Episode 025

Life after Launch: Education and Research with Isabel Prochner

Dr. Prochner is the reason we set out to explore our season 3 topic: how do design and society shape each other and how does the designer’s identity, choices and intention show up in the product lifespan? She calls for us to think about the responsibility of the designer and the opportunity in each of our hands. As an educator at Virginia Tech, Dr. Prochner teaches her students to interrogate this question. She enables undergrads to join design research projects, teaching them how to interview and avoid leading questions. She has published two books, one on gender sex and equity and will soon release a new human factors book to replace the now outdated data in Measure of Man. When there is a gap in product she finds in her research, she is able to step in and create what’s needed, but always moves with intention and care for what she puts out in the world. This season we’ll talk to designers throughout our industry about how they factor in their impact and hope you’ll join us in pushing ourselves to think more intentionally. 

Show Notes:

• Contact: prochner@vt.edu

• Website: https://iprochner.com/

• Conversations on the Intersection of Design and Disability Inclusion

• Personas as Public, Audience, and Stereotype: A Critical Inquiry

• A Life’s Design

• The Binding Health Project