Content provided in partnership with

New media, experience and Japanese way of tea (Chado)

Visible Language, 2001 by Gunji, Jennifer

Abstract

The philosophy of the Japanese Way of Tea (Chado) can play a significant role in design education. By heightening use of the senses, Chado cultivates inner awareness of self and other through process, form and practice. Established by sixteenth century grandmaster Sen Rikyu. Chado is based on the Zen principles of "harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility." This synthesis of ideals becomes a spiritual manifestation of the human soul.

Most Popular Articles in Arts: Art since 1900: Modernism, Antimodernism, Postmodernism; Free-standing cardboard sculpture; What makes a successful business person? Business people who are tops in ...; Take advantage of local advertising: TV, newspaper or magazines? If your ...; Tino Sehgal at the ICA; More »

Concentration on the senses is becoming more critical in design. Development of multimedia technolgies challenge designers to create more experiential expressions in virtual settings. To accomplish this, one is required to possess advanced technological skills and enhanced intersensory awareness. Inevitably design will come to express olfactory, taste and tactile sensations through a primarily visual setting. This inclination will encourage the generation of design experiences that awaken consciousness, emotions and empathy within their audience. The focus becomes the creation of experiences that are humanized through the sensitivity of designers and their ability to interconnection mind, body, emotions and spirit into design, while developing interaction with the audience.

Establishing Japanese aesthetics as a fundamental experience in design education will prompt students to cultivate their sensory preception, sharpen their aesthetic understanding, heighten cultural discernment and enrich their ability to create and express what they experience. Exposure to these ideas will inspire students culturally, intellectually and spiritually which ultimately contributes not only to their understanding of design, but also to appreciation for life.

As a student finishing her master's degree in graphic design at the University of Illinois, I have experienced, first hand, the evolving predicament of design education. With the influx of new media programs across the nation and the demand of students to integrate these programs into existing graphic design programs, the state of design education has become rather indeterminate and unfocused. Many students are captivated by and desire to be further versed in new technologies, which allow for an expression of design in new terms: design as interaction and experience versus design as layout. Yet, many graphic design programs are unable to provide students with instruction in the flourishing areas,of web and multimedia design.

Thus, students leave with a background primarily focusing on traditional print -based design and with only light exposure in the world of new media.

Like many universities, my graphic design department is undergoing the same identity crisis in terms of relinquishing parts of tradition and opening a willingness to embrace a needed redefinition of thoughts, languages, methodologies, processes and tools. With the subsequent advancement of new media and technologies, the teaching of graphic design has been ultimately faced with significant decisions concerning how to position itself in a hypermedia environment. This program, no different than many others, has struggled to identify with the changing climate of design.

Due to the lack of faculty proficient in technical skills, the program has no option but to resist forging new structures of multidisciplinary studies that focus on new media.

In my graduate studies, I am not seeking answers, but I am expecting to shape the context for current and future design pedagogy. Instead of waiting for new ideas to be embraced by the graphic design department, I would like to participate in the development of new ideas, in shaping new programs and in redefining the field of design. Many students feel that they are being forcefed recipes for education, as defined in design cookbooks from twenty years ago. I wish to add my own recipes to the book, by defining a future of design with expanded goals, philosophies and deliverables. Ultimately, I feel I am part of the redefinition of design education and thus what it will become is a personal responsibility.

I entered the graphic design program to develop new ways in which design could be made a part of our daily lives.

I am not interested in "making things pretty" nor am I interested in developing the "catch-all" end product. I came with the intention to further focus upon the possibilities of design, without concentrating upon a specific media. What I discovered was that I was becoming a product of a traditional design program that failed to encompass my interests and goals because the program itself had lost direction in the confusion of the changing climate of design education.

The lines between art and design, research and product, conceptualization and content, teaching and learning need to blur. I am seeking the understanding and exploration of design as an experience. Graphic design can no longer Vibe limited to an orchestration of text hand image. By introducing dimensions ,.pf sound, space and time, the study of design has evolved into the creation of experiential expressions of reality. To do this successfully, one is required to not only possess advanced technological skills but an enhanced intersensory awareness and intellecttial willingness to explore and challenge the possibilities. These technological demands lead to a need to create and develop designs that embody more human-like experiences through the visual and the aural, moreover, it will also be increasingly critical for designers to express olfactory, taste and tactile sensations through a primarily visual setting. The current need is for students to become "adept at the traditional skills of design, and engage in dialogue with the virtuosos in the world of social science, economics, architecture, theatre and the narrative arts."- Thus, design education must be willing to reformulate the teacher-student dynamic (understanding that learning and teaching becomes more collegial), build teaching strategies that focus upon concept / content development. explore new forms of expression which allow freedom of experimentation. and finally, see design as experience rather than layout or product. Focusing upon experience and interaction, design must begin to willingly encompass the use of elements beyond pure layout: sounds, emotions, feedback, motion, time and behavior. Design is more than a one-way experience, but rather a two or even three way conversation. The inclination is to encourage the development of web or multimedia experiences that awaken new depths of consciousness, feelings, emotions and empathy within the audience | participants. The elemental focus becomes the creation of an experience that is humanized through the sensitivity of the designer to interconnect her/his mind, body, emotion and spirit into design, but also with, full understanding of how the design will relate and develop interaction with the audience.

New media, experience and Japanese way of tea (Chado)

Visible Language, 2001 by Gunji, Jennifer

Find Research Guides for:

Find Featured Titles for: Reference

Most Popular Articles in Arts

Most Popular Publications in Arts