Hello! My name is Zack Tucker (he/him).
I'm a national leader in design education, civil rights activist, transdisciplinary designer, and Assistant Professor of Communication Design at Miami University in Oxford, OH USA.
I also serve on the AIGA Design Educators Community (DEC) Steering Committee.
What I Do
I utilize immersive, narrative, and autoethnographic research methodologies to explore civic engagement through a transdisciplinary practice in experience design. In particular, I engage communities around lessons learned from Freedom Summer 1964 and their relevance to contemporary racial justice and civil rights work. My work tends to be interactive, collaborative, and reflective. By conducting research through design, I enact theory into practice through radical hospitality—inviting everyone into the joy of discovery and inquiry through collaborative and inclusive design activities aimed at repairing harms perpetuated by white supremacy, building relationships, and activating a shared future.
Current Projects
- Finding Freedom Summer Traveling Panel Exhibit with collaborators Jacky Johnson, Stephanie Danker, Alia Levar Wegner, Kim Hoffman, Carla Myers, and Bob Wicks.
- Article (In Press): "The Ongoing De-Indoctrination of the 'Prototypical' White American Male" an autoethnographic visual essay examining my own positionalities and subjectivities in relation to my work with Freedom Summer as part of the AIGA DEC Design Writing Fellowship.
- Book Chapter (In Press): Building Community Resilience with the Finding Freedom Summer Traveling Panel Exhibit in the forthcoming edited volume, Restorative Practices in Education Through Art, by L. Kay, D. Heise, B.H. Johns with collaborator Stephanie Danker.
Selected Publications, Exhibitions, and Presentations
- Presentation: Towards Ethical Reflective Practice and Radical Acceptance in Design Practice, Research, and Edcuation at the 2022 AIGA National Design Conference in Seattle, WA USA.
- Interview: Zack Tucker: On Community Engaged and Social Impact Design as part of the AIGA Design Educatiors Community Design Educator Profile Series.
- Article: Using Twitter Bots to Critically Question the Belief Systems of College-Aged Republicans and Democrats published internationally in The Design Journal.