University-level education in architecture and design is explicitly about making objects, but it is also implicitly about learning how professional practitioners behave: while clearly-communicated information about design shapes the participants and the items they create, so also do the tacit rules of social conduct. This presentation considers how university-level design education can be an effective site for exploring the innovative outcomes of creative practice, such as buildings and products, but also as a site where powerful social norms and taken-for-granted interactional practices may be revealed.

Dr. Arlene Oak, Material Culture and Design Studies, Department of Human Ecology, University of Alberta, researches how spoken language in natural settings shapes the creation and reception of architecture, design, and fine art. Her focus on the relationships between objects, language, and perceptions of personal and social identity is informed by her background in studio-based design practice, design history, and social psychology.