The Design Institute for Health's 2020 cohort of doctor designers, the "Three Medsketeers," graduate from Dell Medical School this month. While the world shut down, these students dove in to keep momentum on design that makes a difference in people’s lives.
Jessica Murray graduated with an M.A. in Design focused on Health. This 10-month Master's program offered in collaboration between Dell Medical School and the College of Fine Arts at The University of Texas at Austin inspires change-makers to reimagine health care through the lens of design.
A forthcoming LACMA exhibition, Better Living Through Science: The Home of the Future, 1920–1984, recently received grant funding from the Getty Foundation's Pacific Standard Time 2024 initiative which will help support research and curatorial work on the project over the next few years.
An adjunct professor dually appointed at The University of Texas School of Law and McCombs School of Business, Keegan Warren-Clem, J.D., LL.M., challenges students and residents to explore connections between health, poverty, and unmet legal needs.
Tamie Glass is guiding the inaugural cohort for the M.A. in Design focused on Design in Health in her courses, Designing for Human Behavior this fall and Design Futures in the spring. She made time to discuss her thoughts on design, joy and food.
Design Thinking is a vital tool for the wicked problem of social justice, as its human-centered methodologies are diversity-, equity-, and inclusion-centered. However, the history of Design Thinking often spotlights the work of a few (white and male) writers, crafting a homogenous and linear creation story. As a way to de-center whiteness and craft a fuller, deeper understanding of Design Thinking’s epistemologies, its tenets, and its potential, Cassidy C Browning weaves strands of practices and theories from women of color, feminist thought, queer people of color, Hip Hop, and Jazz. In order to maximize the liberatory potential of Design Thinking, this article is grounded in the current U.S. moment, identifies specific practices to employ, and questions who is considered a designer, what counts as design, and what histories we choose.
Games have an unusual power as an interactive medium. They say a picture is worth a thousand words — how many more might it be worth when you can interact with, manipulate, and get feedback from the image you see? Playing a game is like having a conversation; you put a bit of yourself in, and you get something new and unique in return. This article will look at examples of how games can impact people on an individual and societal level and how a well-designed gaming experience can bring about positive change in our lives. From bringing families and friends closer together and connecting strangers across the globe to making science more accessible and innovating how we teach and learn, games have an incredible potential to change the human experience.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic caught us off-guard, it did not have to be that way. We have access to the two most powerful tools available to us today: data and accessibility. Yet governments still struggled to identify and reach out to the high-risk population. Health records of individuals are available across hospitals, but government bodies can’t access them due to concerns around privacy and misuse. Design and technology can play an important role in filling in the gaps and converting available data into consumable and actionable insights to lessen the impact.
Can virtual reality be the future of diversity and inclusion training? With the power to transport users, VR has the potential to increase a narrative’s persuasiveness. Immersive media can replicate difficult scenarios in which participants may practice skills acquired in training. Three professors from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are using VR capabilities to pioneer Diversity and Inclusion Virtual Reality (DIVR), a measurable, accessible, and sustainable VR-based diversity and inclusion training program.