6 LEHIGH UNIVERSITY | COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES SPOT LIGHT LEHIGH UNIVERSITY | COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES AT THE CROSSROADS of cultural inquiry and technological exploration, Kevin Lahoda is charting a design practice that is as thoughtful as it is future-facing. A designer whose work is influenced by a background in anthropology, Lahoda’s scholarship interrogates what it means to do research in design and what it means to teach it. Today, his research focuses on how graphic and interactive design can be used to make complex, often invisible systems visible and comprehensible. But the story doesn’t begin with pixels or posters. “When we talk about data visualization, what interests me is how designers, whether through research or practice, are exploring alternative ways of turning data into stories,” says Lahoda, assistant professor of design in the Department of Art, Architecture, and Design. Data can be experiential, but Lahoda’s research emphasizes the importance of data literacy and physicalization—the process of turning abstract information into physical, tangible objects or experiences, such as sculptures, installations, wearables, or interactive environments. The goal is often to make data more engaging, accessible, and meaningful by involving the body and senses, he says. By interacting with data in a physical space—touching it, walking around it, manipulating it—people can develop a deeper, often more intuitive understanding of the information. Lahoda’s students are immersed in his design ethos from day one. In an information design class, one student recently created a visual narrative charting the ecological cost of artificial intelligence—translating the abstract energy demands of AI into tangible metrics. ChatGPT “drinks” roughly a half liter of water for every 50 or so queries, so the student scaled the metaphor to bathtubs and Olympic-sized pools, transforming an invisible infrastructure into an evocative, data-driven story. “Basically, the idea was back-of-the-napkin kind of math,” he says. “It’s a little loose, but it’s making a point. It’s data-informed, this idea that anytime you put a prompt in for a ChatGPT, there is a cost connected. That student didn’t just learn about AI’s environmental impact by being told about it. They learned about it through the design process—by translating data into form and meaning.” Lahoda’s emphasis on discovery, iteration, and critical thinking is woven into his teaching. He encourages students to dwell in uncertainty, explore ambiguity, and ask deeper questions before arriving at polished outcomes. There is often a rush in the industry to get to the deliverable, he says. But if you fast-forward through discovery, you miss the human insight. And that’s frustrating for students who want to go deep. “It’s great to see when students are engaging on that level of critical thinking and then cultivating some critical discourse around it. Multimodal engagement, which is something that we can do with interactive media, has a lot of potential for engagement. And then, ideally, going back around to the idea of design as an advocate for something, or getting people to do or think something different.” ■ Designing Understanding Kevin Lahoda in the classroom. A web and design project, “Behind the Meter” sheds light on the climate impact of cryptocurrency mining in New York State (below). Christine Kreschollek, Courtesy of Kevin Lahoda
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