Seeing Through the Lens of 4D Design

While we can confidently say that the future is here in terms of technological advances, we are a long way from truly understanding its impact. To do so, we need to tinker, explore, and prototype the data-infused experiences that make the physical world around us unfold over the fourth dimension–time. In this talk, Carla Diana ME'89 will discuss the impact of 4D Design, from interactive objects and clothing to mixed reality and robotics, looking at the critical work that today’s design students will do to shape the world of tomorrow.

The event is free and open to the public. General public should reserve a space at https://bit.ly/2EgnSwD. Please note seating is on a first come basis; an RSVP does not guarantee admission as we generally overbook to ensure a full house.

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Carla Diana is a designer, author, and educator who explores the impact of future technologies through hands-on experiments in product design and tangible interaction. She has designed a range of products from robots to connected home appliances, and her designs have appeared on the covers of Popular Science, Technology Review, and the New York Times Sunday Review.

Carla has been granted the honor of creating the 4D Design program at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, serving as its first Designer in Residence; it will begin accepting students in Fall 2019. She is an ongoing collaborator with the Socially Intelligent Machines Lab at the University of Texas, Austin, where advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning are manifest in expressive robots.

Carla writes and lectures frequently on the social impact of robotics and emerging technology and created the world’s first children’s book on 3D printing, LEO the Maker Prince. She is a coauthor of a forthcoming book on smart object design to be published by Harvard Business Review Press and currently cohosts the Robopsych Podcast, a biweekly discussion around design and the psychological impact of human-robot interaction.

She holds a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from the Cooper Union and an M.F.A. in 3D Design from the Cranbrook Academy of Art.