Join our DeignLab Lunch Lecture with Anna Vallgarda!
Anna Vallgarda is an Associate Professor and head of the IxD Lab at the IT University of Copenhagen. She is visiting the University of Twente as part of her Design United research fellowship. Anna is challenging the way we view the computer. Aiming to develop new material expressions for computational things, the interaction designer treats the computer as a material for design, conducting practical explorations on textures and materials. In doing so, she aspires to enrich our user experience by broadening the computer’s purpose and definition.
“I do believe we are going to see –materially speaking– much more varied aesthetics within interaction design,” Vallgårda claims. “I think the view of interaction materials in interaction design becomes a necessity alongside the development of smart products and the notion of the Internet of things, that we do not just plaster our surroundings with screens and tablets and so on but that [interaction materials] become embedded in the artifacts we already use.”
Background
Upon completing her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Computer Science from the University of Copenhagen, Vallgårda ventured into design research in an effort to experiment with the computer as a design material. In 2009, she earned her PhD in Interaction Design from the IT University of Copenhagenand spent the next two years collaborating with textile and fashion designers at the Swedish School of Textiles.
