Design Context 2
MODULE CODE
CREDIT VALUE
Module Aims
Aim 1
Develop a critical awareness of the various contemporary cultural contexts which underpin and complement the student’s studio practice and understanding of professional design practice.
Aim 2
Critically discuss and evaluate qualitative design issues and their relationships with a broader cultural context.
Aim 3
Provide knowledge of the critical and cultural theories within the context of design.
Aim 4
Debate and relate these cultural contexts to the student’s own line of inquiry.
Aim 5
Apply a broad range of critical cognitive skills (research, analysis/synthesis and evaluation) to a range of issues related to contemporary design and cultural context.
Module Content
This module contains:
• A critical examination of issues and concepts in a contemporary cultural context.
• Theory and practice-based talks and discussions and their relevance to contemporary practice.
• Further development of analytical skills to an appropriate level of criticality.
• Knowledge and critical awareness of key design practitioners, cultural and contextual theorists in their chronological and intellectual place within the design continuum.
• The roles of process, production and commodity with reference to professional design practice.
• A richer critical contextual discussion and its application to cross-disciplinary design thinkin
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module, a student will be able to:
Teaching Methods
The subject is introduced using a series of lectures, presentations and videos. Seminars are also arranged to support discussions where key topics are discussed. Students are invited to engage in the learning through them providing comments and encouragement to ask questions during all sessions.
Research and critical writing skills are discussed and encouraged throughout.
Students are supported to relate the work in this module to their respective subject areas and design practice. Where appropriate employability is discussed which will help students to use the skills and knowledge gained to inform their own practice and employability.
A comprehensive series of hand-outs have been developed covering the main themes discussed in the lectures. Guidance is provided from commonly raised questions and examples of previous submissions and case studies made available to students for reference.
Students receive Formative Feedback part way through their studies, which they have the opportunity to respond to before the summative assessment at the end of the module. At the end of the module students also receive Summative Feedback following assessments. Feedback is verbal (through tutorials, reviews and critique) and written.
Students will be assessed by design staff and moderated across the subject areas for all work in this module.
The content is structured around four core themes and how they contextually relate to practice:
Design Practice –critically explores how practitioners respond to briefs, problems and issues in a creative, appropriate and novel manner. Central to this core theme are people, places and the contexts of use, language and representation.
Design Product –investigates and critiques the identity and interpretation of ‘the product’. It also considers the role and significance of ‘the product’ in culture and society. Central to this core theme are people, meaning and use and the contexts of desire, function, sustainability and status.
Design Discourse – critically discusses a range of appropriate theories in dialogue with contemporary design contexts. This theme also provides knowledge of the key theorists relevant to cross-disciplinary and subject-specific design practice.
Design Reflection – focuses on the manners in which professional design practitioners launch, develop, sustain and critically engage with the continually shifting contexts of the world of practice. It further contextualizes this context through discussion of the social, political, economic and cultural landscape.
Assessment Methods
This module is assessed through one Contextual Portfolio.
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Compulsory
