syllabus
introduction to this course
- The Basics: Design is all about thinking and planning. Interaction Design is user based, i.e., Design for your users not yourself.
- All design is grounded in a basic concept. Good design is grounded in a clear concept. Bad design is muddled thinking made painfully clear.
- The fundamental underlying assumption of this course is that you either want to be an interaction designer, or some other kind of designer, or that you want to learn more about interaction design so that you can use its elements in your professional life.
goal ∧
The primary Goal of this course is to provide an environment in which you can extend your understanding of the real-world design community and pursue your personal professional goals while at the same time gather meaningful experience in designing (planning) and implementing (development and production) the user interface for the Web and other interactive technologies and devices.
The overall, or meta, goal of this course is to help you become a self-actualizing, energetic, confident, and caring designer who is passionate about “deep” design. That means helping you become capable of seeing a problem, being able to articulate that problem, being aware of and able to use the appropriate/effective design processes to use, e.g. design methods and patterns, to fix it. You might even want to start digging into design management
Here’s a story about deep and passionate design, The legendary Graphing Calculator Story, it’s a great model of passionate design and implementation.
objectives ∧
To reach, “The primary goal of this course", i.e. to provide an environment in which you can extend your experience and understanding of the real-world design community…”, we'll focus on the following single objective; that you learn to actually be a designer rather than just call yourself one. The following are basic abilities (all tied to grades) you will need to demonstrate as we go through this semester,
- Come to work on-time. You demonstrate this by consistent in-class participation - attendance is graded. Demonstrate your abilities and share.
- Be active. Be passionate, committed, attentive, and a self-starter. Take care of your responsibilities. Heads-up (consistent and on-time) setup, personal account management and completion of all pre-project requirements, etc.
- Work in a focused and consistent manner. This means consistent project development. Keep me updated weekly via your project report site, emails, and/or Skype sessions. Last minute binge design and development is weak.
- Meet deadlines. Consistent on-time completion your chosen project. The drop dead due date for all projects is mid-night Tuesday 4 May. To do this, plan ahead.
- Get excited about design. Actively deepen your knowledge of design. As it should be, this is self-directed activity. Dig into how the art of design is practiced. You can always stay suspended in the craft of design and be landlocked in downstream application acquisition. Bring to class what you discover and learn, i.e. share.
what we are doing this semester ∧
In the context of the goal and objectives of this course we are going to begin a small journey through some of the current real-world contemporary design realities. The objective here is to help you deepen your understanding of what design actually means, how do you engage in this process, and how might you actually improve your design concepts and skills. Think of learning to ride a bicycle, you do it yourself. Usually by building-out your understanding of the basics physics of the action and by practice.
Specifically we will proceed through a sequence of activities that are designed (planned) to help you develop your own design coherency.
The sequence,
The sequence - pre-project
- Setup
- Getting started is your responsibility. Now, and during the course of this term, make sure that:
- You know your login information and that it works.
- That you have a "webpages" directory/folder inside the "shared" space of your UI account.
- Download and install its contents, into your web directory that is inside your webpages directory a copy of the project reportSite. We'll do this in class. Once installed send me the url to your project report site. The reportSite starter kit is available at: http://www.frank.to/IaD/370/downloads/reportSite.zip
You can review the reportSite at: http://www.frank.to/IaD/370/reportSite/index.html - Send me a "professional" image of yourself for the "class" page of this site. 92x92 pixels in either .jpeg or .png format.
- Meet all the due dates listed on the "assignments" list.
- Contribute to the class.
The sequence - project
- Write a short bio for yourself.
- Save it as a .pfd file. Place it inside your project report site. Link it to the index page of your report site. Send me the url
- Write a your professional goal statement.
- Save it as a .pfd file. Place it inside your project report site. Link it to the index page of your report site. Send me the url
- Make your project selection.
- The project you select should clearly fit as an objective that moves you toward you professional goal. Don't outsmart yourself here. Think about it.
- Write your Project Brief
- Inside your brief include a short statement as to how this project fits with your professional goal.
- Begin project design and development.
- Design first. Use a paper and pencil. Make it after you design it.
how to use this site. just dig in, explore and contribute∧
This site is an information site, a reference. It is also a bit of a labyrinth. It is not a step-by-step instruction set. Dig around and contribute. Send me suggestions for improvements, tips that you have found to be useful, interesting articles, etc. 
There are also intentional open areas, even a dead-end or two, and re-orderings, e.g. the first step in your project design - your profession goal statement - is not the first thing we will do in class. Rummage through this site and make you own checklist of what you need to do. Then tie that into your project calendar.
expectations and guidelines ∧
My expectations are that you will jump-in with both feet, get passionate about design, explore current design profession realities - concepts and practices - then begin to pull these fragments together into your personal design coherency. What are your expectations? Include them in you professional goal statement as objectives you plan to accomplish this term.
