Design for Media Arts

Catalog description

Invites students to observe, think and make. Together, students reflect on patterns, systems, objects and narratives that define world, ask how things could be different and design alternative futures. Covers a breadth of design thinking and Human Computer Interaction (HCI) methods including field observation, co-design/participatory design with stakeholders, concept development, rapid prototyping, deployment/study with users, data analysis and synthesis of findings. Students draw on these methods to iterate through a full design cycle of researching, developing and deploying a provocative socio-technical intervention. Consists of seminar discussions and critical reflection grounded in weekly hands-on work with high-tech and low-tech materials as well as observation activities situated in the physical world. Culminates in a final project where students turn their ideas into design interventions that challenge rethinking patterns and envisioning new systems (big and small) that transform our world for the better. Covers research methods and multiple approaches to inquiry through a design lens.