. Three days after they rented the property in Valley Junction, the entire area was under water in what is now known as the Great Flood of 1993. “In some ways we were lucky; we weren’t in the space yet, just committed to rent, so we didn’t lose merchandise. But we inherited a building full of mold and had a lot of cleanup to do to make it work,” Ann said. King designed all the furniture for the shop and put it on wheels, “great for display but also, tongue-in-cheek, I said we can move it easily if it floods again.” At 2AU, Ann designs and crafts custom and one-of-a-kind jewelry, oversees a current staff of two jewelers — also Iowa State grads — and curates the gallery’s collection of work by artists from around the world. Prior to COVID-19, she coproduced Gallery Night in Valley Junction twice a year, an event she’s eager to resume post-pandemic. Through Studio Au, King works as a freelance merchandising photographer for Williams Sonoma and other major national brands. He also does all the photography for 2AU’s marketing materials. He served as a freelance editorial photographer for Meredith Corporation from 1993–2015.

Making masks King typically splits his time between Iowa and California; he had just returned from San Francisco when the first shelterin-place order went into effect last year. Anticipating the need for face masks, he brought out his old sewing machine (inset), developed a simple pattern and began making nonmedical-grade fabric masks to sell through 2AU and directly to local small businesses. “I learned how to sew when I was 12, and I made our son Sam’s first Halloween costume. I saw a way to use that skill to help others and stay busy. I marketed the masks on my website and donated proceeds to the food bank,” King said. With some pandemic restrictions being eased and COVID-19 vaccinations ramping up nationwide, King flew to San Francisco at the beginning of March and resumed work on merchandising projects.

Finding their paths Both Ann and King credit their Iowa State education with providing exposure to a range of disciplines and a focus on foundational knowledge. “I thought I wanted to be a ceramic artist until I took my first metals class with (the late art and design professor emeritus) Chuck Evans and knew that’s what I

Two multidisciplinary faculty helped set King on the path toward a career in photography: the late architecture professor emeritus M. J. Kitzman, an accomplished artist whose paintings are in public and corporate collections; and University Professor emeritus Steven Herrnstadt, a renowned photographer, metalsmith and entrepreneur who taught in three departments during his College of Design tenure. “Even though I had no training, they supported my work on three Focus grant projects (exploring photography),” King said. “If you wanted to try something different, they let you do it.” When he founded Studio Au, “I basically had no idea how to run a photo business, but by then I knew I didn’t want to be an architect. I can’t sit still long, so that drafting table thing didn’t work,” King said. “Photography is perfect. I don’t have to stay in one place and I can multitask, but it also involves aesthetic sense and creative problem solving — things I began to develop at Iowa State.”

Designing differently King notes that he and Ann “work similarly but at a different scale. We both create things. Hers are tangible like a ring or a necklace. Mine are megapixels of information on a server.” King is known as a master of lighting. He is often asked to make an indoor space look like the scene is outside or a windowless room look like the sun is shining in. He is adept at creating composites of locations, structures and furnishings that exist only in that utterly convincing image of a beach house in Cancun or a dining room in Colorado.

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Flexible curriculum Design Dialogues was not simply “an interesting after-school exercise,” Rongerude said. The curriculum that resulted is intended for community organizations anywhere that are actively looking to engage with their youth. It’s available for free through ISU Extension and Outreach. “Time, commitment, creativity and passion are really what’s needed to drive and implement this effort,” Greder said. Frankie Torbor (BS 2016 Community & Regional Planning / BDes 2016 Interdisciplinary Design), Tanatswa Tavaziva (BS 2015 Community & Regional Planning) and two elementary education majors from the School of Education served as peer facilitators on the project.

complement existing efforts and provide a system of frameworks and processes.

inspire

“Some things are common across time, but the context of people’s lives changes,” Greder said. “There’s a lot of variance in context across the state of Iowa, and not even rural versus urban but within urban, contexts are different. The more local you can get data, the more you can fine-tune your practice.”

Newsletter Staff

Following the workshops, youth put together reports and presentations and led community tours to show their intended audiences what they envision for their neighborhoods and communities, an important exercise to help youth “become familiar with the process of speaking to power,” Rongerude said.

