Designing Tools for Creative Collaboration

In this chapter, our aim is to delve into our approach to designing tools for creative collaboration within the context of our schools, while also considering the perspective of professional designers. This unique perspective provides valuable insights on how to prepare students for their lives "beyond the classroom".

Firstly, we will revisit two workshops that took place at HfG Schwäbisch Gmünd. These workshops specifically centered around the design of alternative communication tools and their interfaces, such as video-call software and mouse pointers for simultaneous collaboration. As we initially approached the topic of digital tools for collaboration in art and design, our focus was on the tools utilized within our schools and by professionals for remote collaboration, which became increasingly prevalent during the pandemic when in-person meetings were not feasible. These communication tools primarily fall within a broader category that is not exclusive to the creative field, representing only a limited spectrum of what currently exists and what could be imagined for creative collaboration tools. Through our exploration of digital technology within our own practices, we came to realize that while improvements could certainly be made to these tools, what we truly yearned for during times when physical meetings were not possible were creative devices for collaboration and the ability to create together.

With the rise of international collaborations, telework, and remote education, facilitating remote creative collaborations has become a significant challenge and objective for digital product companies. However, it's important to note that the exploration of online creative collaborations predates lockdowns and has been an ongoing endeavor since the advent of personal computers. This very issue forms the foundation of the Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) culture, which emphasizes collective practices of creating, improving, repairing, maintaining, and forking tools.

Furthermore, many artists and designers, either through their programming skills or in collaboration with programmers, are actively opting to code their own tools as a means to break free from the restrictions and costs associated with proprietary software. This approach allows them to adopt a holistic perspective on technology, which we believe holds significant value in teaching our students. The second part of this chapter focuses on  Nolwenn Maudet's insightful reflection on the development of collaborative tools created by graphic designers as alternatives to proprietary software, with the aim of overcoming creative limitations.

What emerges from these predominantly collective practices are often context-specific tools. One particularly intriguing aspect of some of these productions is their ambiguous status---they exist as both artworks and tools. To provide further insights into the design practice of creating tools for creative collaborations, we have included an article by designer Sarah Garcin, who shares her interactive and collaborative experiences. This text will be featured on ourcollaborative.tools, an online platform that serves as a participatory catalog of collective artistic digital projects. Designed to be utilized, enriched, and refined by students, artists, designers, and researchers alike, we will provide a comprehensive description of the platform and its objectives at the conclusion of this chapter.