2015 Activating the Archive

November 10, 2016 Graduate Industrial Design Students Faculty: Josh Owen

This course introduces industrial design students to a working relationship with a specific material and process relative to a particular mode of mass-production using a combination of seminar and workshop formats. This experience was framed by the tenants of the Vignelli design philosophy and molded by the brief set in collaboration with the sculpture studio.

The first half of each session presents aspects of the history, theory and the practice of product design as it relates to the project agenda. Students designed and developed a product which is useful and connected to Vignelli philosophy. Students selected the most appropriate material for the production of their final product (Iron, Aluminum or Bronze). Guest lecturers and critics engaged at regular intervals throughout the course to share their insights.

The goal of the course is to inspire innovation in product development with regard to the typology in question, balanced by real-world parameters. Students were guided through the Vignelli Archives and exposed to physical evidence of design process to frame this investigation. In addition, The Vignelli’s recent book The Vignelli Cannon served as a primary tool for framing their design decision-making in concert with the project agenda.

The project was exhibited at RIT’s Vignelli Center for Design Studies as a part of Imagine RIT in May of 2015.

Photography: Elizabeth Lamark