Most professionals are involved in the ongoing design and re-design of our reality. This is especially true for informatics and HCI-professionals. Professionals involve in design are evaluated based on how well they can design new things that have qualities good enough to be accepted and incorporated into the world of people and organizations. This course focuses on such professional design processes.
In the course we will examine, analyze, study, and discuss how design can be understood, described, and developed as a process of inquire, thought and action.
We will critically explore how to become a more skilled and successful designer and what it takes to develop both design inquiry, design thinking and design action. We will compare HCI design with other design fields such as architecture, product design, graphic design, landscape design, organizational design, etceteras. We will do this by reading seminal texts on design, by experimenting with design processes, by studying and analyzing design behaviour, by reflecting on design experiences, and by conducting intellectual discussions.
Based on a developed understanding of design we will also explore, analyze and criticize underlying assumptions and the rationale behind some of the most influential theoretical attempts in HCI design(research). We will do this with the purpose to enhance critical thinking around the role , purpose, and function of HCI theories and HCI research. The overall purpose of the course is to support each student to establish a personal, reflective and examined intellectual position to design as a process of inquiry, thought and action.