New Tools for Disabled Artists
By Matthew Baranauskas
A Project presented to The Graduate Faculty California College of the Arts
Abstract
I have come to believe that it is essential that the tools disabled artists use support the development of their capacity for creative expression. Creative expression enables artists to gain strength, enjoyment and fulfillment. It can positively affect their orientation to the world and towards others, increasing their sense of personal identity and pride. For an artist, art making is both a productive and a reflective process – the way in which their experience of the world is influenced and changed by the process is where development occurs.
In this thesis, I pose the question: how might new tools be created that better support the tasks disabled artist would like to take part in, tasks which enable creative expression? Using the social model of disability, one that sees the issue as mainly a socially created problem, I investigate how a combination of both a human-centered and a task-focused approach can help designers avoid creating tools that are stigmatizing. I describe the important role precedent plays in designs that are created for this demographic. I investigate how impairments, which are more commonly seen as a diminished ability rather then an opportunity or unique ability, might be embraced and leveraged within the design of artists’ tools through the use of feedback alternatives. Finally, I make an argument for the simple-tool over the multi-tool, and consider the relationship between buy-in and reward as it pertains to the development of tools for disabled artists.
I describe the evolution of my process and the development of a number of prototypes, which illustrate my investigation of these topics. In conclusion, I describe three design principles that will help direct the future development of tools for disabled artists. Lastly, these principles and the corresponding text are made manifest through the embodiment of two new art tool experiences.