{"id":969,"date":"2019-10-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/thehive\/clowning-curiously-in-human-centered-design\/"},"modified":"2019-10-18T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-18T00:00:00","slug":"clowning-curiously-in-human-centered-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/colleges.claremont.edu\/thehive\/clowning-curiously-in-human-centered-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Clowning curiously in Human-Centered Design"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Kate Weinberg: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barbara Ann Michaels<\/a>, a professional clown and\nself-proclaimed \u201cJester of the Peace,\u201d popped into my Human-Centered Design\nclass to shake things up and share the power of humor with our students. Not\nonly did she make us laugh at 10 a.m. on a Friday morning, she also explained\nhow she did it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barbara\ndispelled our notion of humor as a cultural phenomenon and instead showed us\nthat humor is deeply rooted in the human psyche. She shared some sure fire ways\nto make anyone laugh, such as setting up an expectation and then breaking it.\nThis trick works with everyone \u2013 if you found someone who had spent their\nentire life on a deserted island, and you put Barbara Ann Michaels in front of\nthem, she could still make them laugh! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you address an issue through laughter, people open up. Humor allows us to look at things that seriousness may not.\u201d<\/p>\u2013 Barbara Ann Michaels<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The\nHuman-Centered Design class is currently working on Design Project 2, where we\nare redesigning transportation around The Claremont Colleges. Barbara took us\nout onto the streets to expand our thinking and help us embody through clowning\nwhat it means to locomote around campus. Students brought their bikes,\nskateboards, scooters, and magic carpets to experiment with unconventional\nmodes of transportation \u2013 one student even brought a cello. Then this happened \u2026\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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