Restoring student agency in post-digital visualisation: An action research project, 2020-2024.

Abstract

Digitising interior design visuals often produces hyper-realistic renders generated through highly specialised programs to simulate utopian design solutions. These digital representations are lauded by their creators but criticised for their homogeneity, lack of context, and lack of visual narrative. This lack of distinctive visual identity is attributed to the prevalence of technological determinism, which views technological mastery as innately superior. Nonetheless, students can be exposed to alternative visualisation models through the post-digital paradigm to counter this determinist mindset. The post-digital approach provides a critical lens on technology's role in visualisation and reintroduces affective digital-making practices. It shifts the focus away from technological advancements and challenges technological deterministic optimism. Post-digital thinking enhances student agency, helping to foreground 'designerly' and individual identity and decentralising digital acumen. To explore this, we initiated an action research project investigating the benefits of the post-digital paradigm in the interior design studio. The aims were to develop student awareness of interior design visualisations’ emotive potential and encourage creative agency, moving from visual production to expression. This article presents our reflections on five research cycles, offering alternative approaches to visualising the affective qualities of interior spaces and restoring agency and designerly identity in visuals and the visualisation process.