Dr. Joyce S. R. Yee
Programme Leader for BA Interactive Media Design
BA (Hon), MA, PhD
Biography
Joyce is Programme Leader for the BA (Hons) Interactive Media Design at Northumbria University. Formally trained in Visual Communication, she has over 10 years working experience in wide range of environments: academic (teaching at BA and MA level in the UK and in Malaysia), professional (commercial graphic & new media design), cultural (United Kingdom & South East Asian), and organisational (working with commercial & non-profit organisations).
Joyce considers herself to be a design professional with a unique combination of practice, research and teaching experience. She describes her work as a constant oscillation between practice (knowledge in action), research (knowledge generator) and pedagogy (knowledge giver), each feeding into each other. This is evident in the fact that Joyce has pursued concurrent paths in practice, research and teaching, firstly through her role as a researcher at the Centre for Design Research and now in her academic role as Programme Leader in the MA Design and Design Professional Practice programmes.
Talking Point
The big questions or design issues that I am focusing on at the moment
Is there a designerly way of inquiring?
It is commonly recognised by the design research community that there is a 'designerly' way of knowing articulated by Nigel Cross, that is distinct from other types of knowledge. This concept of designerly knowing can be extended to the field of academic research as evidenced by research into a designerly way of inquiry as well as the emergence of design PhD studies that have challenged the academy's view and expectations of a traditional thesis. What does the implication of a 'designerly' way of researching has for the nature and format of design doctoral studies? What are the epistemological and methodological issues in design research arising from researching through design? These questions have been the focused of Joyce's recent research into practice-based research methods
Research Interests
A summary of the main elements or themes within my research
Joyce has published regularly since 2003 with over 20 conference and journal papers. Her papers are bound by a common theme of exploring and identifying how designers develop and improve their own practice. She is interested in the development of design-specific research methods, particularly human-centred research methods for design process and developing an approach for graphic design education in view of emergent media.
Expanding on her previous research, Joyce's current research is concerned with understanding how designers research and gain new knowledge, particularly in the area of designerly 'inquiring' and its resultant processes and methods. A simple way of describing the research area is 'research on design research'. Her work involves exploring the epistemology and methodological implications of practice-based research in design. She seeks to define these 'designerly' attributes by examining design research case studies, exploring the philosophy of design research and making a case for a distinctly 'designerly inquiry' approach as a valid approach to problem exploration and knowledge generation in academia specifically for design-related issues.
Key Publications
A list of recent or key publications that best represent my current research interests
All my publications can be accessed via my personal website:
http://www.designdictator.com/research/publications
Additionally, a selected number of papers are available via the Northumbria Research Link (NRL) by searching under the author's name of 'Yee'.
Here is my 'shorten' version of my publications
Design Related Methods and Approaches
Yee, J. (2009) 'Capturing tacit knowledge: Documenting and understanding recent methodological innovation used in Design Doctorates in order to inform Postgraduate training provision'. Experiential Knowledge Conference. London Metropolitan University, 19th June 2009, London.
Yee, J., Lievesley, M. and Taylor, L. (2009) 'Recognizing risk-of-failure in communication design projects', Visible Language: Special Issue on Design Failures, November 09, pp.230-253, 2009
Yee, J. (2007) 'Connecting Practice to Research (and back to Practice): Making the leap from design practice to design research'. Journal of Design Principles and Practices, Volume 1, Issue 1, Pg 81-90.
Collaborative learning in Design
Yee, J., McKelvey, K. and Jefferies, E. (2009) 'Helping design educators foster collaborative learning amongst design students', Iridescent: Journal of Design Research. Available at: http://iridescent.icograda.org/index.php
Below is the (long) list of my publications.
Design Related Methods and Approaches
Yee, J. (2009) 'Capturing tacit knowledge: Documenting and understanding recent methodological innovation used in Design Doctorates in order to inform Postgraduate training provision'. Experiential Knowledge Conference. London Metropolitan University, 19th June 2009, London.
Yee, J., Lievesley, M. and Taylor, L. (2009) 'Recognizing risk-of-failure in communication design projects', Visible Language: Special Issue on Design Failures, November 09, pp.230-253, 2009
Yee, J., Tan, L. and Meredith, P. (2009) 'The emergent roles of a designer in the development of an e learning service'. First Nordic Service Design Conference. School of Architecture and Design, 24-26 November 2009, Oslo, Norway.
Yee, J. (2007) 'Connecting Practice to Research (and back to Practice): Making the leap from design practice to design research'. Journal of Design Principles and Practices, Volume 1, Issue 1, Pg 81-90.
Yee, J., Michlewski, K. and Bohemia, E. (2007) 'Interrogating the Academic Research Process in UK Design Education from Design and Business Perspectives', ConnectED 2007: International Conference on Design Education. 2007, Sydney.
Lievesley, M. and Yee, J. (2007) 'Surrogate Users: A Pragmatic Approach to Defining User Needs', CHI2007, Extended Abstracts, ACM.
Lievesley, M. and Yee, J. (2007) 'Through their eyes only: Focusing stakeholders on end-user needs', Include Conference. 2007, Royal College of Art, London.
Taylor, L. and Yee, J. (2007) 'Are you a Delia or Chantelle? Engaging Stakeholders in Branding Exercise', Design and Semantics of Form and Movement. 2007, Newcastle upon Tyne.
Yee J. (2003) 'Dynamic Literature Mapping: Typography In Screen-Based Media',
European Academy of Design Conference. 2003, Barcelona.
Pedagogic Principles in Design
Yee, J. and Maclarty, E. (2010) 'Enabling a community of practice: Fostering social learning between designers and design managers at postgraduate level', Enhancing Curricula: 5th Centre for Teaching Art and Design Conference (CLTAD). 2010, Berlin.
Yee, J., McKelvey, K. and Jefferies, E. (2009) 'Helping design educators foster collaborative learning amongst design students', Iridescent: Journal of Design Research. Available at: http://iridescent.icograda.org/index.php
Yee, J. (2008) 'A cross-media typographic framework: teaching typographic skills in a convergent media', Hyphen Journal, 7(13), pp.17-36.
Yee, J. (2007) 'Design education in the Age of Media Convergence', Engineering and Product Design Education (EPDE), 2007 Newcastle upon Tyne.
Yee, J. (2004) 'Relearning Typography: Introducing a Cross-Disciplinary Typographic Framework',
Futureground: Design Research Society Conference, 2004, Melbourne.
Full list available at Northumbria Research Link (NRL)
Teaching Interests and Modules
An overview of the courses and modules that I currently teach on
Joyce adopts a multi-disciplinary, conceptual and analytical approach to her teaching and professional practice. At postgraduate level, her role as a tutor is focussed on helping students develops critical thinking and self-reflective skills. She recognises that an increasing amount of Postgraduate students come from a diverse cultural and pedagogic background. This poses a challenge but also an opportunity to harness the differences in experiences and worldviews through collaborative learning. As part of the ethos of connecting research with teaching practice, Joyce was involved in a research project (http://www.designcollaboration.org) which was aimed at helping tutors facilitate collaborative learning through practical teaching tools.
Joyce has been involved in Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Doctoral level teaching. Her subject knowledge spans graphic design, typography, interaction design, user experience and service design. The range of modules that she currently teaches include Typography and Hypertextuality, Interface and Application Design and Professional Practice. Previously she has taught the Research Principles module on several MA programmes and was the subject tutor for Visual Communication Interactive Media postgraduate students. She has also acted as project advisors to postgraduate Design Management students. She is currently advising 5 PhD students in the area of Service Design, information Design and Design Methods.
Modules that she is currently teaching on include:
DE0969 Typography and Hypertextuality
DE0979 Interface and Application Design
DE0966 Collaboration and Professional Association
DE0974 Personal Project 2
