Module: TDF4002-20 How to think like a Designer: Design, Culture and Context

Level: 4

Credit Value: 20

Module Tutor: Amanda Goode

Module Tutor Contact Details: A.Goode@bathspa.ac.uk

1. Brief description and aims of module:

This module will include an introduction to the course and to the fundamentals of the discipline.

This module will provide an intellectually stimulating series of interactive opportunities in which you will develop analytical, critical, visual and verbal awareness through researching and disseminating the world as you, and your contemporaries, see and interpret it. Through discussion, debate, teamwork and independent application, you will build a contextual framework from which you can determine, develop and advance your own practice.

You will engage with innovation, entrepreneurship, sociological attitude, intellectual property, economic and cultural trends in relation to historical and contemporary context and sustainable and ethical thinking. Trend analysis, forecasting and symbiotic dependency will be explored, challenged and conclusions presented in group presentations.

2.Outline syllabus:

The module focus is to inform your thinking and to develop analytical and interpretation skills through the dissemination of historical and popular culture. You will be examining what it is to be a designer and the inherent responsibilities and concerns that result from your research.

Topics may typically include:

Normcare: Kate Middleton, The Duchess of Normcare

A Report on Freedom.

The Death of Age

Youth Mode: It’s an Attitude

Engaged with Newness

You’re so Special Nobody Knows What You are Talking About

Harry Styles is only Singing to You

The Axis Of: Empaphy, Tolerance, Indifference, Rebellion

Neologism –New to You.

Saying who you are not, is just as important as saying who you are.

Burberry Star and Celebrity Juice-Maker

Maxed Out Signifiers

Does Disney define Imagination?

All Schools Should be Art Schools Bob and Roberta Smith

FAMT

(Or why some of Jane Austen’s characters never speak)

“Arts education aids students in skills needed in the workplace: flexibility, the ability to solve problems and communicate, the ability to learn new skills, to be creative and innovative, and to strive for excellence.”

– Joseph M. Calahan, Director of Cooperate Communications, Xerox Corporation

We need people who think with the creative side of their brains—people who have played in a band, who have painted…it enhances symbiotic thinking capabilities, not always thinking in the same paradigm, learning how to kick-start a new idea, or how to get a job done better, less expensively.”

– Annette Byrd, GlaxoSmithKline

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people. Unfortunately, that’s too rare a commodity. A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have lots of dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solution without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.”

– Steve Jobs

By the end of the module you will write your own set of motivations for how to approach your work on the course.

3.Teaching and learning activities include:

Centred around a study trip to Eindhoven’s Dutch Design Week (or a UK Design equivalent) the module will engage students in staff, guest lecturer, student led group briefings and introductions, lectures and seminars. Debate and discussion with Q&A will conclude most topics.

Film and exhibition review and analysis.

The students will engage in teamwork, peer and self-evaluations and professional development planning and will undertake verbal and visual presentations to their cohort.

Independent study: Working independently is central to the teaching and learning philosophy of a Design course. Working in your studio, in the library or the workshops you will begin to develop and reflect upon the ideas, debates covered in the module.

Key focus

Critiques: Working as a small group, facilitated by a tutor, you will present your work to each other. These sessions will promote critical, reflective, constructive peer review exploring the content and context of the ideas discussed.

Study trips: Scheduled visits to galleries and museums will play a key role in providing access to current practice and cultural debates. These visits will help you contextualize your own work.

International or UK based study trip

Self-initiated organisation and research

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: cw

• Description: Visual and verbal group presentations

• % Weighting: 100%