Denielle Emans

PhD Candidate

Overview:

Denielle serves as an Assistant Professor of design at VCUarts Qatar. She specialises in the area of experiential design in relation to the conceptualisation, development, and execution of visual messages for social change and sustainability. As a designer, she has worked to create print, web, and motion design solutions for clients ranging from small start–ups to large corporations such as the World Bank, William Peace University, NC Department of Public Instruction, and Tilt.

Denielle has been involved in several competitive research grants and presented her work at a number of national and international conferences. She holds a Master’s degree in Graphic Design from North Carolina State University’s School of Design and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Research Interests:

Design for Sustainability and Social Change
Intercultural Communication
Collaborative and Participatory Methodologies
Migration and Communication Rights
Critical Discourse Analysis
Communication Rights

Current Research Topic: "Behind the Visual: Communication Design, Creative Action, & Social Change in Qatar”

Denielle’s research examines the productive—and creative—potentials of visual communication design to support the communication needs of migrant workers through a case study approach in Qatar. The praxis-oriented research draws from critical theory to investigate how social designers might transform structural inequalities and societal norms through creative action.

Thesis Supervisors: Associate Professor Elske van de Fliert and Dr Skye Doherty

Publications:

Murdoch-Kitt, K., and Emans, D.J., Intercultural Collaboration by Design: Drawing from Differences, Distances, and Disciplines Through Visual Thinking, Routledge, 2020 (ISBN 9780367219314)

Emans, Denielle, and Kelly Murdoch–Kitt. “Connective Methodologies: Visual Communication Design and Sustainability in Higher Education”. Handbook of Sustainability and Social Science Research, World Sustainability Series, edited by Leal Filho, Robert Marans, and John Callewaert. Springer International Publishing, 2018.

Emans, Denielle, and Kelly Murdoch–Kitt. “Intercultural Collaborations in Sustainable Design Education”. In Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Design, edited by Rachel Beth Egenhoefer, pgs. 135-147. Routledge, 2018.

Emans, Denielle, and Adina Hempel. “Measuring Impact: Program Evaluation & Design for Social Change”. Proceedings of the ICDHS 10th Conference of the International Committee for Design History & Studies, 26–28 October 2016, Taiwan Tech, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan, edited by Wendy Wong, Yuko Kikuchi Siuyi, and Tingyi S. Lin. São Paulo: Blucher, 2016: pgs. 302–307.

Murdoch-Kitt, Kelly, Denielle Emans and Kelly Martin. “Sustainability at the forefront: educating students through complex challenges in visual communication and design.” Interdisciplinary Environmental Review, Vol. 16, nos. 2/3/4. (2015): 285–311.

Emans, Denielle, and Basma Hamdy. “WonderBox: Storytelling and emerging technologies.” LearnxDesign: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference for Design Education Researchers, Edited by Robin Vande Zande, Erik Bohemia, and Ingvild Digranes. Vol.2. (2015): 604–622.

Murdoch–Kitt, Kelly, and Denielle Emans. “Experiential elements of high-to-low-context cultures.” LearnxDesign: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference for Design Education Researchers, Edited by Robin Vande Zande, Erik Bohemia, and Ingvild Digranes. Vol.3. (2015): 1301–1318.

Emans, Denielle, and Kelly Murdoch–Kitt. “My Water, My Change: Confronting global water concerns through cross-cultural collaboration.” Design with the other 90%: Cumulus Johannesburg Conference Proceedings, Edited by Desmond Laubscher, Fredericho Freschi, Collina Luisa, Amanda Breytenbach, and Kathryn Pope. Cumulus Johannesburg (2014): 223–233.

Murdoch–Kitt, Kelly, and Denielle Emans. “Design Nexus: integrating cross–cultural learning experiences into graphic design education.” Studies in Material Thinking: Re/materialising Design Education Futures. no. 11. (2014).

Emans, Denielle, and Adina Hempel. “Hybrid–learning for social design.” Tasmeem: no. 3 (2014).