The Design Dialogues curriculum

However, Greder said, “It’s up to those with the privilege of receiving this information to actually take that and do something with it.”

Torbor, now is available for free through ISU Extension and Outreach. the housing development This project received coordinator for Project for Pride in Living funding from the College of Human in Minneapolis, says the program was Sciences collaborative intramural valuable not only to apply what he was seed grant program, Department of learning in the classroom at the time Community and Regional Planning, ISU but to gain experience in research as an 4U Promise, ISU Extension and Outreach undergraduate student. Community and Economic Development “This was my first taste of the community program and the Neighborhood Project. engagement part of the planning process,” he said. “It sounds cliché, but young people are the future, and it’s important to engage them at that stage because they’re benefiting from and experiencing what’s offered in their neighborhoods and towns for years to come.”

Local data With a rise in youth activism and community engagement this past year, Greder points out that the Design Dialogues project is meant not to discount change that is already occurring but to

Inspire is published twice per year by the Iowa State University College of Design and is mailed to more than 18,000 alumni and friends.

Editor Heather Sauer Writers Jeff Budlong, Chelsea Davis, Meg Grice, Heather Sauer Photographers King Au, Cameron Campbell, Raviv Cohen Photography, Marcela Grassi, Julie Irish, Taekyeom Lee, Jane Rongerude Graphic Designer Alison Weidemann Contact Us 146 College of Design 715 Bissell Road Iowa State University Ames, IA 50011-1066 inspire@iastate.edu design.iastate.edu Connect With Us facebook.com/CollegeofDesign Instagram: @isucollegeofdesign LinkedIn: Iowa State University – College of Design Alumni Updates Have you married, moved, changed jobs, published or exhibited your work or earned an award? Let us know at http://www.design.iastate.edu/ alumni/share-your-news/. On the Cover Ann (Wright) Au and King Au photographed at 2AU Limited in Valley Junction, West Des Moines, by architectural photographer and friend Cameron Campbell (BArch 1997 / MArch 2003 Architecture), senior associate dean and associate professor of architecture. Iowa State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, ethnicity, religion, national origin, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, sex, marital status, disability, or status as a U.S. Veteran. Inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies may be directed to Office of Equal Opportunity, 3410 Beardshear Hall, 515 Morrill Road, Ames, Iowa 50011, Tel. 515 294-7612, Hotline 515-294-1222, email eooffice@iastate.edu

C OV ER S TO RY

By Heather Sauer

King opened his multidisciplinary design practice, Studio Au Inc., in a Des Moines warehouse.

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complement existing efforts and provide a system of frameworks and processes.

inspire

Newsletter Staff

The Design Dialogues curriculum

However, Greder said, “It’s up to those with the privilege of receiving this information to actually take that and do something with it.”

Local data With a rise in youth activism and community engagement this past year, Greder points out that the Design Dialogues project is meant not to discount change that is already occurring but to

Inspire is published twice per year by the Iowa State University College of Design and is mailed to more than 18,000 alumni and friends.

VOLUME 11 | ISSUE 1 | SPRING 2021

“Last year my team and I were asked to create the look of a holiday meal in Vale. The client provided a background, and I looked at it and did the reverse engineering to make everything believable, from the lighting to the merchandise,” King said. In contrast, Ann’s work is very intimate. “It creates an heirloom for someone. You have to dive into that person to be able to pull out what it is that would work the best for them,” she said. “I used to struggle with the whole idea that I’m not doing anything to change the world, and then I realized I am — I’m changing a lot of people’s lives by helping them feel happier. Taking a grandmother’s ring and making something new for the next generation. Designing a unique piece that speaks to the wearer. Creating things that fulfill the need for joy.”

Giving back The Aus have put a lot back into Iowa State as alumni. They’ve provided support to University Museums, and to the College of Design through donations of photography equipment and other materials. They have served on advisory councils to help advance their former departments and the college as a whole. Recently, they established the Design United Award (see sidebar). “Working so close to the university and being successful in our fields, we enjoy being resources for students and faculty. We’re proud of our ISU background,” Ann said. Ann has shared her insights into life beyond college with seniors in integrated studio arts and often speaks with students in art and visual culture professor Joe Muench’s (BA 1984 Craft Design) metals studio. She regularly hires graduates to work with her at 2AU.

