Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2020 - 32

Sample Student Assignment:
Sustainable Fashion: Issues, Practices, and Possibilities
Paper 1: Apply Human Centered Design in Conceptualizing a Sustainable Fashion
Design Line (4-5 pages)
In a Washington Post article, Oct. 3, 2019, Elizabeth Cline makes the claim " The
word might be out that there's something wrong with fast fashion, but the alternatives
are not that robust. "
First, in your own words, explain human-centered design, including the big ideas
behind it, the process, and the broad hoped-for outcomes. At its root, human centered
design is a process used to create products that ultimately serve the user, designed in a
way that is dynamic and practical.
Next, from the first-person point of view, describe a conceptualized " robust " sustainable fashion line of your own design, perhaps based on your group outcome from
class on January 14. Describe the steps/process you will use in designing your sustainable fashion design line using the steps of human-centered design.
Include in your paper:
1. A thesis statement; a dynamic introductory and concluding paragraph; a question you
are answering within your paper
2. Include the following words in a way in which you clarify their meaning: robust, sustainable, fast fashion, slow fashion, supply chain, transparent, worker's rights, ecofriendly, carbon footprint, trendy, and classic

*Issue maps: Lay out the political, social,
or economic issues affecting a geographical area or faction (often used by advocacy groups)
* Causal-loop diagrams: Focus on explicating the feedback loops (positive and
negative) that lead to system behavior or
functioning
Consider a few ideas for using systems mapping in theatre design classes:
* Create a map for production research
and analysis that will help to chart the
cause-and-effect chains in the story.
* Make maps to create a framework for
points of intersections found within
research in creating a world for a
production.
* Visually map the trajectory (beginning,
middle, and end) of the play.
* Map what the director and design team
believe is the arc of show (by hand or
digital drawing software).
* Map out the journey of individual characters, including their internal and external strengths and obstacles, turning
points, and resolution.
* For movement courses, use mapping
to help students create a map of specific gestures they will include in the
piece and modify (though improvisation). Use the maps to put each of
their pieces in an order resulting in a
longer embodied performance.

32 | THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY | FALL 2020

Empowering Student Change
Makers

Human-centered design and systems
mapping are complementary. The human-centered design process provides
a group framework for problem solving, while systems mapping can be a
research-based process for investigating,
discussing, and understanding the complicated web of factors that are the foundation of complex real-world problems.
After learning about problems through
the systems mapping approach, design
thinking provides a process by which users can tackle impact gaps and forge solutions within existing structures.
In combination, these practices offer a powerful approach and tool-set to
interdisciplinary students for researching, understanding, and collaboratively
approaching problems to identify leverage gaps, see themselves in the problem and solution landscape, and identify
ways they can use their unique talents
to be a dynamic part of their chosen
conversation.
Both the process and product of human-centered design as well as systems
mapping serve students by empowering them to develop and practice ways
through which they will become positive
change makers.
Trying new techniques is a challenge

that often at first meets with failure and
frustration. However, this journey has led
to greater collaboration, depth of learning, and growth. In particular, systems
mapping can help people who may be
challenged by linear thinking to collaborate with others. My students' projects
and their engagement in the process provided depth and meaning to the research
all my students conducted on their chosen topic. The Map the System competition raised the bar in terms of the quality
of research and analysis. By participating in this competition, students had the
opportunity to collaboratively immerse
themselves in a topic they cared about.
In many cases, the topic related to their
intended majors, particularly those connected to economics and environmental
justice, and this highlighted the transferrable skills from design to their major.
One student reported that work on Map
the System led to a successful internship application in part because of the
discussion of the project in the interview
process. I am now eager to find ways to
make systems mapping work to enhance
my courses by deepening student learning outcomes. Systems mapping is full of
creative potential for my costume design
process and for collaborations with students, colleagues, and professionals.
Finally, I want to thank the Vanderbilt
engineering faculty, librarians, and the
Center for Teaching, all of whom have
supported my efforts to implement
these systems. The teaching process is
strengthened by deep meaningful collaboration, just as the theatre design process.
We are all here to learn from each other,
to expand our toolbox and techniques,
and to create productive engagement
with our colleagues and the students
whose educational needs continually
shift, now more so than ever. Expanding
our students' abilities to think and work
systematically within a creative realm,
and to share their unique gifts across disciplines, will contribute to their eventual
success in the workplace and to a more
just and healthy planet for all of us.
Alexandra Sargent Capps has
served on the Vanderbilt
University Theatre faculty since
2001. She is the university
costume designer, costume shop
manager, and director of Vanderbilt's Wond'ry
Innovation Center Fiber Arts Lab. She teaches

Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2020

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