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Interview with Emily Norton

March 6, 2025

Design Thinking Initiative Building Exterior.jpeg
Design Thinking Initiative Building Exterior.jpeg
Emily Norton
Emily Norton

How would you describe your role at the DTI?

  • As director she oversees where the initiative is – what they do and where they’re headed
    • Mission and goals
    • Integrate design and making as ways of thinking into the Smith experience
      • Co-curricularly + individually
        • Her + studio manager + part time admin + part time communications 
  • 2 people running programming
    • One person on tech and support student staff
    • One for curricular side
    • Co-directing concentration + teaching classes
    • Face at the admin meetings

How did you end up pursuing this job?

  • She has background in art and design
    • Undergrad in hands-on making program
      • Did grad school for more conceptual art
    • Dismayed by the individualistic aspect of artworld
    • Excited by collaborative projects
  • Design thinking
    • Designers bringing creative approach to other fields 
    • Interested in moving into educational space

What are some approaches that help people feel comfortable being creative in a new medium?

  • Personality
    • Being able to break down projects into phased/step by step 
      • Visuals + demos + chances for people to try themselves
      • Visual to follow along with

What are some ways to create a self- sustaining creative community within a creative space? (how do you create an environment where people are comfortable trying new things)

  • Getting out of the way
    • Trust others leadership 
    • Create a space that feels more student led than staff led
      • Allowing the space to be emergent and responsive
      • Avoiding structure that would make it feel like some people don’t belong
        • Hard to avoid having a lot of stimulus 

Are there any practices you maintain to help ensure people will be respectful of your equipment and materials?

  • Its a shared resource so breakage and losses and disappearing things are inevitable
  • Intention around creating community guidelines and community use expectations
  • Introduce those expectations to any new people
  • Being mindful of all the problems could come up
    • Generally smith students are very good at it 

What challenges generally come up with helping customers who are passing through stay focused, engaged, and supported?

  • Challenge of just getting people to come in
    • Working with classes helps and can lead to interesting things
      • Helps people realize this resource could be for them
  • People who do come in but don’t know what to do
    • Studio design partners who help make it feel approachable
    • Making sure that the people who work here feel comfortable approaching someone and checking in
    • Making them visible in the space 
    • Signs everywhere that are affirmation signs for letting people interacting with the space
    • Next to every machine- pictures of people who know how to use different machines
    • Offering workshops that students can lead
      • Co-curricular workshops that are specific to material or approach
      • Intro level

Are there any digital creative databases that you find helpful or that would be good examples of how to create helpful learning spaces?

  • Linkedin learning
  • Youtube
  • DTI website
    • Students created “resources beyond DTI”
    • “Tutorials and equipment”
  • Reed bartone johnsone
  • Instructables 
  • Books
  • Zines
  • Open source libraries