The world is awash with new data, but how can designers take the next step to make this data more meaningful in people’s day-to-day lives and interactions? Put differently, instead of giving people yet more data and visualizations to interpret, how can we personalize this data to provide simple insights that more intimately connect with what an individual really cares about?
In this class, we’ll examine how personalized design can give people more meaningful and pleasant experiences with their data interactions. We’ll explore how new technologies and designs are implementing these personalization strategies and how they’re being successful (or not). We’ll learn how to model, generate, and store our own datasets; how to build our own APIs; and ultimately how to design meaningful applications and experiences around this data.
We will do so by designing around our own data (as designing for the self is often the best starting place). Students will build an API around a personal dataset that they want to track and better understand, and then will design an application or experience around this personal data.
Students will learn techniques on how to work with existing Web APIs, how to build and use their own Web APIs (with Node.js and Mongodb), and will implement user-facing designs utilizing p5.js and other Web technologies. Class examples will be presented in Javascript.
Javascript tutorials will be assigned as a pre-requisite for those with little to no Javascript experience.
Samuel Slover