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The Nature Experience
Aktiv Grotesk
DIN 2014
(2021)


Experiences in nature coupled with positive encounters with nature have significant psychological health benefits. However, for many urban citizens, especially adolescents, there is a disconnect between the natural world and one’s place within it. This project examines how the design of immersive learning technologies like augmented reality (AR) combined with social engagement-based motivation tactics can inform the achievement of healthier lifestyles outdoors. Findings from this study suggest that designing adaptive learning experiences, which include moments for technology disconnection and opportunities for shared experiences among a community of users within and outside of the nature experience, contribute to successful healthy habit formation and can improve the effectiveness of restorative nature-based prescriptions. 
Document Overview. Design problem / Justification / Research Question(s) / Literature Review & Precedents / Investigation Plan / Studies / Discussion / References.

Actual and Figurative Margins
Graduate Studio Studies (2020)
“Foremost on our minds right now is the pandemic, which has pushed many individuals to live not only in-between, but also somewhat aside from their naturalized activity. Through interactions mediated by a thin screen of light, we travel from our safe places with limited senses — our eyes and ears. We seek out narrow swaths in store aisles, constraining movement to individual, detached paths. Those who's work is considered essential, such as health and food related workers, spend their non-working time in perpetual quarantine. Most horribly, African Americans, Afro Latinx, Latinx, Native Americans, the elderly — populations that are also underrepresented in American society — are the hardest hit.

By way of dispicable events, valiant protests, and other public expressions of fear and courage that point up social injustice, we are more painfully aware of those among us who are marginalized. There are those many who exist in the metaphorical margins by choice, but far more endure dominant social norms that deem them (us) to be inconvenient, irrelevant, incoherent, inessential, unfamiliar ... we could go on. Marginalization occurs at every scale, from kindergarten playgrounds to corporate boardrooms, from neighborhoods to government complexes, in myriad ways. And then there's the profit margin to which we all submit in one form or another. To what extent does design facilitate, hinder, assuage, precipitate, and/or perpetuate marginality?”

— Denise Gonzales Crisp, GD501 FA20



Study 01
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How might the design of personal space, presented on a video conference platform, foster a sense of nearness and invite varied yet specific activity? How might the design adapt to changing circumstances over time? By experimenting with foreground / background relationships and the perspective and depth of objects in a space, one’s surroundings merge with the digital. This reveal of one’s immediate and often personal environment encourages engagement with the space beyond the typical face-to-face view. However, with this expansion of space concerns around the privacy and professionalism of revealing the confidential arise. What do we sacrifice when we choose to mask or filter the spaces we inhabit to accommodate an audience?


Prompt. Creating nearness in the digital world.

1 GD501 Studio Salon FA2020 (ISSUU pgs 166-175) <https://issuu.com/ncstatemasterofgraphicdesignprogram/docs/gd501_studiosalonbook_compiled_opt/166?>



Study 02 
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MURAL concept maps playing out two hypotheses within the collaborative space: (1) The virtual space will bring about a new social contract that values efficiency over individuality, product over process, function over form therefore people will operate under the new rules of the engagement not as parts of a whole but rather cogs in a machine. (2) The virtual space will bring about a new social contract that values individuality over efficiency, process over product, form over function therefore people will operate under the new rules of the engagement as a part of the greater whole. Findings from these hypotheses present two drastically different scenarios. However, both suggest the same central concept, that new digital environments and tools can create opportunities for social change or at the very least introduce new rules of engagement.  



Prompt. The Virtual Landscape and its Potential Impact on Society Within the MURAL platform, explore meaning of the noun, ‘societies,’ and the corresponding statement, ‘model the contextual effects of what is imagined’.

1 MURAL <https://app.mural.co/t/erynpierce1921/m/erynpierce1921/1605618386748/e40cbbc685dcc283589edc5cbfcc5a40af01c072?sender=elpierce6725>
2 GD501 Studio Salon FA2020 (ISSUU pgs 166-175) <https://issuu.com/ncstatemasterofgraphicdesignprogram/docs/gd501_studiosalonbook_compiled_opt/166?>




Study 03


Online forums are areas where open dialogue around social issues can take place, fostering a sense of understanding within a group. However, only a fraction of those who visit these forums take part, leading to a nonrepresentational set of prompts and responses. How can the design of the online forum experience increase fringe group engagement and promote a more inclusive dialogue within the dominant group?

Prompt. A marginal space explored.

The Disc +
Tech Touchpoints
Shifting Perceptions Around Wilderness
(2020)
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Mini studies presented here attempt to alleviate human fear around wilderness. Fear of a wilderness space can be a result of unusual sights, sounds, smells, texture, fear of unknown, fear of animals, and/or fear of the dark. The final study compiles findings into one durable handheld disc that seamlessly integrates into a users’ daily life.

Mock Research Proposal
eBike Use and Trail Design
(2019)
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An example of a research proposal and a completed IRB application submitted for a graduate level design course.

Course. Design Research Methods, GD572 Project Title. National Park Trail User Movement and Behavior Pattern Impact: A Comparison Between Elderly Unconditioned eBike Users and Conditioned Mountain Bike Users. Process Overview. Literature Review / Concept Map / Stakeholder Interviews / Observation Studies.
American Indian Support
Informal Action Research 
K-12 Study
(2021)


North Carolina public schools have several programs throughout the state to support the Native American children and youth in a number of school districts. Although a small percentage of the overall student population in North Carolina, countrywide, this population has the right to government funding through Title VI ED 506 Indian Student Eligibility Certification process ... With this information in mind, questions arise around what types of services these families have access to and how Native American students might benefit from these services. To answer these questions, I collected and analyzed specific information on middle and high school Native American student populations in three different districts and compared those findings against interviews of prominent Indian Education directors and leaders.

Course. Theory and Practice in Teaching Diverse Populations. Project Title. Academic Success Support for Native American Students. Process Overview. Interviews / Online Research / Data Collection / Data Analysis / Presentation + Write Up.


1 Full Document pdf <https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KnsgXB4Wp-LBPomy7BOzIqahRH8eyizX/view?usp=sharing>
2 Presentation Slides <https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_0JaqQnmf8AsWHeYHu89nhR4urWxWlR61XrBFNcXcGI/edit?usp=sharing>