Dialogues: A Collective Interview
Interview Group 1: Zoey, Adam, Louis, and Sabrina
Interview Group 2: Katie, Ilhee, and Kevin
Interview Group 3: Nick, Ásta, and Forough
The collective interview is an opportunity to work with your peers on a self-directed group project, in which you hold an interesting dialogue with a designer of interest. Place emphasis on the dialogic, the lively, mutual exchange of ideas. Whose work are you passionate about? How much research must one put into a professional conversation? This is preparation for creating compelling thesis interviews down the line.
Sequence of Events:
In Week Two, you will be paired with two or three other people. Amongst yourselves, you will work together to decide on a designer or design practioner you would like to interview together.
Such unfamiliar collaboration is a staple of professional practice, especially one with any overlap in active publishing. You may well have to interview and engage with many subjects in collaboration with a team of different talents.
Come up with your top three choices. Craft how you would like to frame outreach to them. We will discuss a timeline when you should ask your Plan B and C if A is not able to meet.
You may delegate tasks and work as you like, but I would suggest trying to challenge yourself. If your interview discussion skills need honing, offer to be the interviewer. If you are less familiar with editing a long-form interview, offer to edit. Or: figure out a way to split tasks collectively; a collective ‘edit’ in real-time can be one of the most exciting ways to re-examine the gems of a conversation.
All members of your group should be present at the interview, even if you choose one or two people to ask the questions.
Aim for a conversation that is beneficial for each of you, as well; perhaps your group submits questions in a Google Doc-, and you curate, pick and choose from them during the conversation. Suggestion: conduct good research on your subject. Look at interviews. Try not to repeat questions they’ve been asked. Aim to be original, thoughtful, timely. Create a script in preparation in which you both have interview questions but also themes and topics you’d like to touch on generally, that allow for editing live during the conversation.
Between you, record the interview; then transcribe it (a service like otter.ai is wonderful); edit it. Again, think about and enact an equitable division of labor.
Set and include your group’s Collective Interview for discussion in your full group review presentation of your Compendium draft, on May 17, and May 18th. Required in final Compendium submission.
In Week Two, you will be paired with two or three other people. Amongst yourselves, you will work together to decide on a designer or design practioner you would like to interview together.
Such unfamiliar collaboration is a staple of professional practice, especially one with any overlap in active publishing. You may well have to interview and engage with many subjects in collaboration with a team of different talents.
Come up with your top three choices. Craft how you would like to frame outreach to them. We will discuss a timeline when you should ask your Plan B and C if A is not able to meet.
You may delegate tasks and work as you like, but I would suggest trying to challenge yourself. If your interview discussion skills need honing, offer to be the interviewer. If you are less familiar with editing a long-form interview, offer to edit. Or: figure out a way to split tasks collectively; a collective ‘edit’ in real-time can be one of the most exciting ways to re-examine the gems of a conversation.
All members of your group should be present at the interview, even if you choose one or two people to ask the questions.
Aim for a conversation that is beneficial for each of you, as well; perhaps your group submits questions in a Google Doc-, and you curate, pick and choose from them during the conversation. Suggestion: conduct good research on your subject. Look at interviews. Try not to repeat questions they’ve been asked. Aim to be original, thoughtful, timely. Create a script in preparation in which you both have interview questions but also themes and topics you’d like to touch on generally, that allow for editing live during the conversation.
Between you, record the interview; then transcribe it (a service like otter.ai is wonderful); edit it. Again, think about and enact an equitable division of labor.
Set and include your group’s Collective Interview for discussion in your full group review presentation of your Compendium draft, on May 17, and May 18th. Required in final Compendium submission.