Instructors:
Dr Joëlle Bitton
Prof. Dr Karmen Franinovic
Office hours by appointment
(1) Overview and Objectives
Students will develop a conceptual and practical exploration for their final BA thesis and present the experience they aim to create in the form of a 3-5 page thesis project description, a blog documenting the 2-weeks progress and a pretotype showing the core aspects of the interactive experience they are aiming to create.
The concept seminar addresses notions in preparation for their final thesis work:
- what does it mean to make a statement and a contribution to the field of interaction design?
- how to identify the design, social and experiential opportunities within the topic of interest?
- how to define a space of potential design explorations?
- how to narrow down the topic following own personal positioning, approach and interests?
- how to present the desired embodied experience that the BA thesis should engender?
The 2 weeks are divided into two parts: an investigative week with quick exercises and iterations, and a second week where students can advance their pretotype, engage in field or test study and summarise their BA idea and related experience in an appropriate narrative format (a video, an animation, a performance, etc).
See below for a detailed calendar.
Grades will be based on class participation, documentation (journal) and final work.
Contributing to constructive group feedback is an essential aspect of class participation.
Regular attendance is required. Two or more unexcused absences will affect the final grade. Arriving late on more than one occasion will also affect the grade.
Pretotype 25%
Interactive Experience 25%
Project Description 20%
Journal Documentation 20%
Class participation 10%
Any assignment that remains unfulfilled receives a failing grade.
The pretotype is the manifestation of your ideas into a service, a product, a method, a user's experience, etc.
The experience you want to create should be presented in a best suited format (a video, an animation, sketches, a performance). It should address both spatial and temporal aspects of the project.
This 3-5 page text should answer the following questions :
The essay expands the thesis disposition with observations and conclusions drawn from the two weeks BA concept seminar.
You may use a diversity of sources and bibliography (classified by genre: book, book chapter, journal article, conference article, academic thesis, newspaper article, web article, etc).
A separate 'Journal' is developed by each student that reflects on learnings from the seminar. It should be in the form of an online blog (ie. WordPress, Tumblr or other):
| Week 1 | Monday 7.1 | Tuesday 8.1 | Wednesday 9.1 | Thursday 10.1 | Friday 11.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morning 9.30 - 12.00 | Brief Introduction about the module and quick keywords round Exercise 1: 20 ways of description (kf, jb) | Independent Study | Exercise 3: Design Space (kf, jb) Mentoring on request (kf) | Independent Study 11- 12 (jb) | Exercise 4: 10 ways of manifestation (jb) |
| Afternoon 13.30 - 17.00 | 13-16 Exercise 2: Topic Space (kf, jb) | 13-15 Individual Discussions | 15.00 Presentation: topic and design space | 13-16 (jb) | Preparing for the field: road map presentations (jb) |
| Week 2 | Monday 14.1 | Tuesday 15.1 | Wednesday 16.1 | Thursday 17.1 | Friday 18.1 |
| Morning 9.30 - 12.30 | Thesis structure presentation and milestones overview (jb) Field / Practice Study | Field / Practice Study Mentoring on request (kf) | Field / Practice Study Mentoring on request (kf, jb) | Field / Practice Study Mentoring on request (kf) | Final Presentations: progress and 'pretotype' (jb, kf) |
| Afternoon 13.30 - 17.00 | Field / Practice Study Mentoring on request (jb) | Field / Practice Study Mentoring on request (kf)
| Field / Practice Study Mentoring on request (kf, jb) | Field / Practice Study Mentoring on request (kf) | 17.00 3-5 page essay delivery |
Exercise 1: 20 ways of description
Write down and/or sketch out twenty ways to define your topics on post its and later sort them into categories we found fitting. Define two or three most important statements.
Exercise 2: Topic Space
Matrix of existing ideas and projects across qualities, parameters and values that are important for the topic. Use sketches to present projects on your topic space.
Exercise 3: Design Space
Identify two or three most important dimensions of your topic space. This will be your design space. Sketch quickly 50 ideas to populate your design space. Place them on your design space (document/photograph).
Exercise 4: 10 ways of manifestation
Select 10 ways of executing your ideas and exhibiting them.