David Stairs
My senior design students at Central Michigan University recently completed a capstone exhibition dedicated to the changing experience of childhood.
All of these young people grew up in the era of social media, AI, and the implications that has for exploitation. While many of them are digitally well connected, some even addicted to their devices, there was also an almost universal longing for the idea of a childhood free from the internet, where kids can roam in field and forest allowing their imaginations to reign.
Lenticular mural, perpetrator side
While the group chose to avoid discussing things like school shootings, they were not averse to pointing out the ways in which kids these days are exploited both commercially and, more darkly, sexually, especially by the seemingly friendly internet. Emma Corbett actually created a set of lenticular murals pairing photos of children with internet images of known child abusers. This work received university support in the form of a research grant, and was then commissioned as a permanent display for the main academic library.
Lenticular mural, child side
The process book the class designed is a good example of how design research can be applied in an undergraduate program toward issues that affect the broader community. Congratulations to Emma and her fifteen classmates for a job well done!
David Stairs is the founding editor of the Design-Altruism-Project.
