The Pursuit of Haptic-Ness: Exploring the Significance of a Haptic Reflective Practice in Graphic Design Education

摘要

In an age where we can avoid hand-drawing and hand-making for the sake of convenience and timesaving, it seems we might prematurely be abandoning them. The benefits of drawing and writing by hand on cognitive development and concentration are numerous, and research supports that developing a reflective practice is rewarding for personal and professional development. Students in traditional design schools, specifically the field of graphic design, are educated with high emphasis on technical production skills---yet what is absent is instruction for developing a reflective practice that links design projects, lived experience, tacit knowledge, and generative ideation toward the robust development of successful design outcomes. More specifically---and the focus of this thesis---is the opportunity for the inclusion of a haptic reflective practice in graphic design education. Such a haptic reflective practice, which includes drawing and writing by hand, has the potential to support students in bridging implicit awarenesses with tangible knowledge outcomes in the design development process. Through an examination of literature from the fields of qualitative research, education, and art and design, and the author's own haptic reflective practice involving drawing and writing as inquiry methods, this thesis explores an under-championed haptic reflective practice in graphic design education. As the initial step in building a rationale for a future case study, this project exemplifies practice-led reflection-on-action to demonstrate a graphic design student's journey from tacit understanding to informed intuition in the design development process.