DESIGN UNITED AWARD Aus establish scholarship to support diversity, inclusion and social justice King and Ann (Wright) Au recently created the Design United Award, a new scholarship that facilitates students’ creative contributions to diversity, inclusion and social justice within the College of Design, Iowa State University and the greater design community. “We’re offering students the opportunity to explore their gender identity, race, ethnicity and cultural heritage and connect that with their creativity in whatever way they choose,” King said.

King hopes to serve as a role model for those students still searching for their career path. His advice?

Applicants will submit proposals that outline their project and how it realizes the goals of the award. “It will be really interesting to see how they interpret and incorporate diversity and justice into their design or art,” Ann said.

“Don’t be afraid to break out of the mold. I think the academic environment is suited for that — you can explore different paths. You can say you don’t know, try something new, change your course,” he said. “I didn’t go to photography school, yet I’ve made a career out of it all these years. And I still use my architectural skills. College is exciting. Enjoy it!”

“My family escaped World War II and Communism in the 1940s, moving from mainland China to what was then Britishoccupied Hong Kong,” King recounted. “From a very young age, I heard horror stories of hardship and starvation, and how my dad helped many of our relatives establish themselves in Hong Kong. He never said no to helping people, even strangers.

“His actions were early influences on me, although I never realized it until much later.” The Aus felt compelled to act now, in light of the escalating violence against BIPOC and LGBTQIA communities and the backlash against Asians since the pandemic began. They hope the scholarship will empower students to address issues of racial, gender and socioeconomic inequity through their work. “It’s the right time to create this kind of award,” said Ann. “With the increased media efforts to highlight [underrepresented] businesses, artists and designers, we’re being exposed to people who are working in more inclusive ways as well as integrating issues of climate change, COVID-19 and other concerns. This is a way to help students who want to contribute.” King continued, “We’re a very small company, and we hope others will be inspired to support the college to increase the impact for students. Throw a small rock in a big pond, and see the ripples.” 3

I NI N T ER NNAT T ER ATI O I ONNAALL SCTOULDLIAOB O R AT I O N

By Heather Sauer By Heather Sauer

NAPOLEON & THE MY TH OF ROME Spring option studio helps inspire international exhibition Napoleon Bonaparte never visited Rome. Nevertheless, the French emperor declared it his Italian capital and had grand visions of transforming the city into another Paris. Napoleon and the Myth of Rome, an exhibition from February–May at the Trajan’s Market Museum of Imperial Fora, commemorates the bicentenary of Napoleon’s death through an exploration of his relationship with the Classical world and Rome. The exhibition grew from an idea by museum curator Simone Pastor,who shared it with friend and colleague Simone Bove, a partner in -wise design and an interior design instructor with the Iowa State University College of Design Rome Program. To help develop concepts for the show and introduce students to exhibition design, Bove developed a spring 2020 option studio with three College of Design faculty who had taught a similar 4

studio in 2019: graphic design associate professor Andrea Quam (BFA 1997 Graphic Design), interior design assistant professor of practice Mike Ford (BFA 1992 Interior Design) and industrial design assistant professor Pete Evans (BArch 1995 Architecture / Certificate 2014 Human Computer Interaction / MID 2017 Industrial Design). “Although we envisioned it as a real possibility, there was no certainty the show would happen,” Bove said. “The primary goal was to provide students a chance to design for a real client.” A unique component of the studio was a five-day field trip to Rome. During their whirlwind visit, students toured nearly a dozen different museums, including the Trajan’s Market Museum. They met with Pastor and Bove and other exhibition designers, curators and heritage experts to learn about exhibition design and get a deeper sense of Rome’s history and culture as well as Napoleon’s connection with the city.

Shifting online Upon their return from Rome, students worked in multidisciplinary teams to develop exhibition concepts, including overall theme, wayfinding, display, identity and branding. Bove and Pastor planned to travel to Ames for final reviews and to select top designs for exhibit at the Trajan’s Market Museum in May. When COVID-19 sent Italy into lockdown and Iowa State moved to online-only instruction last March, the studio continued virtually. The shift online had unexpected benefits, as other professionals from Italy could join the final presentations and share feedback. Of the six projects, two were awarded a tie for first place and one second place. At the time, museums in Italy were closed, and it wasn’t possible to showcase the students’ proposals. But their work inspired Pastor to pursue creation of an actual exhibition telling the story of Napoleon’s relationship with Rome.

