TITLE // A Little More Conversation
DATE // 2007
CLIENT // Academy of Art University Coursework
Deliverables // Card Design, Photography
The Socratic approach to questioning is based on the practice of disciplined, rigorously
thoughtful dialogue to elicit meaningful dialogue between teacher and student. This
would often involve asking a question and then questions that were then asked.
When one pictures the life of Socrates, one would often imagine a man that spent
much of his life in a public forum discussing the important topics of the times.
These public discussions were not only classes, but discussions with the general
public itself.
When one considers the modern equivalent of the public discussions that Socrates
participated in, one could draw parallels to the concept of a party or a get-together.
Both functions require that a participant speak at length about varying topics and
to smoothly transition into other topics once conversations about a particular topic
has run its course. It is from this concept that the project of A Little More Conversation
was born.
Perhaps the most difficult aspect of speaking with strangers is to keep a conversation
going or transitioning to a topic similar to the one being discussed. A Little More
Conversation is a tool that provides assistance in these conversations that takes the
form of a set of 120 cards divided into six 20-card decks, with a deck covering the
theme of science and technology, nature, culture and community, science, art and the
humanities, and history. Each card hosts a specific topic and some factoids of said
topic from the theme of the deck in which they are housed. The project was designed
as a series of cards so that they can discreetly pulled out and used during a conversation.
Users can choose to mix and match the cards between decks or use individual decks of
cards for specific functions, such as using the Art and the Humanities deck at a museum
gathering. With A Little More Conversation at hand, one need not worry about a conversation
coming to standstill ever again.