The faculty and staff of RISD describe how their approach to critical thinking and creating can lead to thoughtful work and innovation and explains how readers can utilize this process to become more creative, dynamic individuals Describes the world's leading approach to art and design taught at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). This book illuminates how RISD nurtures the creative process, from brief or prompt to outcome, along with guidance on the critical questions and research that enable making great works of art and design. Foreword J 5 John Maeda Preface 11 Frank R. Wilson The Art of Critical Making: An Introduction 19 Rosanne Somerson Groundwork 32 Leslie Hirst Text and Context: Outward in All Directions 52 Daniel Cavicchi Conversation: Drawing 74 Patricia C. Phillips Thingking 94 John Dunnigan Object Lessons 116 Sarah Ganz Blythe Conversation: Materials 138 Kelly Dobson Graphic Design, Storytelling, and the Making of Meaning 164 Lucinda Hitchcock The Nature Imperative 190 Neal Overstrom Conversation: Critique 210 Eva Sutton Acting into the Unknown 230 Pradeep Sharma Afterword 245 Mara L. Hermano ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 251 CONTRIBUTORS 253 ILLUSTRATIONS 261 INDEX 265