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Selecting the team

Defining the space

Last fall, Pastor informed Bove that the museum director had accepted his proposal for the Napoleon exhibition, which they hoped to install in December.

Napoleon and the Myth of Rome is divided into three main sections tracing the French emperor’s relationship with Classical antiquity; with Italy and Rome; and with the art and architecture of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome.

“They needed to move quickly in

Because the museum itself is in a historical monument and houses a permanent collection from the Imperial Fora of Rome, the Napoleon exhibition had to work within that context, Bove said. “The main task was ensuring the temporary exhibition is readable by the visitor as distinct from the permanent collection,” he said. “We solved that problem by using one color for both horizontal and vertical planes. When visitors find themselves on a blue platform with blue walls, they know they’re in the temporary show.”

Opposite: The exhibition logo features a "glitchy" image of Napoleon, symbolizing that he never made it to Rome. Graphic by Daniel Berja. Above: Simone Bove surveys the completed installation at Trajan's Market Museum of Imperial Fora. Photo © Marcela Grassi.

producing the show,” said Bove. “They asked if my office could design the exhibition. I suggested we involve ISU graphic design students from the top teams identified last spring.” Bove contacted Quam, who asked which group’s work had impressed Pastor the most. As it happened, a member of that team — Daniel Berja (BFA 2020 Graphic Design) — was both available and wellsuited for the job. “I’d had Daniel in several classes and was familiar with his work. He’s detailoriented and a great designer,” Quam said. “This was an opportunity for me to support Daniel in his transition to professional practice as his mentor on a significant international project.” Pastor, Bove, Quam and Berja met weekly over Zoom to define the graphic design principles for the show, while Bove and -wise design continued working on the exhibition design. New pandemic restrictions in Italy delayed the show’s opening, providing a few more weeks to finalize the design.

Berja and Quam proposed a palette of white, gold and green to complement the blue. For the bilingual titles and descriptions, the Italian text is white and the English is gold, “which still pops against the blue but is secondary in hierarchy if the same size,” Berja said.

Symbols speak Several elements of the project Berja’s team created last spring were further developed and adapted for the Trajan’s Market Museum show. “The logo, icons and other graphics are based on a grid system so they all fit together as a unit,” Berja said. “We created an image of Napoleon’s face with lines through it so it looks like a glitch; I tweaked it so it’s even glitchier and more dynamic. The letterforms for the word

‘Napoleone’ in the title also came from the grid system.” Napoleon used the bee as a symbol of immortality and imperial power. Expanding on his team’s proposal, Berja made the bee (inset) a key component of the show’s identity, repeating it throughout the wall panels. In addition to the bee, Berja and Quam created 14 specific icons for main and sub-sections to orient visitors within the space. Another key element of the exhibition is found in the museum’s central atrium, where -wise design created an abstract boulevard installation representing Napoleon’s unrealized vision for Rome. “The boulevard is shown as a nondimensional fragment in a play on reflections that enhance its symmetry and boundless perspective,” Bove said. “We built the installation as a metaphor for the relationship between Napoleon and Rome, a city he idealized and dreamed of transforming but never saw with his own eyes.”

Design with impact Despite the pandemic and limited museum hours, attendance has been good, Bove said, and the show may be extended into the summer. “It demonstrates that nothing can stop us from doing things well with passion, commitment and professionalism,” Bove said. “Daniel and Andrea were extraordinary in these aspects.” Berja is most proud of “the team’s collaboration from start to finish. Because of this, everything worked out the way we planned, maybe even better than expected, especially through these trying times.” Going into the project, “I felt like I had the necessary tools, thanks to the lessons I learned from my internship with GHD Partners and my courses at Iowa State,” Berja said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with Simone, Simone and Andrea. They pushed me above my limits, which ultimately resulted in a wonderful product.” 5

AT N AL LSS IO EI N XTPER ERN IM E INOTA T TUU DD IO

By Meg Grice

SQUEAK Y- CLEAN C R E AT I O N S Graphic design students try their hand at 3D-printed soap

