Design for Earth
Challenge: Eco-tech Design
How can you consider ecological and economic issues that are pressing in todays world in your media designs? How can you incorporate healthy economic principles and regenerative ecological design into your creative and technical practice?
Project:
Project 3 is a web project in Adobe Express Web Page, or Google Sites similar to Projects 1 & 2.
For Project 3, you should focus on one of the themes in Part 3 that you have explored in videos, readings, websites and quizzes, for example: the economic context that shapes digital production (alternatives to capitalism, lessons from story of stuff, reducing e-waste), digital and physical commons, greening electronics, right to repair, circular economies, life cycle assessment, etc. You might also consider using one of the main permaculture principles as a theme or topic.
You should also do a bit more independent research about your topic beyond the class materials. List all sources in your Credits section at the end of your project.
This is an individual project with a scope of 750-1250 words (3-5 full pages), and 10+ images.
Some possible topics:
- Strategies New Media students can adopt to reduce e-waste during college years. eg adapt this online guide to be more specific to college environments
- Tell a fictional story looking back on your ideal lifetime technology career, and the benefits your work has had in creating a better world. See this prompt for guidance. Or check out a solarpunk animation.
- What kind of commons would most benefit you at this point in your life? Consider a resource that you would be willing to both contribute to and support, as well as draw from, for examples a bicycle repair hub, or college move out recycling. What New Media skills would you use to help generate this commons–eg the Amherst Move Out uses web & social media, Github is a web-based, code-based sharing commons, Wikipedia is an encyclopedia commons, more locally Black Bear Mutual Aid is also a commons.
- The Open Source Ecology Project creates low cost, crowd-sourced, and open source designs for building an EcoHome. If you designed your own low-cost eco-home, what features would it have? Which common home features would you leave out? What tech would you include (or leave out)? Would this change if you had toddlers around?
Using the above or related topics, create a web page using Adobe Express that describes the key issues of concern, and your recommendations about how to use some New Media application or approach that could improve, communicate or help generate the design.
At minimum, follow the Intro, Body (3-5 paragraphs), Conclusion format for the text where applicable (clearly a story would have a different form). Also add information via images, charts, and media; making a textual AND visual argument.
In sum, your resources can be text, images, charts, video, audio etc in this multimedia portal. More visuals can make an easier and more compelling case. But make sure that your “visual argument” is parallel to your textual argument–use visuals to make your case in an orderly way, just as you do with your text. Font, color, design, layout, and style are all part of your message.
In a final credits page, cite ALL your sources, class, professor, music etc. For your post, use category: Project 3, a relevant featured image, a brief 1-2 sentence summary/abstract in text and your Adobe Express Page URL–as a clickable link (using either text link or image link).
Evaluation rubric:
- Interesting idea and approach
- Robust and well organized text that clearly explains your issue, approach and recommendations–basic 5 paragraph structure at minimum.
- Good logical and visual layout
- Appealing visuals
- Visuals work in parallel to your text enriching and clarifying it
- Good featured image
- Clear credits
