Project 2: General Product, 15 Credits

Contents

The overall aim is to provide students with practical experience in designing a product or system that caters to a broad user group, addressing products and services such as within healthcare facilities, public transportation or public services. The course provides a platform to explore approaches and methods in the context of design ethnography and participatory design within a service design perspective. Students work in groups throughout the course. The final results can include software-hardware products, services, or organisational frameworks. The course comprises three modules.
 
Module 1: Foundations (3 credits)  
This module reviews the theoretical foundations of ethnographic design research and participatory design, and it provides exercises in practical ethnographic and participatory methodologies for service design contexts. The goal of this phase is to develop knowledge about users and the user context for future design solutions and to establish relationships with users, so they can be involved in the next stages of the design project. This entails engaging people interacting with equipment, environments, services and other people rather than individuals interacting with a single isolated product or product group.

Module 2: Project (9 credits)  
In this module a design project is performed via identifying opportunities to delivering proposals, using ethnographic and participatory methodologies and with a service design orientation. During this module, students arrange periodic participatory design sessions with their respective user groups to explore concepts using various ways and materials to engage people in the design process. Students will further refine and evaluate their designs within a service design perspective, exploring service design tools and methods. Project results are presented in the form of visual synthesis of fieldwork and participatory design and may include sketch models, representations of service elements, and screen-based digital presentations. 

Module 3: Sensemaking (3 credits) 
This module is about understanding the project in relation to interaction design for a general, broad target group and includes training in academic writing. 

Expected learning outcomes

After completing the course students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding 

• Demonstrate understanding of how to generate insights from design ethnography and participatory design situations. 
• Demonstrate experience in and knowledge of participatory design methods within a service design perspective.  

Competence and Skills 

• Apply a full design process within a project that begins with the design ethnography and opportunity articulation and ends with a design proposal.  
• Apply methods in service design and participatory design in practical project work in groups.  
• Use oral / visual project presentation techniques to communicate the project process, the final design proposal and the resulting insights from the project.  
• Make documentation and written academic presentations. 

Judgement and Approach 

• Reflect on the use of methods of design ethnography and participatory design in the design process.
• Account for inclusivity regarding the process and regarding the resulting design. 
• Reflect on sustainability issues in terms of impact and consequences of the resulting design.  

Required Knowledge

A Bachelor's degree or equivalent first-cycle qualification comprising of at least 180 ECTS or a corresponding qualification from an internationally recognized university. Specific entry requirements are: 60 ECTS in the field of Design. Student must have passed all previous master courses in the Interaction Design (IxD) program at Umeå Institute of Design or the equivalent. Proficiency in English equivalent to Swedish upper secondary course English B/6.

Form of instruction

The course consists of lectures, practical exercises and tutorials. 

Examination modes

Module 1 and module 3: examination is based on submission of assignments, written and visual. Module 2: examined through oral, written and visual presentations of project results. In order to receive a passing grade for the 15 credit course, students must have completed all course modules and assignments successfully. The grades given are either Pass (G) or Fail (U) for each assignment and course module, as well as for the course as a whole. 

Examiners may decide to deviate from the modes of assessment in the course syllabus. Individual adaption of modes of assessment must give due consideration to the student's needs. The adaption of modes of assessment must remain within the framework of the intended learning outcomes in the course syllabus. Students who require an adapted examination must submit a request to the department holding the course no later than 10 days before the examination. The examiner decides on the adaption of the examination, after which the student will be notified.

For students who have not obtained the grade Pass, other examination sessions will be arranged. A student who for two consecutive examinations for the same course or sub-course has not been passed, has the right to have another examiner appointed, if there are no special reasons against this (Higher Education Ordinance chapter 6, 22 §). The request for a new examiner shall be made in writing to the Head of Department at Umeå Institute of Design.

ACADEMIC CREDIT TRANSFER
Students have the right to request that previous studies, or equivalent knowledge and skills acquired in a professional, work-related capacity, be validated and transferred into credits on an equivalent course or programme at Umeå University. Applications for credit transfer should be addressed to Student Services/Degree Evaluation Office. More information can be found at the Umeå University student web site (www.student.umu.se/english) and in Chapter 6 of the Higher Education Ordinance.  Appeals may be made to the Higher Education Appeals Board (ÖNH) against a decision by the university not to approve an application for credit transfer (Higher Education Ordinance, Chapter 12), even in cases where only a part of the application has been rejected.