Three-dimensional printing has become common in multiple design fields, from architecture to industrial design. Now, Iowa State University graphic design students have a chance to experiment with the technology in an advanced studio taught by assistant professor Taekyeom Lee. Lee, who joined the Department of Graphic Design last August, is a multidisciplinary designer and educator who explores unconventional methods of creating multidimensional type, graphics and designed objects with materials and techniques unique to typography and graphic design. One of his latest research projects, “Tangible Type,” translates digital type into a tangible typographic form using three-dimensional printing. “This materialized type amplifies visual 6

and physical interactions by providing engaging tactile experiences,” Lee said. He began experimenting with 3D printing alternative materials, such as soap and candle wax, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last spring as a way to make something positive out of a world turned upside-down, he said. He found that soap was easy and fun to work with. After making prototypes at home for a few weeks and posting the process to his Instagram and YouTube channel, Lee was invited to lead a workshop as part of the Construct3D Summer Symposium, which helped K-12 and college educators explore ways to teach digital fabrication in an online environment. Lee then decided to integrate 3D printing and soap production into his own teaching.

Translating 2D to 3D Lee began fall semester by asking students to read Why Fonts Matter by Sarah Hyndman, about how type design can visually represent a mood. They were then asked to think of a theme or mood for a bar of soap and develop 15 different 2D letterform designs to represent that theme/mood. Then they redesigned at least five of their letterforms using a free online 3D-modeling software. “I encouraged students to incorporate the third dimension by reinterpreting shapes,” Lee said. “The easiest way to add a third dimension is extruding the letterform to add thickness, but I asked them to go further with various forms. For example, a circle in 2D space could be a cylinder, a cone sphere, a truncated cone, a half-sphere or a paraboloid in three-dimensional space.”

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After narrowing down and refining just two of their 3D designs, students ultimately chose one letterform design to print using PLA, a bioplastic widely used in 3D printing. “Not all designs are what I like to call ‘3D-printing-friendly,’ because 3D printing does not do well with thin

in place during the pandemic, it wasn’t feasible to make the molds in person in the classroom, so Lee recorded the process to share with students online and brought the molds to the studio for a live soap-making demo. Casting the soap involved melting the soap base, filling the mold, cooling and

Roughly 70 soaps were produced, and each student received four soaps. Students also received their original 3D-printed letterforms. One created a refrigerator magnet with it, Lee said, and another made a silicone mold with her original piece and cast extra soaps at home.

Comprehensive experience Once students had their completed soaps, they designed unique packaging to store and display them. While packaging design is part of more traditional graphic design practice, much of what students create in other courses is twodimensional. Working with interactive and tangible products offers broader design experiences. “Architecture and industrial design students use 3D printers all the time, but not so much graphic design students. I wanted them to have comprehensive experience, from 2D drawings to 3D printing to packaging,” Lee said.

Expanded interest Opposite: 3D-printed plastic letterforms, silicone molds and finished soaps. Above: Taekyeom Lee presents his "Tangible Type" research for VCU Qatar's Crossing Boundaries lecture series in 2019. Photo © Raviv Cohen Photography.

lines, and too-fine details on soap will fade quickly. Sizing is also challenging, because 3D-printing software reads files in millimeters, but most students are used to using inches. I advised them on altering and improving the success of their designs, including how to prepare files for printing,” Lee said.

unmolding the final soap. The process was livestreamed through Zoom for students participating remotely in the hybrid studio (offered partially in person and partially online to accommodate reduced density and physical distancing in the classroom).

“Soap-making was the second-mostPrinting exciting demo I’ve done for a class. and casting The first was a live Lee ran one of his demo of 3D-printing own 3D printers peanut butter and (he has seven) at Students' 3D-printed letterform Nutella on bread home on and off for designs were used to create silicone beds a few years a week to produce molds for their final soaps. This photo and opposite by Taekyeom Lee. ago,” Lee said. the 17 students’ “I hope to have work. Then he made a project using 3D design, 3D printing, silicone molds of the typography and edible material in the 3D-printed plastic pieces to cast the soap in those forms. With the safety protocols near future.”