Emans, Denielle, and Adina Hempel. “Digital Technology: a tool for mitigating cultural constraints and teaching design for social change in the MENA region.” DesignEd Asia Conference 2013: Delimitation-- Creating with Constraints: Conference Proceedings, Edited by Tim Jachna, Lam Yan Yan, and Sylvia Tzvetanova Yung. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (2013): 145–155.

Murdoch–Kitt, Kelly, and Denielle Emans. “City reflections: design collaborations for cross–cultural learning.” Design Education from Kindergarten to PhD – Design Learning for Tomorrow: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference for Design Education Researchers, Edited by Janne Beate Reitan, Peter Lloyd, Erik Bohemia, Liv Merete Nielsen, Ingvild Digranes, and Eva Lutnæs. no. 4 (2013): 387–404.

Emans, Denielle. “Do You Know a Melipona Bee?” multilingual children’s book. Published with the support of grant from Zayed University. Dubai: International Printing Press (2013).

Emans, Denielle. “Teaching Maya to the Next Generation: Children’s Publication Design in a Multilingual Context.” Typography in Publication Design: Proceedings of the 5th International Typography Day Conference. Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (2012).

Conference Presentations:

“New learning spaces for teaching social change in the MENA region.” Presentation at the islPAL Third International Conference on Leadership in Pedagogies and Learning, Toowong, Queensland, Australia, September 25–26, 2015.

“Culture in a box: Reshaping community-based narratives into visual constructs” (with Basma Hamdy). Presentation at the AIGA Design Education Conference, Spaces of Learning: Inside Outside Graphic Design Education, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, April 16–18, 2015.

“Creating significant change through redirective practice” (with Kelly Murdoch–Kitt). Presentation at the AIGA Design Education Conference, Spaces of Learning: Inside Outside Graphic Design Education, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, April 16–18, 2015.

“Click. Connect. Crit: Teaching global collaboration for international design innovation” (with Kelly Murdoch–Kitt). Virtual presentation at the AIGA Design Education Conference, New Ventures: Intersections in Design Education, Portland, OR, September 11–13, 2014.

“Cross-cultural design collaborations in water sustainability” (with Kelly Murdoch–Kitt). Virtual presentation at the Just Sustainability: Hope for the Commons Conference, Seattle, WA, August 7–9, 2014.

“Matters of responsibility: Prioritizing sustainability in design curricula across the globe” (with Kelly Murdoch–Kitt and Dr. Kelly Norris Martin). Presentation at the 9th International Conference on the Arts in Society, Rome, Italy, June 25–27, 2014.

“Participatory impact assessment for social design” (with Adina Hempel and Kate Lyon). Workshop at DRS (Design Researchers Society) 2014: Design’s Big Debates, Umea, Sweden. June 16–19, 2014.

“Intercultural by design: Exploring virtually mediated cross–cultural relations between middle eastern and western design students” (with Kelly Murdoch–Kitt). Virtual presentation at the University and College Designers Association Annual Design Education Summit, Madison, WI, May 19–20, 2014.

“Anything but the color green: Introducing sustainability into project–based visual communication courses” (with Kelly Murdoch–Kitt and Dr. Kelly Norris Martin). Virtual presentation at the University and College Designers Association Annual Design Education Summit, Madison, WI, May 19–20, 2014.

“Tools for hybrid learning: Design for social change in the UAE” (with Adina Hempel). Presentation at the ZU SoTL Symposium, Dubai, UAE, December 15–16, 2013.

“8,092–mile collaboration: A cross–cultural design education experiment between students in San Francisco and Dubai” (with Kelly Murdoch–Kitt). Presentation at the AIGA Geographics: Design, Education, and the Transnational Terrain Conference, Honolulu, HI, December 13–15, 2012.

“Facets of Emirati women” (with Peter Hassall, Fatma Al-Hashemi, Omnia Amin, Roudha Al-Sabousi, Ken Collins, Yuko Takeshita and Fujimi Sakae Tanaka). Panel presentation at the Women As Global Leaders Conference: Creating a Sustainable Future for the World, Abu Dhabi, UAE, March 13–15, 2012.