AGPM JOB TALK - KRISTEN GILLETTE

THERE IS NO GOING BACK
VISUAL + INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN: KRISTEN GILLETTE

Lecturing since 2016, over 15 quarters, 7 different courses
Developed 3 new online courses + converted 3 courses to crisis remote formats
Taught/Teaching 8 courses in the past year remotely, including 3 over Summer Session, 2 right now
Working with Arts Division Faculty on Instructional Design and response to crisis transition to remote

1. INTRODUCTIONS: DESIGNER + STORYTELLER

Communication Design is critical for critical information

Partial Client list:

Political Harvey Milk Democratic Club, Rafael Mandelman 2010 District Supervisor Campaign, Public Health + Environmental - Tenderloin AIDS Resource Center, Santa Cruz AIDS Project + Needle Exchange, Women’s Community Clinic SF / Lyon-Martin, Santa Cruz Local Foods, Eco-Farm Conference, OpenLab, E.A.R.T.H. Lab, Fish Tales Social Justice / Activist Projects CA Coalition for Women Prisoners, Teachers for Social Justice, Queer Women Of Color Media Arts Project, SF Dyke March, SF Trans March, Gay Shame (SF), Outlook, Cantu Queer Center (UCSC), Southerners On New Ground (S.O.N.G) Artists, Community Spaces, Collectives Santa Cruz Arts Council, UCSC Games Showcase, Hard French, Mango, Sissy Strut, Handsome Young Men, Gay Buffett, Lexington Club, El Rio, Rock Band Land

life’s work: about survival, visibility, organizing, dismantling + creating something new. Space to not just survive, but thrive - communicating info, ideas + narratives

2. Interactive + playable designs: complex media to meet complex problems

safe passage - radical mapping project

RESOUND: THE ARCTIC CIRCLE

ADDITIONAL INTERACTIVE ENVIRONMENTAL SOUND WORKS

TIGERBEAT - A queer social-environmental interactive fiction game

PLAY AT https://people.ucsc.edu/~kgillett/tigerbeat/

EXPANDED DESIGN FOCUS TO INTERACTIVE + PLAYABLE FORMATS. ABILITY TO OFFER MULTIPLE POINTS OF ENTRY AND LAYERS OF UNDERSTANDING. COMPLEX DESIGNS TO COMMUNICATE COMPLEX IDEAS + EXPERIENCE.

PERSUASIVE, POWERFUL + EXPRESSIVE MEDIUMS TO ADDRESS BIG PROBLEMS

3. ENGAGING COURSES: INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN + TEACHING

Shift from clients to students =>

shaping client narratives to teaching students how to shape their own narratives and design platforms and best methods for communication

Approach course development + instruction from a designer framework

CONTENT: TOPICS + IDEAS
PLATFORM: DELIVERY, PROJECTS, LEARNING SPACE(S) + COMMUNICATION
AUDIENCE: STUDENTS

STUDENTS

Center on marginalized student communities + narratives, and those doing critical work

CONTENT

visual design focus / foundations focus
2D and 4D art fundamentals, visual design, visual storytelling and communications design, interactive media design, digital media practices and theory, experimental and traditional 2D digital animation, data visualization and sonification and audio visualization, commercial design and branding, art direction, and character-driven, narrative and technical / science illustration
Diverse + Inclusive range of artists, artworks + ideas

DIRECT DIALOGUES

ALGORITHMIC BIAS / CODED BIAS, DIGITAL SURVEILLANCE, DATA PRIVACY, MACHINE LEARNING + FACIAL RECOGNITION IN CARCERAL SYSTEMS
HATE + BIAS ON DIGITAL PLATFORMS
REPRESENTATION, NARRATIVE EXCLUSION/INCLUSION + APPROPRIATION IN GAMES
DIGITAL PLATFORMS / TOOLS FOR DIRECT ACTION ORGANIZING - CRITICAL METHODS OF USE

PLATFORMS HYBRID, REMOTE + ONLINE FORMATS

CAN Offer opportunities for increasing access, equity and inclusion:
CAN leverage many aspects of digital media / interactive media to create courses that are engaging, dynamic at multiple levels // course design similar to interactive + playable media designs
CAN create courses that are more student-centered + dynamic