headshot of Joy Dohr in black and white

Joy H. Dohr

Professor Emerita
Design Studies Department; Interior Architecture Major
608-231-1084
jhdohr@wisc.edu
“We love not so much what we’ve acquired as what we have made and who we have made it with.”

–Robert Finch

I have long had a passion for design, particularly the creative process involving creative seeing, creative thinking and making. I have studied the topic from perspectives of adult learning, lifespan development with older adults, professional career development of interior architectural designers, and through the element of environmental color and place design. The scholarship was instrumental in my teaching whether Fundamentals of Design, Three-Dimensional Design, Environmental Color or seminars on Creativity and Design. Significant to me after using various methods of inquiry to study creativity in design, I now hold that narrative inquiryis a best method to study and analyze its reality. Narratives—the stories of designers, clients, users and design projects– offer ways to tap the authenticity and truth involved, revealing makers of what is memorable in the process and the experience of place.

Download CV button

Education

PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Affiliations

Former Associate Dean of Academic Affairs under Dean Robin Douthitt
IDEC Past President and Chair of Board
Former Trustee of FIDER (now CIDA)
IDEC Arnold Friedmann Educator of Distinction for 2014

Book: Design Thinking for Interiors: inquiry, experience, impact

I co-authored this book with Margaret Portillo (now at the University of Florida-Gainesville & who received her Masters and PhD from our department and School). It culminates my search and our desire to give explanation and meaning to work in design studies and impact of interior architecture. Given a holistic view for understanding relationships of designer, product/place, clients and users over time, the topic translates well to an engaged thinking approach found in human ecology. The writing is about the journey of living design and features many narratives. As stated in our preface, “Designers work in an environment that addresses large and complex issues and in collaborative settings.” This requires critical, creative and consequential thinking. “Depth in design aligns substantive ideas and know-how with socially pertinent development and ultimately environments meaningful to individuals.”