Design Processes (MA) Konstfack



In this course at Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design, students explored ways to conduct design processes. The design field is always expanding – in addition to established settings in industry, industrial designers today work in a wide range of contexts, with many experts, stakeholders and users. Such complex settings of design work require additional perspectives and methods. In this course, we explore different ways of thinking about and working in the expanded field of design. From a basis in material and ‘designerly’ processes, the aim is to develop students’ experience with and knowledge of different perspectives and methods. Through trying out different perspectives and methods, the goal is that students will be better able to articulate their design processes, method(s) and role(s) as designers. After the course, students should have a wider and deeper repertoire, or toolkit, of approaches to choose from when creating a relevant design process. The course unfolded as a sequence of perspectives that build on one another: Material, Commercial, Service, Critical. From a starting point in a material (assignment 1), the students gradually develop one or more design proposal(s), in which they consider commercial applications and values (assignment 2), explore complex user settings and service systems (assignment 3), and speculate critically on the darker sides of its (mis)uses and ethical dimensions (assignment 4). Pedagogical formats in the course included 'reading circles', regular 'show-&-tells', and journals.

Level Masters (MA) compulsory course for Industrial Design program
Credits 12
Dates 2013-2014
Number of students 9

My role
I was lead teacher of one course iteration in 2013-2014. I structured the course to engage with taught with guest teachers and projects including: ‘From Materiality to Policymaking’, funded by Mistra, led by Mikael Lindström (Innventia), Bo Westerlund and Jenny Althoff (Konstfack); 'Language as Participation' at the Interactive Institute, led by Brendon Clark with Kajsa Davidsson

Image (above)
Photo from a class discussion within the final exhibition

More about the course
Konstfack Master's Program in Design
In-progress course blog with student projects, schedule and syllabus