Instructors: Livia Sunesson, Camille Norment, and David Cuartielles
Credits: 5 Swedish credits, 7.5 ECTS credits
Course length: 200 hours
Grade levels: Swedish students are graded Approved or Not Approved
International students will be graded according to the ECTS system, from A to F, where A is the highest grade and F is the lowest.
This course is an introduction to contemporary thinking on design theory and critical design related to Interaction Design. The aim of the course is to encourage reflection and discussion on design based on its impact on social contexts, sustainability and global politics.
After completing the course the students should have an increased awareness of critical design theories along with practical experience in how to apply that thinking and vernacular in their own design processes as both analytical and descriptive tools.
The students should also gain a larger bibliographical knowledge of currents texts on interaction design and obtain an extended repertoire of examples with which to put their own design processes in context and better and more eloquently describe and argue for their own work.
The course covers a broad spectrum of topics ranging from contemporary design genres (e.g. Design Noir), upcoming design concerns (e.g. sustainability), and design methodology and techniques (e.g. cultural probes). These topics will be approached through literature, lectures, seminars, and workshops.
The course will acquaint the students with new genres and aspects of interaction design and provide them with a large number of examples of projects, objects and processes to which they can relate and put into context their own work and interests.
The written assignment will hone the students’ abilities to express themselves in writing and allow them to partake in and create a culture of critique and critical thinking.
The course has a practical component through which the students will learn how to give Gestaltung to a critical design dilemma.
Students will deliver an individual essay 5 pages long, set in 12p Times roman or similar, single-spaced, in Swedish or English.
We will be looking for you to create proposals that are original, compelling, and meaningful, and which involves the reader in a conversation between your system and the user. We expect your paper to be well argued and demonstrate both good technical grasp and vivid imagination. You must cite all borrowed material and ideas (Any uncited material or internet “borrowing” will lead to disciplinary action).
The Final Project will be made in the same groups that you have in ID3. You should decide on one critical design dilemma (inspired by your essays) that you would like to give a Gestaltung.
The important part of this assignment is not the actual solution but the way you make obvious and communicate your original design problem. For this reason the course will introduce you to new (sometimes provocative) techniques for presentation and documentation (e.g. video scenarios, experience prototyping, and interventions). You will get assistance from your tutors in choosing an appropriate form for your presentation. Your project needs to find a form that can be exhibited in K3 and online.
The course will include lectures and discussion seminars, as well as design workshops.
Examination forms will be adapted to evaluate the learning objectives (see goal, above). Students will complete individual and group assignments that reinforce course content. Grades to be awarded will consist of “godkänd” or “underkänd.”
International students will be graded in the ECST system