Student projects

Design gives the opportunity to improve user experience of both practitioners and patients in field of health. It can improve the physicians’ work environment , the patients’ comfort during healing process, therapy or prophylaxis, or it can normalize everyday life activities of the elderly or people with physical disabilities.. Creating those opportunities requires a deep understanding of patient’s needs, empathy as well as the awareness of dynamic changes in technology, society and economy. This approach must be the basis for the long-term success of designed healthcare solutions.

With long-term practice, based on student work, cooperation with the medical industry such as think tanks, institutions and professionals including medical and other specialists, we will show how we educate our students to become creative, responsible and effective designers. As educators and design practitioners, we understand how important this ongoing challenge is for both the present and the future generations.

Education of future designers requires a specific process which includes:

• research methods focused on user needs in holistic context
• comprehension and application of the rules of ergonomics
• creative application of new technology
• dealing with projects in cooperation with different partners
• looking for ways to increase the professional experience of students and teachers

Selected case studies concerning the needs of different users:

• medical staff: laparoscopic instruments;
• future mothers: device for monitoring the heart of the baby
• elderly people: everyday objects like scales, sink or bench
• family who takes care of an ill relative: elderly care system.

The projects open discussion on questions:

• How to think about health in present and future time?
• What is the most important in education of designers in this specific domain?

Fest Design – design & science includes a conference and specialist workshops bringing together the community of scientists, researchers and designers (Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, 20-22 April 2016), organized by the KILO Koło Naukowe Projektowania Graficznego.

The subject matter of the conference concerned the role of applied visual means in the presentation of scientific content: how they can support scientific projects and their progress as well as to improve the quality and readability of the presented results. One of the objectives of the project was also to promote cooperation between scientists and designers. The workshops assumed the work in two-person teams, scientist+designer, on one project. The results of the workshops were presented at an exhibition accompanying the conference. The participants could see the positive effects of the cooperation of experts from both specialties. The speakers included representatives of both specialties from Poland and Europe: Jacek Mrowczyk (designer, Lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice and Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Editor of the quarterly “2+3d”), Bartosz Borucki (Specialist in scientific visualization and visual analysis, image data processing), Karol Wójcicki (popularizer of astronomy, scientific journalist, TV presenter), Mateusz Leszkowicz (experimental pedagogy, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań), Anne Odling-Smee (founder of “Design Science”, specialist in visual communication), David Pao (medical doctor, doctoral student of innovative design at the Royal College of Art in London), Jakub Chrobok (lecturer at the Akademie für Design und Illustration in Berlin, Creative Director of the Golden Section Graphics studio).

The conference presents the benefits of cooperation between designers and scientists, which translates into the integration of both circles.

Watch the video.