Ms. Adream Blair-Early
 
Educational Background:
Associate Professor of Art and Design, Peck School of the Arts University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee.
 
Research and/or Professional Experience:
Adream Blair-Early (UNITED STATES) is a designer and educator at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where she works to develop cross-disciplinary design research initiatives and curricula with the college of engineering and the college of health sciences. Previously, Ms. Blair-Early worked as an interaction designer, educator and researcher for the University of Cincinnati (UC) in the College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning (DAAP) as well as their research initiative, The Center for Design Research and Innovation (CDRI) and the Live Well Collaborative (LWC), a joint venture between UC and Proctor and Gamble. Her research into principles of interaction and cross-disciplinary design curricula has been presented both nationally and internationally; and her work has been published in Visible Language, Design Issues, and The Journal of Design Principles and Practices. Ms. Blair-Early has an M.G.D. from North Carolina State University’s School of Design and a B.S. in graphic design from Bradley University.

University art and design programs are branching out and creating interdisciplinary programs and research centers that connect design students and faculty across various disciplines such as business, engineering, architecture, information studies, health sciences and education.
 
A human-centered, problem-based approach to design research looks to position industry and academic leaders to work alongside students, community leaders, artists and non-profits to develop creative and innovative solutions to the challenges facing contemporary society. But product design benefits even more from practices that engage users throughout the entire design process, often called participatory design. Participatory design process utilizes user feedback throughout the design process to spur innovation and improve design quality.
 
It is possible in the classroom to engage in participatory design and participatory prototyping through the use of inexpensive 3D printers and laser cutters as well as traditional hand tools, requiring only mastery of a few simple techniques and technology readily available on laptop computers. The class research being presented was conceived as part of a new interdisciplinary classroom research space call the Digital Craft Research Lab (DCRL) housed within the department of Art and Design. Courses taught within the DCRL offer students, researchers and faculty continual access to both low resolution and high-resolution prototyping machinery and materials.
 
This paper looks at the role of action and participatory research in a design course that created printed hand innovations in collaboration with a nine-year-old female user. Students were asked to work on modeling new designs as well as capturing the progress in a final open source book and models.
 
This paper asks the question can the use of classroom collaboration, action research and work spaces encourage creativity, innovation, and critical thinking in student and professional designers?