Junior Sayler Rivas, from Des Moines, enjoyed learning about both the product and package design processes. And her interest in 3D modeling and printing now extends beyond the classroom, she said. “This project inspired me to possibly explore mold making for chocolates with my design on them. I want to be more experimental and push how far I can go with 3D design. Working with soap made me realize that you can apply graphic design to so much more,” Rivas said. The combination of 2D typography, 3D modeling and printing, soapmaking and package design gave junior Kira Bliss the chance to acquire new skills while delving into her curiosity about the soapmaking process, she said. Bliss, from Sergeant Bluff, envisions making interactive soap with additional texture and scents to activate the senses. “We weren’t just creating soap for this project; we created an experience. My soap design included braille along the sides. As a commonly held object, it made sense to include those with disabilities in the experience,” she said. “This is what graphic design is all about, using design to create an experience and convey your message.” 7

V I R T UA L L E A R N I N G

By Jeff Budlong

INCLUSIVE E NVIRONME NTS Virtual field trip helps interior design class see bigger picture Julie Irish likes to give students the chance to try something new and help people who have a different background from themselves. In past years, that meant a field trip for the Inclusive Environments course in the College of Design. The senior/graduate-level interior design course was supposed to include a trip to St. Louis last fall to study and design housing for people with HIV or AIDS. Instead, it became a virtual undertaking through Zoom. “They are seniors, and I felt it was important for them to have this opportunity,” said Irish, an assistant professor of interior design. “I wanted it to be as normal as possible — which is why I was teaching in person — and not miss out on the experience.”

Alumni collaboration Irish began planning the virtual tour before the start of the fall semester by reaching out to Iowa State alumni Brian Hurd (MCRP 1997 Community & Regional Planning) and Cecilia 8

(Hernandez) Dvorak (BS 2013 Community & Regional Planning) in the St. Louis area. Hurd is the technical assistance program manager for Rise Community Development, and Dvorak is a city planning executive for the city of St. Louis Planning and Urban Design Agency. “I talked to [Hurd], whom I had worked with before, and I knew he worked with a group that provides housing for people with HIV and AIDS,” Irish said. The course centers on ideas of inclusivity and accessibility, so Irish uses a servicelearning project as the focus. In fall 2019, students developed living plans for young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder. She worked with Hurd and Dvorak to determine what could be done and who students could interact with during a Zoom call.

Zooming to St. Louis Irish split the field trip into 45-minute segments to keep the 18 students involved, beginning at 8 a.m. and finishing at 1:45 p.m., with a longer

break mid-morning and a shorter one before the final afternoon segment and wrap-up. “Sitting in front of a computer all day can be very tiring, so I wanted to find a way to keep them involved and engaged,” she said. The St. Louis planning department provided an overview of the site where the houses would be built and Hurd’s community development group that put the project together shared details. Students took a drone tour of the surrounding area to see the project in the larger context of the city. “They talked about how it had taken years to find the right location and develop it within the city,” Irish said. “Even though our students couldn’t physically go there, they could really envision the space. “The CEO of the nonprofit Doorways that is building the homes told the students more about the people who need housing and why they need it.”

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Irish also tapped into resources from her alma mater, the University of Minnesota, who lead HIV and AIDS educational programs. They held a Q&A session with

“You want the students to be there in person, but even in person you can’t bring all the elements together that the virtual platform allowed for,” Hurd said. “You could tell they were listening and took a lot of value from the field trip. In their final presentations, students were very empathetic in terms of cultural considerations, special needs populations and the diversity of the city.”

Opposite: Wyl Noesen, Lexi Ruroden and Lea Valaitis designed an accessible kitchen/dining area with durable finishes. Above: Class was held in person, and students traveled to St. Louis virtually over Zoom. Photo by Julie Irish.

the students to provide more insight into who they were designing for.

Empathetic designs Working in teams, the students’ final project was to create plans, materials and furnishings for the houses. They also conducted extensive research about the city, community and housing project. Interior design senior Meghan Hartman’s group developed a concept that incorporated local art, a neutral but welcoming color palette, private apartments and communal spaces that would allow residents to feel part of a community while also providing opportunities for personalization and a sense of home.

Advantages Irish said not going to St. Louis kept students from visiting museums or building camaraderie by sharing meals. But also it had advantages she likely will incorporate in her courses even when trips are possible again. “If we had gone, we wouldn't have invited the experts from Minnesota to an online meeting,” she said. “From that perspective, we were able to get more people together than if we had been in person.”

