WNM700 Human Centered Design Approach
This capstone graduate course presents the practice of making design human-centered, and helps students adopt an approach that can be used to create innovative, effective and sustainable solutions. The primary purpose of the course is to provide an opportunity to build problem-solving skills and explore “design thinking”.
This is achieved with two main modes in the classroom:
- Research, Ideation, Prototype, and Testing
- Presentation and Critique
…And repeat!
Students survey past projects, professional work, and historical examples of successful and original interactive media. Students are expected to learn the steps of a research-informed design process and broadly discuss human-driven design solutions.
The course is about creating innovative and impactful interactive concepts. Students are encouraged to push beyond derivatives or recreations of proven design patterns. Visual design, polish, and technical implementation are secondary in this course.
Students must provide evidence and justification of every decision in proposed solutions: real need is important to show and document. A sound mental model must be created and social systems must be investigated and explained. Creating work that is humane is necessary. Students must be prepared to test their designs with rigor. Students are encouraged to iterate.
In many ways, the purpose of this class is to fail, and then show the learning from that failure.
Course Outline