Abstract
Knowledge in design studios is mostly constructed via discussions, dialogues or in a systematic way, critiques. Thus, understanding design critiques is crucial for evaluating and improving design studio courses, and thus learning and teaching experiences. This paper introduces two visual tools that can assist in categorising design critiques in terms of their flow, content and style. The first tool visualises the intensity and distribution of different critique categories to make the topics and ways to generate critiques explicit. The latter illustrates the correlations between content and style in critiques and reveals the potential relationships between them. These tools aim to; (1) provide a review for both students and teachers about their design critiquing sessions, (2) provide an overview of project topics/processes based on the critiques given and (3) shed light on the relationships between style and content in design critiques. Also via these tools we aim to inform curriculum developers for potential reviews. To see the effectiveness of these tools, an empirical study focusing on three critique sessions involving a design teacher and a student was conducted. These three sessions were visualised with the suggested tools and flow, content and style of the critiques were illustrated. As a result, potentials of the visual tools for design teachers, students and curriculum developers are presented and discussed.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drslxd.2025.008
Citation
Yılmaz, O.,and Gelmez, K.(2025) Unfolding interactions in design studio courses: Visual tools for design critiques in terms of content and style, in Clemente, V., Gomes, G., Reis, M., Félix, S., Ala, S., Jones, D. (eds.), Learn X Design 2025, 22-24 September 2025, Aveiro, Portugal. https://doi.org/10.21606/drslxd.2025.008
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Conference Track
Full Paper
Unfolding interactions in design studio courses: Visual tools for design critiques in terms of content and style
Knowledge in design studios is mostly constructed via discussions, dialogues or in a systematic way, critiques. Thus, understanding design critiques is crucial for evaluating and improving design studio courses, and thus learning and teaching experiences. This paper introduces two visual tools that can assist in categorising design critiques in terms of their flow, content and style. The first tool visualises the intensity and distribution of different critique categories to make the topics and ways to generate critiques explicit. The latter illustrates the correlations between content and style in critiques and reveals the potential relationships between them. These tools aim to; (1) provide a review for both students and teachers about their design critiquing sessions, (2) provide an overview of project topics/processes based on the critiques given and (3) shed light on the relationships between style and content in design critiques. Also via these tools we aim to inform curriculum developers for potential reviews. To see the effectiveness of these tools, an empirical study focusing on three critique sessions involving a design teacher and a student was conducted. These three sessions were visualised with the suggested tools and flow, content and style of the critiques were illustrated. As a result, potentials of the visual tools for design teachers, students and curriculum developers are presented and discussed.