It’s true of the 91探花’s , which gives free guidance to faculty, students and staff on the more artistic aspects of presenting research or reports 鈥� figures, diagrams, posters and the like.

The 91探花Design Help Desk was created by , a professor of visual communication design in the 91探花, together with , a professor of electrical and computer engineering who is now with the University of California, Santa Cruz. Its ongoing support comes from the School or Art’s .

Designers 鈥� in this case 91探花design students 鈥� helping science-types seemed a good idea , but now a new paper demonstrates its common-sense effectiveness: “” was published May 1 in the journal Plos One.

Cheng and Rolandi are co-authors of the small study, along with 91探花College of Education graduate and 91探花design alumni and . Many other talents went into the work, Cheng noted, including illustrator and 91探花design alumna and former faculty member , now at Northeastern University. The study was funded by the National Science Foundation.

The paper stems from the experiences of 12 91探花graduate students in science or engineering who participated in half-hour one-on-one sessions with design students at the help desk. The interactions were captured by video and annotated with a program called “Monologger” created by Hirsch and Cook to enable moment-to-moment analysis of the interactions. The resulting films also were reviewed closely by a four-member working group of individuals trained in interaction analysis techniques.

The researchers write that close study shows that the pairings and guidance “consistently produced a momentary disequilibrium in the scientist’s thought process,” but that the feeling led in time to one of “agency 鈥� and conceptual change in the scientist’s understanding of visual design.”

The participants were also sent a post-session satisfaction survey with questions about their user experience, to which eight replied. When asked if the Design Help Desk had been helpful, or if the consultant had been well-informed, the eight responding chose either the “agree” or “strongly agree option.” One of the eight selected a neutral response when asked if the consultant had “established a rapport” with them.

One participant summed up her experience saying: 鈥淚 really liked how the consultant first tried to understand our project and then gave us helpful advice on how to organize the layout of the poster.鈥� Another called the Help Desk advice “straightforward, to the point, and very helpful.”

The researchers write: “Visual design, learning sciences, and nanotechnology may be strange bedfellows; yet, as this paper highlights, peer interaction between a designer and a scientist is an effective method for helping scientists acquire visual design skills.”

The graphics that were the subject of Design Help Desk assistance were made better by the guidance, the researchers write. “Six demonstrated clear improvements to the visual design 鈥� for example, simplification of overly complex illustrations, or reorganization into simpler compositions is typical of this kind of transformation.” The students ended up publishing the improved designs in posters, a public presentation and an academic paper.

Cheng added: “Essentially, this study shows that unique collaborations between designers and scientists at the Design Help Desk did indeed lead to learning and acquisition of design skills.”

The success of these Design Help Desk encounters, they write, “supports the notion that an interaction between STEM and the arts promotes not only better science, but indeed, better learning.”

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For more information, contact Cheng at 206-310-5339 or kcheng@uw.edu.

• NSF award number 1008568

“You just composted 2.31 ounces,” the screen reads. “If everyone on campus composted this amount today, 91探花would save $1,181.00.”

An interactive recycling and composting station installed this spring at PACCAR Hall is showing the 91探花 community exactly how much money can be saved by composting and recycling correctly. And it seems to be doing its job well.

Installed in early April in , the interactive system was dreamed up by an interdisciplinary research group led by and , professor and associate professor, respectively, of the in the .

Their system consists of three receptacles, each fitted with a weight sensor, microcomputer and digital screen. When people toss items into the receptacles, the screen shows how much money is saved by proper composting and recycling, as well as the hypothetical savings campuswide if everyone did the same.

When the bins aren’t being used, their screens remind people which items belong in each category, including items such as bottle caps and foil lids.

Several student and alumni talents went into the project. Four graduate students from the 聽program proposed the initial concept in a course co-taught by Cheng and聽, who directs the program. Cheng and Matthews collaborated with 91探花design students and alumni to create the on-screen animations and photography.

Cheng and Matthews collaborated with anthropology professor and doctoral candidate to study the installation’s impact. They found that incorrect sorting of items went down from 48 percent to 40 percent, and that waste correctly diverted to the landfill container rose by 10 percent since the installation opened.

This project was supported by the Royalty Research Fund at the 91探花. The project is open to the public, and located at 聽in聽PACCAR Hall.

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View and other of the installation’s setup and use. To learn more, contact Cheng at 206-685-2773 or kcheng@uw.edu. Video below by Carly Lynch.