Guidelines
For Designers
- Start developing your design "coherency",
- Simply put, pull all of the pieces of your design understandings and abilities into a solid coherency.
- Take some time to expand and deepen your understanding of design. Begin to move out of the student/schooly mind set into that of a professional designer/planner.
- Fully understand that design is planning. Many current designers have begun to call themselves "planners" to get away from all the baggage and limiting box of the word designer.
- Design is not about appearing cool. Many top designers could pass you unnoticed on the street - while you are staring into a mirror seeing if you look cool and texting a friend - in short, they often "appear" very ordinary. What they all have in common is a deep intelligence, voracious energy, insightful understanding, and a near fanatical passion for their work. All of them cleanup pretty well when necessary - they are smart.
- In short, teach yourself about the design profession.
Read as much as you can about the design professions.
Understand the global context in which "design" is practiced.
Develop your writing skills - a major requirement.
Understand the realities of "user-based" design. Jump away from I - me design.
Research the design process - understand design methods, patterns personas, and scenarios.
Look into the realities of project management, Waterfall, Agile, and Scrum. When are they useful?
Don't spend all your time acquiring "downstream" seat-time skill sets. Pick-out a few design firms and look up what they are looking for in interns and new hires.
- Chose a project that will help move you down the road professionally.
- Avoid choosing a "schooly" project - one you have been dragging around for sometime, one that you already know how to do, one that is too simple, etc. - push yourself. And remember to "Practice safe design: use a concept".
- Tie all of this together in your professional goal statement. Start building your professional - personal is OK too - coherency.
For non-designers
- Start by researching professionals in your field. How do they use the Web?
- Make a list and analyze it. How can you best acquire useful skills and develop a presence for yourself that will clearly showcase your talents? Talents that will be valuable to your profession and help you get to the place you want to be in five years.
- Chose a project for this term that will fit into your personal and professional goals. In short, one that is practical and that you will perhaps be able to grow and maintain.
grades thirty percent of success is showing up - modified from woody allen∧
Grades this semester will be based on 1) consistent in-class participation (attendance), 2) consistent and on-time completion of all assignments, 3) demonstrated passion for your work.
Grading framework for this semester,
Possible points
- 30 Attendance and class participation.
- Class participation and sharing. There are 30 class sessions this semester. You can have 3 unexcused absences and still get all 30 points. Unexcused absences take away 2pts for each occurrence. In short, come to class. Get involved.
- 40 Your chosen project.
- The highest grades are earned by consistent updating. I should be able to see weekly progress on your project report site. Last minute work earns a 50% reduction in points (from 40 possible to 20 possible). Setup your project report site and use it regularly.
- 10 Heads-up completion of the "basics".
- setup, account management, report site setup, bio and image, professional goals statement, project selection, etc.
- 10 Your project brief.
- This is a standard articulation of your understanding of your chosen project. Don't even think about falling on the glass until you understand the problem. This is the basis of judgement that I use in grading. Don't outsmart yourself.
- 5 Designer/Design Firm Discovery
- The goal of this assignment is for you to deepen your understanding of the design professions. What's going on out there in the world of design.
- 5 Collecting the stars
- There are several stars scattered through the site. Each contains the suggestion of an activity.
Tips for getting high grades,
- Don't be a 14th-grader.
- Be self-directed, self-motivated, caring and passionate designer. Don't just wait around to be told what to do. In short, don't be "schooly", be professional. Hint: Don't ever ask how long a paper should be, you are asking what do I need to do to get a C? Just jump-in.
- Think deeply about the kind of designer you want to be (your professional goal statement).
- Begin to mold yourself into your goal. Aggressively seek-out designers, design thinkers, and design firms. Clarify your understanding/concept of design in the light global realities. Don't stick your head in a parochial hole - look.
- Make an effort to understand and incorporate into your design process design patterns and design methods.
- Don't start designing before your understand, and can articulate, the problem.
- Write a complete Project Brief.
- Don't start designing before your understand, and can articulate, the problem. Always have a design concept. Demonstrate that you have a deep understanding of the problem. Air-head design is crippling, to you, and a waste of effort.
- Find tutorials for technical things (the craft of design).
- If you need to develop specific skills to use in your chosen project design, development, and implementation find them and work through them out of class. Build your craft skills.
- Design your project time-line/calendar.
- Link your development calendar in your project report site.
- Write a post-design evaluation of your completed project.
- What worked? What didn't? Why? What is the way forward?
contact information ∧
Office: Art and Architecture South (AAS), room 122a hours: MW, 10-12:30, or by appointment skype: fcronk email: fcronk@uidaho.
