Interaction Design Process FS20

Spring 2020: March 24 - April 30.

Instructors:
Dr Joëlle Bitton
joelle.bitton@zhdk.ch 

Nicole Foelsterl
nicole.foelsterl@zhdk.ch

Office hours by appointment 

The module takes place from March 24 - April 30, over 6 weeks, from Tuesday to Friday each week, 9.30-17.00 - see detailed hours in calendar below.
Class sessions include lectures, discussions, mentoring sessions, in-class exercises, home assignments and independent study blocks.
Projects are conducted in groups of 4 students. 

This course puts the students in the context of realising an interaction design outcome from initial idea to final proposal, with a particular emphasis on field research and user-experience.
In this interaction design process, students work through the several stages of project development: Context/User Inquiry, Concept Generation, Idea Testing, Prototype Development, Evaluation and Concept Iteration. 

Following these stages of observation, creation, and evaluation, we will discuss and apply situated and user-centered methods (eg. bodystorming, context analysis, video scenarios, etc).

This course is project-based and will allow students to have a hands-on experience.
Organised in groups, students will develop innovative design concept for a product, a service or an experience. 

Topic

Systemic changes

This year, the topic for this class addresses the typical design premice of interaction designers' wishes to have a societal impact. People-centered design is at the core of interaction design studies and human-computer interaction research. What does this premice actually mean? What are the limitations, frustrations, realities of designing on the ground? The class proposes to look at proposal of changes not in term of individual behaviours but addressing if systemic changes can happen from a design proposal. We will also uncover the contradictions of a designer's responsibility, agency and idealisation. 

For this course, each group of students will engage designing in a social context that they will identify and they will argue for their intervention, in conjunction with working with people involved on the ground.

During the course the student will learn:

• how to design through personal exploration and in communication with others (participatory design)

• how to search for new possibilities/opportunites/alternatives for interactive products, rather than responding to a set of given requirements

• how to use a variety of methods and tools which can be existing design practices, can be borrowed from other disciplines and can be developed by designers themselves 

• how to apply ethical guidelines in co-design 

The student is expected to produce these final deliverables:

1. A working prototype, user-tested and evaluated
2. The presentation of this interaction design product, service and/or experience grounded on the understanding of the user and the context
3. The documentation of assignments and design process in a blog 

Your project development is structured in following steps:

• Week 1: Into the Wild!
  User, context and/or technology inquiry
  Methods: direct and participatory observation, video ethnography, interviews, questionnaires, etc.

• Week 2: Idea Transfers
  Researching, Enacting and testing ideas, 
  Methods: sketching, mockups, bodystorming, brainstorming, participatory methods, extreme characters, etc

• Week 3: Play 
  Creating prototypes and confronting them to the 'real world'
  Methods: cultural probes, participatory methods with mockups, cartoon scenarios, acting out an experience, etc.

• Week 4: Stories and users
  How is your work being evaluated? 
  Methods: forms of evaluation, from user-testing to narratives enacting scenarios
  
  
  

• Week 5: Production 1
  Independent study week: working on your production assignment 
  
  
  

• Week 6: Production 2
  Finalising the project 
  
  
  

Expectations and Grading

Grades will be based on group presentations, class participation, home assignments, documentation (journal) and final work. 
Contributing to constructive group feedback is an essential aspect of class participation.
Regular attendance of 80% is required, whether in class or group work. Two or more unexcused absences will affect the final grade. Arriving late on more than one occasion will also affect the grade.

Final work 40%

Group presentations & mid-assignments 40% 

Journal Documentation 20%

Any assignment that remains unfulfilled receives a failing grade.  

• Group presentations

Interval group presentations each week present the advancement of the group's project and highlight the specific requirements of that week.
Each presentation are structured so that each group member will introduce an aspect of the project. On average, the presentation should be 10 minutes.
The format is open: 

• Week 2 Presentation requirements:
  Name of group/project
  Knowledge Inquiry
  5 related works
  Lessons learned from the field / probes
  Where do you want to go
  How do you get there (identify roles, needs, actions)
   

• Final Work

The final outcome of the class is a project proposal in the form of a working prototype, user-tested and represented to an external audience in the form of a film and/or a medium of your choice (installation, website, demo, etc...). For this class, there will be an emphasis on the film narrative as a way to disseminate your proposal.

• Journal/Blog

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):

Throughout the module, various short home assignments will be given to practice concepts discussed in class.

The course IAD Design Methods provides the background literature for this class.
Additional readings can be provided as the class progresses.

• Alec, Alessia, Celina & Sonia

• Aathmigan, Andreas, Gian-Carlo & Kilian

• Daniela, Kimon, Mathias, Nemo & Nicola

• Baran, David, Mai & Ramona 

JB: Dr. Joëlle Bitton, NF: Nicole Foesterl