Putting Something into Play – Reflections on Video as a Creative Tool in Design

DS 78: Proceedings of the 16th International conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (E&PDE14), Design Education and Human Technology Relations, University of Twente, The Netherlands, 04-05.09.2014

Year: 2014
Editor: Erik Bohemia, Arthur Eger, Wouter Eggink, Ahmed Kovacevic, Brian Parkinson, Wessel Wits
Author: Vibeke, Sj
Series: E&PDE
Institution: Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Norway
Section: Using Technical Tools in Design
Page(s): 549-554
ISBN: 978-1-904670-56-8

Abstract

In design, video is typically used as a tool for presentation, instruction, or observation. The use of video for creation and discovery as part of the design process is new terrain. This article explores how video as a tool for creation facilitates artistic expression and critical thinking in design education, and consequently how it “puts something into play”.
This study reports the experiences from a product design course that involved the exploration of the potential of the video medium. One of the videos produced during this course is analyzed through an initial description and further explored by semi-structured interviews with the participating students. One unpredicted outcome of the analysis was that the projects incorporated the element of play on multiple levels. Furthermore, it suggests that the use of video as a sketching tool to explore a design task encourages an experimental approach, and testing of ideas in real-life situations with real people. The study mainly reflects on how video as a tool of creation can put things into play in design education. This is explored in light of aesthetic theory, with particular reference to Hans Georg Gadamer’s idea of art as play in his book Truth and Method [1]. The findings suggest that the unexpected effects of putting something into play support discovery of things not already known.

Keywords: play, video, aesthetic practice, design, art, education

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