Final Synthesis Design Studio 15

The 2019/2020 edition of the Final Synthesis Design Studio focused on exploring the social, cultural, and political implications of digital technologies through data visualization and communication design. Students investigated the Internet as a complex phenomenon, examining its infrastructure, history, and global impact, before exploring issues related to misinformation, surveillance, digital identities, online censorship, and the increasingly blurred boundaries between real and fake.

The course was structured into three phases. Students first explored the Internet through structured data from institutional sources, producing printed visualizations that offered different perspectives on its development and functioning. They then applied digital methods to investigate specific controversies surrounding digital technologies, producing interactive research reports based on online data. In the final phase, they transformed their findings into experimental digital artifacts designed to engage specific audiences, encourage critical reflection, and support public action.

Throughout the course, visualization was approached not only as a tool for analysis and communication, but also as a means of shaping public understanding and enabling collective engagement with complex issues.

Student outputs

All student projects are documented on the 2019/2020 course website, organized according to the three phases of the course:

1. Data as Material: Printed data visualizations exploring the Internet’s infrastructure, history, and social and economic dimensions.
2. Data as Artifact: Interactive research reports using digital methods to investigate controversies surrounding digital technologies and online cultures.
3. Data Publics: Experimental digital artifacts designed to engage specific audiences, encourage reflection, and enable action on the issues explored.