A delightful surprise
Today I learned, much to my joy, that my design methods have been used as a small part of a graduate school thesis in Interaction Design. The thesis was written by Dominika Markowicz, and according to her advisor on Twitter,
‘Hidden Layers in Embroidered Stories’ explores the techno-vernacular potential in cross-stitch to revitalise culturally-situated knowledge practices in Slavic culture.
A public blog post explains the symbolism of the various parts of the embroidery, and it’s well worth looking at! I’ve been given permission to share the photograph here, but do go look at the explanations. The Slavic motifs all have meanings that are explained, but there is also a symbol in the center of the QR code that uses my methods.
There’s an interesting set of nested structure in the overall design too. There’s squares in three corners of the QR code and a pattern in the center. The larger design has traditional motifs in three corners, the QR code in the fourth corner. and a pattern in the center. Also, the little designs in the corners of the bigger central design make me think of the RSS feed symbol; I don’t know if that’s deliberate, but all of this makes me wonder what other layers are present.
I am always delighted to see people come up with designs using my techniques, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it used in academic work or something this complex before!
I hope you will be inspired!