Dori Tunstall facts for kids

Elizabeth "Dori" Tunstall (born January 28, 1972, in Columbia, South Carolina) is a special kind of expert called a design anthropologist. She studies how design affects people and cultures. She is also a researcher, a leader in education, a writer, and a teacher. From 2016 to 2023, she was the dean of the design faculty at OCAD University in Toronto, Canada. She was the first Black dean of a design faculty anywhere in the world. Dori Tunstall earned her PhD and master's degree in anthropology from Stanford University. She also has a bachelor's degree in anthropology from Bryn Mawr College.

Dori Tunstall's Career Journey

Dori Tunstall started her career in the 1990s. This was a time when new technologies were appearing very quickly. Companies needed people who could understand how users would experience their products. This is where "design anthropology" became important. It helped designers understand the real-world needs of people.

Early Work in User Experience

Dori Tunstall began by working at a company called E-Lab in Chicago. She helped define "user experience" and "strategy." This meant she studied how real people used products in their daily lives. For example, she researched everything from how men groomed themselves to how communities used phones. Her training in social sciences was very valuable. It helped design firms create better products and services. E-Lab was known for understanding how people truly experienced products. This was different from old ways of market research, like focus groups.

In 1998, another company, Sapient Corporation, bought E-Lab. Dori Tunstall became a Senior Experience Modeler at Sapient. She worked there until 2002. After that, she moved to Arc Worldwide, an advertising and marketing company. There, she was a Senior Experience Planner from 2003 to 2005. This work helped her gain even more experience and understanding.

Focus on Education and Public Service

After 2000, Dori Tunstall started focusing on teaching and helping the community. In 2005, she became an Associate Director at the City Design Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She also became an Associate Professor of Design Anthropology there. This marked the start of her career as a leader in education.

From 2005 to 2006, she also managed Design for Democracy. This program uses design to make it easier for people to take part in government. It helps make interactions between the U.S. government and its citizens clearer and more trustworthy.

In 2008, Tunstall organized the U.S. National Design Policy Summit. This event aimed to create a plan for how design could help the U.S. economy and government. In 2009, she moved to Melbourne, Australia. There, she became an associate dean at Swinburne University of Technology. She also became an associate professor of design anthropology. In 2010, Tunstall started the Cultures-Based Innovation Initiative. This project uses cultural heritage to help communities facing social and environmental problems.

In October 2022, Dori Tunstall received the Education Award. This honor came from the Black Artists + Designs Guild (BADG) in New York City.

Understanding Design Anthropology

Dori Tunstall explains design anthropology as a growing field. It mixes different subjects to understand how design affects what it means to be human. It's more than just listing what a user needs. It challenges old ideas about human experiences and values.

Tunstall believes design must be careful and respectful. It should not try to control or change cultures. Instead, it should help people express their values through objects, environments, and interactions.

How Design Anthropology Has Changed

• In the beginning: Design anthropology was about researchers giving advice to design teams. They were the experts.
• In the 1990s: It changed to "Participatory Design." Here, different teams worked together. They observed people and found new ideas. These ideas were shared as "experience models" or "personas" (descriptions of typical users). Researchers became helpers, working with many different groups.
• Future of Design Anthropology: Tunstall thinks the next step is to make design anthropology a stronger academic field. It will focus on social issues. It will also study how designed objects affect people. Designs can cause changes in a culture. Studying these changes helps us understand what it means to be human. Design can then help make these changes positive.

Key Ideas of Design Anthropology

• Cultures Change: Value systems and cultures are always changing. Each generation decides what is important to them.
• Sharing Ideas: People and cultures often borrow ideas from each other. We should make sure this borrowing happens fairly.
• New Creations: When cultures mix, new things are gained, lost, and created. We should look at all these changes.
• All Making is Important: We should not separate art, craft, and design. All forms of making are important ways people show their values.
• Respectful Dialogue: We should create ways for everyone to share their knowledge equally. Their contributions should be recognized and paid for fairly.
• Positive Change: Design should help groups change harmful value systems. This helps everyone, especially vulnerable groups, and their environment.
• Compassion and Harmony: The biggest success of any design anthropology project is creating compassion among people. It should also create harmony with their environment.

Teaching Design Anthropology

Dori Tunstall describes teaching design anthropology as a mix of different practices:

• Theory: Learning about critical ideas from anthropology and design.
• Methods: Using research methods from anthropology and participatory design.
• Practice: Working in design studios and creating social systems.

Tunstall suggests that design education should focus on how students and staff "exist" in the world. This is more than just how they "see" the world. It's about understanding their place and impact.