"INVESTIGATING TROUGH ITERATION" Symposium Publication Design

Course Title: Design Through Iteration: How Tools Shape Critical Thinking

Led by: Lemon Xueli Tang, Lecturer & Design Researcher

This five-day intensive course invites students to critically engage with unfamiliar tools, materials, or processes through hands-on exploration, reproduction, subversion, and iteration. Moving beyond outcome-focused design, the course encourages students to question tool conventions, embrace failure, and develop their own visual language.

The course culminates in the “Investigating Through Iteration” symposium, where each student presents their learning journey through a self-directed format—such as zines, books, installations, performances, or films. This is accompanied by a collaborative publication designed by the tutor, Investigating Through Iteration, which documents and celebrates the full range of student experiments, reflections, and creative insights developed during the week.