Outcome

The six teams’ final drawings and renderings were shared with Doorways in an effort to help inspire design ideas for future project phases, as groundbreaking took place last November and construction on the first phase is under way. “The research and programming documents were very comprehensive, and they had obviously thought about and understood who they were designing for,” Irish said. “I think if you presented their final projects to another designer, they wouldn't know our students didn’t have in-person experience.”

Meghan Hartman, Eliza Malloy and Emilia Wheeler chose a neutral palette with colors from nature and the urban environment. Bedroom rendering by Emilia Wheeler.

“I designed the wellness center, with a salon, a gym, locker rooms and massage therapy rooms,” said Hartman, from Pella. “Knowing that access to nature aids in healing, we also created a greenhouse and an outdoor garden with a grilling area and seating.” The virtual field trip “provided a lot of knowledge and perspectives from different people involved in the project, including someone who themselves had been in a housing situation like this. They shared their needs and desires and how they might experience the space we were designing,” Hartman said.

Hartman designed the outdoor garden with plenty of green space, a grilling area and seating.

C O M M U N I T Y O U T R E AC H

By Chelsea Davis

DESIGN DIALOGUES

Tanatswa Tavaziva, this photo, and Frankie Torbor, opposite bottom, helped facilitate the Design Dialogues workshops with Des Moines youth in 2015. Photos by Jane Rongerude.

New curriculum guides communities on engaging with youth An Iowa State University project to involve Des Moines youth in discussions of what their communities need has turned into an easy-to-use curriculum for communities anywhere to implement. In 2014, faculty from across campus formed the Design Dialogues project, which sought to identify barriers and enablers to Black and Latinx youth’s academic success and college attainment. This grew from research that shows schools and learning play an important role in community well-being, but are often left out of neighborhood revitalization efforts. The project is led by Katherine Richardson Bruna, professor in the School of Education; Kimberly Greder, professor of human development and family studies and family life extension state specialist for ISU Extension and Outreach; and Jane Rongerude, associate professor of community and regional planning. Design Dialogues developed out of the River Bend neighborhood revitalization

plan completed by students in Rongerude’s graduate planning studio, at the same time Bruna was helping to launch the ISU 4U Promise program — a partnership between Iowa State and two Des Moines elementary schools that provides a pathway for students from those schools to receive tuition assistance and other support to attend ISU. “[Katherine] and I connected over the question of how to bring together physical and educational transformation as part of a comprehensive effort to facilitate resident-based neighborhood revitalization,” Rongerude said. “We recognized youth are critical to these efforts. They’re users of our neighborhoods, they’re a big part of the community, yet their voices are often not represented in neighborhood plans.”

Neighborhood workshops In collaboration with the ISU 4U Promise program, the Design Dialogues team identified neighborhoods in Des Moines

to lead workshops guiding young people through activities to think critically about their neighborhoods, to articulate shared visions for community change and to identify pathways to realize those goals. The workshops in 2015 consisted of self-portraits, mental maps, think sheets, “placeness” maps and more. In one exercise that asked youth to map their “learning places,” the most frequently mapped place was home. “So often when we talk about marginalized communities, they become pathologized, but in fact they’re doing exactly what they’re supposed to do,” Rongerude said. “They’re feeling cared for and taught in those places. It’s one thing for us as experts to say this is how it is, but to see kids identify that for themselves is very powerful.” Greder says the project highlighted the disconnection that youth feel with various systems in their lives: schools, businesses, community organizations, etc.

C OV ER S TO RY

By Heather Sauer

King opened his multidisciplinary design practice, Studio Au Inc., in a Des Moines warehouse.

VOLUME 11 | ISSUE 1 | SPRING 2021

complement existing efforts and provide a system of frameworks and processes.

inspire

Newsletter Staff

The Design Dialogues curriculum

However, Greder said, “It’s up to those with the privilege of receiving this information to actually take that and do something with it.”

Local data With a rise in youth activism and community engagement this past year, Greder points out that the Design Dialogues project is meant not to discount change that is already occurring but to

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Christian Petersen Design Award King & Ann (Wright) Au forge successful careers with complementary paths, mutual support