“Vital Signs” is a half-day symposium and ideas festival, where graduating students will present final thesis projects and discuss future research directions, drawing from the multi-media portfolio developed over their course of study. Audience members and special guests will be invited to respond to the work by participating in a public conversation moderated by IDEO design researcher and BBC journalist Alex Gallafent.

“Vital Signs” confronts critical issues in design today, grappling with thorny topics and shining light into previously uncharted research territories. Using maps, posters, experiences, cards, kits, props, renderings, sets, grids, and devices as starting points, these design researchers consider the implications of context, agency, money, politics, technology, risk-taking, and rhetoric. Their penetrating readings of design across its many manifestations reveal dynamic states and raise fundamental questions.