Affording Meaning: Design-Oriented Research from the Humanities and Social Sciences

Julka Almquist is a PhD student in the Department of Planning, Policy, and Design at the University of California, Irvine. In 2008 she was the Design Research Fellow in Residence at Mayo Clinic's SPARC Innovation Design Lab. Additionally, she teaches design research courses at Art Center College of Design, and is co-founder of the UCI Design Alliance that aims to build a design discourse across campus as an area of intellectual inquiry.

Julia Lupton is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Irvine. In addition to three books on Shakespeare, she is also the co-author with her sister Ellen Lupton of D.I.Y. Kids (Princeton Architectural Press, 2007) and Design Your Life: The Pleasures and Perils of Everyday Things (St. Martins, 2009).