Final Synthesis Design Studio 22

Today, many aspects of our lives are mediated by data: our social interactions, our relationship with institutions, and the ways in which we access, interpret and discuss public issues. In this scenario, the role of communication designers is crucial, as they participate in the creation of artefacts that allow society to produce, organise, visualise and debate data. Data visualisation and digital interfaces represent only the visible part of a longer chain of operations, including data collection, selection, analysis, refinement, publication and interpretation. Along this chain, different actors make choices, frame issues, and assert their perspectives. Within this context, the visual representation of data goes beyond simply converting datasets into visual forms: it also concerns the design of data as a cultural, technical and political object.

The studio course explores different dimensions of data analysis, information design and communication design. Students are introduced to methods and critical perspectives for working with data, with particular attention to online data, digital platforms, public debate and the social circulation of information. The course pushes students to experiment with different formats for data display and data communication, from static visualisations to public-facing artefacts and exhibition formats.

The course is structured into an initial individual warm-up, followed by a group project articulated into three consecutive and interdependent modules: Data Design, Data Publics and Data to Knowledge. After choosing a project theme, each group works on the same topic throughout the three modules. Each module produces a specific output while contributing to the development of the overall project.

The initial warm-up is an individual exercise focused on designing a static data visualisation. Students work on a topic of their choice, identify a suitable data source, define their knowledge objectives, design a diagram, and publish the result in an open-access format. The aim of this phase is to introduce the basic concepts, techniques and critical vocabulary of data visualisation.

The group project focuses on public perceptions of biodiversity and online socio-environmental controversies. Students investigate how biodiversity-related issues are framed, discussed, contested and circulated across digital platforms, with attention to the plurality of actors, values, conflicts, forms of evidence and modes of public engagement involved. The development of the group project is divided into three modules: Data Design, Data Publics, Data to Knowledge.

In the Data Design module, groups work with online data through a research question-driven process. They identify relevant sources, collect and structure datasets, document their methodological choices, and use exploratory visualisations to produce evidence-based findings about the topic under study. This phase introduces digital methods as a way to study cultural and social phenomena through the web, while also encouraging students to reflect on the constructed, partial and situated nature of data.

In the Data Publics module, students transform the collected and analysed data into artefacts addressed to specific publics. The aim is not only to display information clearly, but also to republish data in ways that support pluralistic representations of the topic, encourage reflection, and make visible the tensions and perspectives involved in socio-environmental controversies. Particular attention is given to exhibition formats and to artefacts capable of engaging audiences in a Digital Media and Information Literacy context.

In the Data to Knowledge module, students define knowledge objectives and design evaluation methods to assess whether and how their artefacts communicate knowledge to their intended publics. This phase broadens the focus from the artefact as a collection of visual and material elements to its value for the audience as a means of conveying, activating and evaluating knowledge. Students design evaluation protocols, instructions and data collection strategies that can be applied to the final artefacts.

The final output of the course is a data-driven communication system conceived for an exhibition context, accompanied by analytical documentation and an evaluation methodology. Depending on the development of the course and on the available spaces, the results may be presented in a public exhibition format within the university context.