‘Design in Safaris’ is an Interaction Design (IxD) course from the lens of wildlife and their sensory phenomena. Throughout the course, we look at sensory systems of various animals ranging from bats, bees, sharks and more. We observe how animals and birds experience or navigate the world. We draw a parallel in the human world and build devices with two primary aims: i) to understand and connect with wildlife, ii) to augment and build new dimensional experiences for humans. The fundamentals of Human-Centered Design provide us with a framework to develop solutions by involving human in all aspects of problem solving. But what if the users of technologies were not humans? How would we design interfaces meant for mental health stimulation of animals? By learning radically different sensory experiences and dialogues from animals, could we also design novel interfaces for humans? This class focusses on fundamentals of interaction by changing the traditional users of our technologies. There will be weekly lectures from zoologists and animal experts. The class will have weekly readings, assignments and projects for students to support their hypothesis. The students are expected to have prior prototyping abilities to rapidly iterate their solutions in this intensive course. We intend to have a mix of students from different disciplines in this class. A select number of students from the class may be chosen to deploy and test their final projects at the San Diego Zoo’s naturalistic setting. The students may also have opportunities to continue working with the Zoo beyond the course.

“The end goal is identifying every music maker in the space and their works past and present… accelerating and improving collaboration …” The future of Mycelia is about "decentralised, open governance, looking to nature and viable systems thinking for direction... it's about earning, adapting, sharing… as a self-sustaining organism.” —Imogen Heap “If you want to play it, it's a good guitar. If it does you harm, it's a bad guitar. Some guitars are both good and bad at the same time.’ —Markus Reuter The Limits of Guitar is a collab studio exploring the limits of musical expression and instrument design. In this course, students will test both the physical and virtual limits of sonic production. At its core, the collab asks: what forms of sound, what kinds of [networked] musical instruments, could be uniquely able in our contemporary world to support a radical philosophy of music, going beyond current limits of aesthetics and politics in sound? We will draw on 5+ years of ongoing collaboration with the most renowned guitar and instrument designers in the world, who have joined our Future and Limits of Guitar series. We will also collaborate intensively with leading musicians, including Tanya Kalmanovitch [Mannes, co-lead on the Post Genre Instruments project] and Elliott Sharp [renowned NY guitarist, composer, and CTM Fellow 2014]. Across the semester, a series of guest workshops with instrument designers, builders, coders, and musicians will provide foundation and cutting edge interaction. Hands on workshops with luthiers will take place in studio as well as the Parsons Making Center. Salons, symposia and performances across the spring will include our collab students and their work. The outcome of this collab will run the gamut from new instruments you have designed and built, to new musical forms of expression you have invented and performed, to new sound software platforms you have designed and coded. The semester will conclude with a multi-day conference and performance series. Students and guest faculty in the collab will participate in these events. Musicians and non musicians are welcome! Bring a love for sound in all its forms! The collab is supported by Parsons MFADT; Mannes School of Music; The Making Center; the Provost’s Office Innovations in Education Fund grant; the Center for Transformative Media; as well as outside sponsors including Strandberg Guitars, Positive Grid, and more.

Motion capture (mo-cap) is the technique of recording patterns of movement digitally. It is used heavily in filmmaking, animation, video games, as well as in Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality environments. Mo-cap allows movement to be used to animate a 3D model, perform position-tracking for large-scale VR, and more. Using Parsons’ new Motion Capture Studio, we will learn how to use high-end professional motion capture equipment, as well as how to work with the resulting data in several different workflows (both real-time and recorded). Mo-cap results in data that can be mapped in a myriad of ways. This studio aims to expand on the typical applications and mappings of the data in the context of VR and room-scale AR. How can we use the body as a controller/musical instrument? How can we visualize movement data? How can we subvert the output of mo-cap? For example, to create a feedback loop to guide the bodies being tracked? How can we embody and perform as other (not necessarily human) bodies and forms?

How to build Augmented Reality (AR) experiences? While AR is an emerging technology that offers a new type of interaction with the physical environment through digital interfaces, it introduces many questions to the field of design that demand exploration. How can we effectively tell stories about spaces or products in AR? What is the nature of experience and interaction in AR? How can we use AR to warp and excite our lived environments? While seeking answers to core design questions about AR, this course aims to bridge the process of design and development of AR applications. Students will develop AR experiences for mobile by using Unity, and software development kits like Vuforia, ARkit and ARcore. By using different tools and prototyping techniques, they will investigate the nature of storytelling and interaction in AR. In the first half of the semester, students will analyze existing projects, prototype their own AR experiences, and develop their technical skills in Unity and AR platforms. For the second half, students will design AR experiences for specific organizations, brands, or products. They will be expected to apply their knowledge to the development and design of their final projects. The final project will be presented in a critique with AR artists, designers, and developers. Some Unity experience is recommended, but not required.

This course is specifically designed to bring together two types of students: 1) those who have a background in critical reading and writing but no extensive experience in design and 2) those who have a background in design but no extensive experience in writing and publishing. We will begin with a critical survey of the transmission of written communication from Gutenberg to the present to get up to speed, and in the second half of the semester we will discuss contemporary issues that cross design and publishing through an analysis of contemporary books, magazines, and periodicals across both printed and digital platforms, with a particular focus on the relationship between form and content. The seminar will be the underpinning of a hands-on studio course, where students will get a working introduction to typography, image, layout, sequence, and order, with the aim to design and publish in interdisciplinary teams, both printed and digital, by the end of the semester.

