All Eyes on iDo
April 2009

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Perspectives

Words From the Road-A Design Educator Spreads His Words iDo founding director, Martin Linder is currently traveling worldwide to spread the mission of iDo, in the hopes of creating a sister program that would work hand in hand with iDo mentors and students to produce new innovative design curriculums and projects on an international level. In a recent letter from Professor Linder, we at iDo were given a glimpse into his travels thus far, as well as, a sense of excitement for the coming year.

Greetings Team iDo, I have visited three design programs in England, one in Paris, and two in Spain. Interviewed twelve design educators, listened to their many interesting points of view, toured their facilities, presented to their colleagues and students, and critiqued some of the student projects.

The programs are all similar and yet quite different. We debated methods for teaching creativity, when and how to include technology in the creative process, and how to teach team design vs. individual design practices.

Spain has been the most magical part of the trip, as it is still connected to the old world, yet transitioned to the new in a very unique way. In Barcelona I visited many of Gaudi’s great buildings, seeking inspiration for curriculum development in the coming year. The Modernism building is still in construction, with many exhibits of the design process that are currently being employed in the buildings development. There is a lifetime of design lessons included in this one visit.

I look forward to sharing more insights and stories upon my return

-Martin Linder

Becoming A Leader, by Peggy Wang Last spring Martin Linder was one of the few people to verbally acknowledge my dedication, hard work, and craft in planning the SFSU DAI Student Show: Oculus. He saw me working late one night at school and stopped by to say Thank You. Later he asked me to come and work with him and the iDo Team. I was hesitant to throw myself into another leadership role but I thought it over and made a realistic time commitment and have never regretted it since.

In working with the talented folks at iDo, I found the sense of camaraderie and community that I felt was truly missing from our department. Not only being able to help facilitate and mentor other bright young individuals but to also help empower ourselves. I am so proud of the work we've all done and the goals we have set and achieved as we continue to spread the mission of iDo. The gifting ceremony of the 2008-2009 Community Bench to our city's Mayor is such a wonderful honor for us at iDo and especially to the students of Thurgood Marshall who were brave enough to keep coming to class, while pursuing skills that were once foreign to them. My experience and time spent with iDo thus far has been amazing.

Top News

Celebrating iDo's Community Bench Inauguration into City Hall, by Ellie Poore

Yet another sign that iDo’s success in design education is getting noticed: this year’s Community Bench will be gifted to the office of Mayor Gavin Newsom. Plans for the bench to be put on display at San Francisco’s City Hall are raising much excitement for all of iDo’s hardworking members as we plan a gifting ceremony for the occasion. The ceremony will recognize student participants, honor iDo mentors and supporters and present the finished bench to Mayor Gavin Newsom as a gift from the community.

The 2008-2009 Community Bench Project is our second completed effort with Thurgood Marshall Academic High School in the Bayview-Hunter’s Point district. Students from a TMHS Computer Art class teamed up with iDo mentors to create 9”x9” panels that represent each students’ definition of ‘Community’. These panels are finished in wood and then assembled onto a bench. Last year’s Community Bench was gifted to TMHS, after the DeYoung Museum featured it in its Young At Art exhibition. News that this year’s bench will go to City Hall means great things for iDo, as the program continues to gain momentum in its efforts to bring design education to public schools through experiential learning using design methodologies.

The ceremony will be held for TMHS students, parents and staff, iDo members and community supporters this spring at Thurgood Marshall Academic High School, 45 Conkling Street in San Francisco at 5:30pm. Light refreshments will be served.

Curriculum Integration, by Tera Freedman Integrating my curriculum with the iDo bench project has greatly enhanced student achievement and experience. iDo has brought back to high school a kind of modernized woodshop which ignites the intellectual understanding of the process of design in students. Students receive extra help with many fantastic volunteers and students from SFSU. The bench project will be one of those High School memorable moments for all those involved.

The Common Goal, by Effie Kou The design process was about learning. I took knowledgeable advice from the teachers that helped me to improve my panel. I learned that I you need a lot of patience to create something simply amazing. But most of all, I learned that we are all a community whether it was offering help or giving suggestions. We have all worked together to achieve a common goal; The community bench. The process of creating my panel was truly insightful and I am glad to have been part of this incredible experience.

In The Eyes of a Mentor, by Nicole Hossain As an international student I was keen to get involved in the local community and found iDo was an excellent opportunity for this, as it not only involved working with students, but it also incorporated design which is what I am studying at home. I was so inspired by the commitment of the group and the positive attitude, which makes this program work so well. I feel very privileged to be part of this organization, and was very excited at the prospect of working together to build the iDo community and I am so glad I got involved.

It was challenging gaining the confidence to go up to a group of teenagers and initiate a conversation, which eventually would lead to helping them develop their ideas, but I found this got easier with time and after a short time I felt very comfortable, as they are all great students. The greatest success is when a student responds in such a positive way that is sometimes unexpected. That's when you feel like you have achieved something special, and this was a regular occurrence as the students were involved and excited about their designs and ideas. Mentoring was an amazing experience and its extremely fulfilling to work with the students while watching them overcome their indivdiual struggles and produce an amazing design of which they can be proud.

Forward Thinkings

Let's Go Fly A Kite, by Stacey Jones The Kite Project just began and its already half way over. We all new this project would fly by with just twelve days to work, but it always takes me by surprise. Especially with all the little schedule hiccups that are inevitable in schools.

What is the most impressive though, is how the students at Thurgood Marshall have brought so much creativity, thoughtfulness, and excitement to this project in such a short amount of time.

With only a handful of themes to choose from, many students invariably have the same theme as one another; but even within these similarities, the variation in symbolism that has been chosen to represent the themes is refreshing and different.

I've also seen a lot of careful thought going into the development of the details in the pieces. What colors represent which characters and how can shapes convey the meaning of feelings? Its been both challenging and fun to connect the literature with art and it looks like every student is well on their way to the completion of a successful kite image.

Design Bites

Duct Tape Wallets, by Holly Burton For the third consecutive year iDo participated with SFSU's early outreach program on March 4, 2009. During this time iDo lead a design education workshop-demonstrating how to create duct tape wallets from templates and your imagination. Over a period of forty-five minutes, 35 fourth grade students from Marshall Elementary school created some of the most thought provoking, enthusiastic, and intuitive wallets that this designer has ever seen produced during this project. At the end of our time with these students, each child was able to walk away with their very own creation; some had even done hand drawings or created personalities for their wallets. For example, my group turned their wallets into monstrous ticks and fleas with chains for horns. Proving there is no limit to a child's imagination...

Martin Linder | mlinder@industrialdesignoutreach.org
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