THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2023/2024

Timetable information in the Course Catalogue may be subject to change.

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : Edinburgh College of Art : Design

Undergraduate Course: Product Design: Resolution (DESI10146)

Course Outline
SchoolEdinburgh College of Art CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits40 ECTS Credits20
SummaryIn this course, students will review and extend previous research and practice, exercising critical thinking to define a particular issue that can be approached through design. Students will exercise autonomy in selecting appropriate methods, materials and techniques to work on this issue towards a final resolution that will constitute their final year project.
Course description This course will provide appropriate context for students to continue developing their 4th year projects towards a final resolution. Students will critically review and analyse materials, practices and techniques explored in Semester 1. They will reflect and select themes and practices for closer exploration, narrowing research and experimentation to focus on execution and implementation of a final design piece. Rather than supporting ideas generation and insights into a particular subject, as in Semester 1 courses, research and practice in this course will be motivated towards the final resolution of their designs.

The course will be underpinned by weekly tutorial meetings with the course tutor or other members of staff when relevant. Students are nevertheless expected to exercise autonomy and independently drive the process and thinking behind their projects.

This course will:
1. Support students' through the process of taking the results of their explorations in 'Product Design: Prototyping' and refining them to a final artifact which will address a material, technological and/or social issue to a high professional and critical standard.
2. Enable students to develop an expertise through practical experience in areas of personal interest.
3. Develop an artefact, system or intervention executed to a professional standard while following their personal interests in one area of Product Design.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements N.B. This course is only open to fourth-year undergraduate students of Product Design (School of Design, Edinburgh College of Art)
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2023/24, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  14
Course Start Semester 2
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 400 ( Lecture Hours 1, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 19, Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 6, Formative Assessment Hours 1, Summative Assessment Hours 1, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 8, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 364 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Feedback Formative feedback will be provided in person through 1:1 tutorial meetings and upon review of prototypes.

Summative feedback will be provided orally at the final presentation, and in written form based on the assessment of the submitted final artefact/system/installation and the digital documentation.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Carry out critical review of concepts, materials and practices in product design and related areas in order to articulate how a particular technological, material and / or social issue can be addressed through design.
  2. Critically assess design processes, practices and outcomes using methodologies that are appropriate to a proposed brief or outlined issue.
  3. Resolve a project through the production of an artefact or installation that meets a professional standard, producing adequate documentation that articulates its creative endeavour in relation to the field of product design.
Reading List
Ashby, M. F., & Johnson, K. (2013). Materials and design: the art and science of material selection in product design. Butterworth-Heinemann.

Wachter-Boettcher, S. (2012). Content everywhere: Strategy and structure for future-ready content. Rosenfeld Media.

Ratto, M. (2011). Critical making: Conceptual and material studies in technology and social life. The Information Society, 27(4), 252-260.

Lidwell, W., Holden, K., & Butler, J. (2010). Universal principles of design: 125 ways to enhance usability, influence perception, increase appeal, make better design decisions, and teach through design. Rockport Pub.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Students will develop key skills in terms of knowledge acquisition and evaluation, the ability to use that knowledge to resolve their own designs in concrete form.

Through the critical articulation of thematic (LO1) and methodological (LO2) choices, students will consolidate knowledge of principal theories, concepts and principles of product design. The argumentation around the choice of a specific approach and methodology (LO2) will help students demonstrate knowledge of established techniques of enquiry and research. By attempting to frame their projects within the field of product design (LO3), they will integrate principal features, terminology and conventions in the field. The framing of a particular issue that can be addressed through design (LO1), in combination with the presentation of the final artefact (LO3) will help demonstrate knowledge in more specific areas.

By manufacturing their final projects, and articulating the process behind it (LO3), students will demonstrate knowledge of a wide range of skills, techniques, practices and materials associated with product design, as well as ability to apply technical skills to implement a concept at a professional level. The emphasis on creative endeavour will also lead to the application of materials, technologies or practices that are the forefront of the discipline.

Students will be approaching complex issues (LO1), which are often referred to as "wicked" problems that include information coming from a range of sources. Based on this complex information, they will make judgements and present concrete design concepts to address these problems (LO2), which is an important cognitive skill for product designers.
KeywordsNot entered
Contacts
Course organiserMiss Isla Munro
Tel:
Email: Isla.Munro@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Barbara Bianchi
Tel: (0131 6)51 5736
Email: barbara.bianchi@ed.ac.uk
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