Tim Parsons

As the beginning course in the Designed Objects department, students will have an opportunity to explore different methods of working in order to begin establishing a practice that works best for them. Students will be building a strong foundation of skills and techniques needed to navigate an informed design process and successfully complete a design brief. In this hands-on class, students will learn how to find inspiration for an idea, develop that idea into a concept, and use that concept to design and fabricate a high-level, final prototype. Basic research theories and methods are introduced which are then applied towards studio projects. Fabrication and prototyping techniques are also incorporated in order to test out ideas and discover new ones. Students advance through definition, research, ideation, sketching, and modeling phases toward two? and three?dimensional representations (digital and physical) of their work that are orally defended during group critique.

Readings and lecture content will vary and will focus on examples of historically relevant and contemporary designers, artists, studios, and design movements; as well as design practices that highlight different motivations of the designer.

In addition to the two main projects that focus on different methods of approaching design? where students will be producing high-level prototypes, this workshop-style class consists of one-day projects and exercises designed to introduce techniques and skills such as technical drawing and sketching, form-finding, prototyping, and inspiration research, among others.

This course requires students to have a laptop that meets SAIC's minimum hardware specs and runs the AIADO template.

Systemic change requires influencing decision makers - be they members of the public, CEOs or politicians. By engaging in the creative act of world-building, and embodying the results through made artifacts, spaces, or digital media, artists and designers are able to make work that acts as platforms for fostering debate and, ultimately, change. This course goes beyond design¿s conventional end-user focused problem-solving approach, focusing instead on how to use art and design to develop impactful stories. It Introduces the fields of speculative and critical design, and design fiction, and illustrates how tools such as humor and satire can be used effectively. Along with regular readings and discussions, students will develop a major design project that articulates their vision of a ¿post-pandemic future'.

What does it mean to design for other people? The third course in the Des Ob studio sequence considers how designers are able to understand others and then design for them. We will investigate the things that people do, the objects that they use, how they feel and what they might need, want or desire in order to understand and then design meaningful objects. Students have the opportunity to work with design research, advance their design skills and complete more involved projects. This course requires students to have a laptop that meets SAIC's minimum hardware specs and runs the AIADO template.

The class introduces relevant research and visualization tools used to gather research insights and generate design ideas. Sketches, mock-ups and models are used to test discuss, and refine research insights, design ideas and propose final concepts.

Students can expect to complete one to two projects over the semester and present their progress throughout the term.