Networks and their interfaces dictate how we engage with the world around us. They determine what kind of information we have access to and develop preferences for, how and with whom we communicate, and what we believe. In this course, students will research, design, and develop a peer-to-peer network that allows for an intensive exploration of how interfaces filter our information, guide our social dynamics, and ultimately shape our perceptions and biases.

An algorave, short for “algorithmic rave”, is a live-coded, electronic music event growing in popularity across the globe. Through lectures and workshops, students will learn to live code electronic music and visuals. We'll also learn about art and technology events, live streaming, online distribution, and the greater algorave community. Through a series of iterative, human-centered design and research sprints, we will design and produce our own pop-up algorave event. Engagement with notable guests and stakeholders will address and amplify a number of pertinent themes and concerns. No prior knowledge or experience with music composition or programming is necessary; non-musicians are encouraged to contribute to the studio.

This course is specifically designed to bring together two types of students: 1) those who have a background in critical reading and writing but no extensive experience in design and 2) those who have a background in design but no extensive experience in writing and publishing. We will begin with a critical survey of the transmission of written communication from Gutenberg to the present to get up to speed, and in the second half of the semester we will discuss contemporary issues that cross design and publishing through an analysis of contemporary books, magazines, and periodicals across both printed and digital platforms, with a particular focus on the relationship between form and content. The seminar will be the underpinning of a hands-on studio course, where students will get a working introduction to typography, image, layout, sequence, and order, with the aim to design and publish in interdisciplinary teams, both printed and digital, by the end of the semester.

Food by Design is a course for students interested in exploring and working in the edges of the design and technology practices. It will be focused on fundamentals of design and interaction design working with the unusual elements, processes and context of food. The goal is to reconsider the traditional role of food and feed back learnings from food materials, contexts, processes, methodologies, experiences and objects to our current understanding of design. Can food teach us a new perspective on design? Can design, innovation and fiction reframe how we experience food? The class will have regular readings, assignments and design-build projects leveraging contemporary technologies to project a critical light and speculate about the pasts, presents and futures of food. The students are expected to have some basic cooking abilities and prior design, tech and prototyping skills to rapidly iterate their ideas. There will be lectures from food-related experts, guests and class discussions to inspire and support the development of students and their concepts.

Shima Seiki is a world renowned manufacturer of computerized knitting equipment from Wakayama, Japan. This course introduces students to the basics of how to create digital programs for a Shima Seiki WholeGarment(TM) knitting machine. Students will be given a rapid introduction to the essentials of knitting and knit programming for a variety of applications. Initial projects will allow students to practice and develop their knit programming skills. The remaining two thirds of the course is devoted to student projects that develop innovative concepts and techniques in their respective domains. Students will be grouped by areas of interest in order to fully program and produce a project of their collective design. The course provides the student with extended textile and technology skills that supports their individual design philosophy. This course is in close connection to the Making Center's L2 Knit Lab: students are required to devote significant time outside of class to complete assignments in the Making Center.

Digital interactions are no longer limited to our personal devices but are now increasingly becoming part of the out of home environment. Out of home advertising in the form of billboards and signage found on sidewalks, roads, highways, in transit, and other public places while previously considered a traditional advertising medium has seen significant digital growth in recent years. In this collab students will partner with Outfront Media - the MTA’s partner for out of home advertising and digital communications. Currently Outfront Media has installed and continues to maintain 590 digital boards across 39 New York City subway stations. This class will be a deep dive into NodeJS, an exploration in data driven design, and an opportunity to challenge what's possible in an emerging media format. This class will partially meet at Outfront Media’s office at 140 Broadway where students will have access to the Outfront Media team as well as Outfront’s media lab ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTR8w7UdvjI&feature=youtu.be ).

While the primary audience for XR today is gaming, immersive media show potential to augment reality in varied and exciting ways. Industries like Architecture, Interior Design, Urban Design, Product and Industrial Design, medical and scientific research, as well as in the design and development of transportation, museums and retail institutions can all be enhanced through the use of AR, VR and 360° cinematography. This course will explore how XR technologies can be applied to these numerous industries. This course will explore the history of immersive media, pioneers of VR, current applications of VR, the relationship between AR and VR, and extensions of VR that connect it to the real world. Students will work in a variety of platforms depending on their own interests, including Unity, UE, Blueprint, Playmaker, Grasshopper, Rhino and 3D Studio Max.

In this Collab, students will travel over a 10-day period to Berlin, Köln, and Paris, over Thanksgiving break [November 21st-December 1st], 2019. The course will occur in participation with students from KISD (Köln International School of Design]. The course project will focus on exploring, researching, and producing VR sketches about experiences and cultural locations visited on the trip, under the overarching question: “how might VR be used in the future of documentation and journalism?". Students will work in groups with other Parsons and KISD students, with new groups assigned each day. Tools such as Unity, Google VR, GoPro, Samsung Gear, Risc, and Vive (and others) will be used— no prior experience is necessary (tech workshops will be held prior to trip departure). Groups will submit daily sketches, and each student will be responsible for an overall trip report sure at semester's end. There will be frequent group activities while traveling, but plenty of time for individual exploration as well. Students are responsible for communicating with NY faculty regarding all missed classes (usually not more than one per section, which is why we schedule the trip over Thanksgiving). Costs: Participants are responsible for all travel expenses (lodging, airfare— to and from NY, and within Europe, food, and incidental expenses while in Berlin, Köln, and Paris). Students are responsible for obtaining their own necessary visas for travel to Europe, as needed. There will be a separate course fee of $300, payable upon registration. No scholarship is available. Registration by faculty permission only— this will be determined in early September, 2019, when the fall 2019 semester is underway. Space is strictly limited.

These are unique types of studio courses, pairing teams of students with industry partners to undertake real-world projects.