Case Study Template
Download this case study template that was originally developed for LEAP Dialogues: Career Pathways in Design for Social Innovation. Please download, use, and send me your feedback.
I am an Assistant Professor and Associate Director of Integrated Design at Parsons School of Design, where I also teach courses in the Transdisciplinary Design (MFA), Strategic Design and Management (BBA), and Communication Design (BFA). In the past, I’ve taught at Pratt Institute and New York City College of Technology, among other schools. Students in nearly all of the courses I teach document their projects using this case study template. Download the template for your projects and see example case studies below. Each pdf and website credits the students involved in the projects.
Parsons School of Design
Transdisciplinary Design
Emphasizing collaborative design-led research and a systems-oriented approach to social innovation and service design. Designers develope ideas, tools, and working methods to address pressing social issues and the complex challenges of a global culture. Students work in cross-disciplinary teams, consider issues from multiple perspectives, learn from industry leaders, and emerge with a portfolio that showcases design as a process for transforming social relations and contemporary life. Featured projects include:
- Botanical Transmissions (2016)
Visualizing Urban Policy
Design students in this course partner with graduate policy students who are part of the Urban Policy Lab, which is part of Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy. Together, these students work for an outside client that needs help with a policy or management issue. Projects have been featured on GOOD and Public Journal. My Urban Policy Lab teaching partners have been Alex Schwartz and Jeff Smith and between 2013 and 2015, students partners with 10 organizations on projects that focused on:
Designing for Social Change
I started this course in 2012 as an elective at Parsons which was inspired by my book, Designing for Social Change: Strategies for Community Based Design. Students examine their own motivations and articulate their personal values, they directly engage with the public in order to understand the importance of designing solutions that are responsive to potential audiences, they explore evidence-based design approaches that can lead to measurable behavior change, and they reflect on their work and distill it into engaging formats. Featured projects include:
- Cigarette Butt Litter (2012)
- Active Design at Elevators (2012)
- Wayfinding (2014)
Pratt Institute
Transformation Design
Students in this MFA studio focus on strategies to utilize design as a means for transformation. With an emphasis on a human-centered, holistic, and empathic approach, students apply design methodologies to problems and issues in an attempt to transform the behaviors of individuals in desirable and sustainable ways, while creating meaningful experiences and interactions for people with communications media, artifacts, environments, organizations, services, systems, and each other. Work from this class has been featured on GOOD and Fast Company. Featured projects:
- Soak Up NYC (pdf)
- Triggers: Changing Habits (website)
- Slow Design (website)
Mapping Red Hook
Students in this MFA studio focused on the growing field of Creative Placemaking as a means of designing sustainable, place-based solutions that can have measurable community impact. Students in this course engaged residents of Red Hook, Brooklyn in order to discover how communication design can shape behaviors and make Red Hook a more livable, walkable, vibrant and enjoyable neighborhood. They focused on rethinking and reclaiming the urban space using creativity, empathy, play and the language of design. Students collaborated with DESIGN/RELIEF, an AIGA/NY initiative focused on demonstrating design’s role in Creative Placemaking. Visit the website or read case study to learn more.
City Tech: New York City College of Technology
Design Team
Students work in groups and partner with a client on the design and production of a range of print and digital media including logos, posters, web sites, advertising campaigns, brochures and other promotional materials. Students conduct research, conducting meetings, making presentations and following client guidelines. In the Spring of 2016, we worked with New Yorkers Against Gun Violence and here’s one of the resulting case studies:
