Design Research
Process + Method + Materials
My practice integrates archival research, field work, and counter-mapping as an iterative dialogue between research and embodied making allowing concept and form to co-evolve.
Design, for me, is both a communicative tool and a critical method for examining historical and environmental harms committed against both humans and more-than-human beings. I work through environmental humanities frameworks and use site-specific inquiry to understand the contexts and drive my research questions. I approach each project as an iterative conversation, drafting and redrafting to ask better questions and find the right form for telling the story. My process values transparency and shows how questions, data, and the final form evolve together.
Grounded in Archival Study and Historical Analysis
Design Thinking
I start each project by locating a point of curiosity. Often this involves a confusion or tension that invites deeper investigation. I ask grounding questions, map the constraints, and use those limits as generative sites for design. This clarifies the core concept and the audience it’s meant for.
Visual Drafting + Iterations
My process cycles through multiple layers of iterative sketches to refine the visual logic and the guiding questions. Drafts, mockups, and layout variations reveal how the project communicates across different mediums. Iteration lets meaning and structure evolve together.
Material Connections
Material choices are integral to my design process and meaning-making. I consider which forms and materials can best carry the project, knowing each medium shapes interpretation. Working with a diverse range of materials helps me align form with the emotional and historical weight of the content.
Design Research & Thinking in Practice
In the project example below, I began with archival materials and built a cleaned CSV dataset, which I first visualized in PowerBI. Because I wanted to recognize each individual named within the project, the scale of the dataset exceeded what a single screen could legibly hold. To account for this shift in perspective, from counting cumulatively to counting individually, I took the project out of conventional data visualization programs and started to draft alternative forms. Working from a Gantt-style form I had sketched in Adobe Illustrator, I moved the dataset into Jupyter Notebook and wrote a Python script to generate a visualization based on my sketch. Working in Jupyter allowed me to export a vector file that represented each individual life rather than compressing the data into aggregated bars. I then projected the vector image onto the wall and, with the help of a team of volunteers, translated the data and visualization into physical materials to create a memorial for queer men persecuted by the Third Reich.
This project moved from archival research through visual drafting, iteration, and material translation, ultimately becoming a community-engaged installation—and it reflects the core arc of my design thinking process.
