DESIGN STUDIES SYMPOSIUM 2023

The Design Studies Graduate Program of Graduate School and the Faculty of Fine Arts and Design at the Izmir University of Economics is organizing the second annual “Design Studies Symposium (DSS)”, on June 1-2, formerly known as Face-to-Fest. The theme of the symposium this year is, “Realities & Frontiers.” Following the success of the Face-to-Fest graduate symposium organized in 2021-22, the event will include rigorous discussions in design, with the attendance of scholars in design, with a focus on paper and poster presentations of graduate student research.

This symposium, which is expected to be held face-to-face with a hybrid participation option, welcomes research that may range from case/field implementation ideas to quantitative/scientific data surveys to social, theoretical, and historical studies from all subfields of design to address the countless parallel and overlapping realities of design in the post-pandemic era. The post-covid period and unprecedented earthquake have made us question the role of design in our everyday lives, while the advent of dynamic technologies in design has made us reconsider the design realities that surround us. Quality applications were received from the students enrolled in different Graduate Programs related to the field of design. The output of the symposium will include a proceedings book containing full papers of accepted applications.

The symposium expects answers (but not limited) to the following questions:

• What role does design play in the light of these challenges and developments?
• How do these realities bind and unbound the designers?
• What are the new limits and/or horizons of design?
• How is the field of design expanding?
• Within the context of these facts, what happens to other design-related subfields?
• What are the current dilemmas in these subfields and what are the new approaches?
• Are these also defined by boundaries? Or, have past boundaries been broken? 
• How do digital technologies (AI, VR/AR/XR, metaverse etc.) influence our expectations of design?
• How do disasters inform design?

The symposium is open to anyone interested. Follow us on social media: @ieu_design_studies

The detailed program: