Reflections on the ‘Through’ Part of RtD

This pictorial is the result of a reflexive account and the first steps of an illustrated taxonomy of the messy lines that constituted a year long RtD project around data-human entanglements and is a collaboration with Audrey Desjardins. These lines show how the processes of designing, engaging with interlocutors, following first-person approaches, and writing are intertwined in intricate, drawn-out, surprising, and also beautiful ways. Those lines also broaden how we understand how RtD knowledge is produced—partly through designing, but also through all these other modes of engaging in inquiry and people. The lines we drew stemmed from our own RtD process. However, we hope that their visual qualities (their simplicity, their directionality, and their names) will resonate with other RtD practitioners and inspire them to draw their own lines throughout their projects, in moments of pause throughout, as well as with hindsight. We ask, what would a corner, a funnel, a fading line, or a rooted line mean or represent? We have illustrated one way to bring into focus a process which is, and should remain, squishy, murky, and uncontained yet benefits from better communication, transparency, and documentation.

Collaborator: Audrey Desjardins

Publication: