Course Details

Course Information Package

Course Unit Title	DESIGN PRACTICES
Course Unit Code	MID504
Course Unit Details	MA Interdisciplinary Design (Required Courses) -
Number of ECTS credits allocated	8
Learning Outcomes of the course unit	By the end of the course, the students should be able to: Embrace constraints and limitations as a means to creativity rather than an inhibiting force. Design benefits when we see limitations – to the extend they have been found reasonable – as possibilities rather than as hostile preventive forces to creativity which need somehow to be violated in order to express creativity. Make own games with appropriate rules and structure or to deduce these from our intuitive actions. Challenge formidable obstacles with processes of intelligent and mind-expanding design solutions. Explain the difference between the protected academic environment (ideal) and working in a creative and competitive environment (real). Demonstrate knowledge as a designer about today’s industry and how it works, so that they can operate effectively. Formulate original ideas. Handle complex visual problems with far more understanding of the rapidly changing visual scene. Act in a professional manner as if in front of a real life client. Handle the difficulties working in the industry by proving their abilities through their hard work in a very competitive environment. Utilize critical judgment as vital for keeping up a high level of intellect in visual communication. Work on different platforms within their design discipline keeping up with today’s ever changing digital information era. Capacity for organization and planning in the art and design process.
Mode of Delivery	Face-to-face
Prerequisites	MID503	Co-requisites	NONE
Recommended optional program components	NONE
Course Contents	The course introduces students from diverse design disciplines to design practices from their area of specialization exposing them to actual situations of real life situations from the industry. The students also gain broad practical experience through close collaboration in cross-disciplinary projects drawn directly from industry. It allows students to further their development of formal and conceptual skills; it promotes personal investigation and research on an advanced level, and encourages students to experiment with media, form and messages. Students, as they enter professional practice can also become researchers, or begin careers in design education.
Recommended and/or required reading:
Textbooks	McLuhan, Marshall (1994) Understanding Media, The MIT Press Charlotte & Peter Fiel (2005) Graphic Design Now, Taschen. Harris, Mark (2009), Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood, Penguin Press. Prince, Stephen (2009), Movies and Meaning: An Introduction to Film, Allyn & Bacon. Berry, John D. (Ed.) (2004), Contemporary Newspaper Design, New York: Mark Batty Publisher. Burnhill, Peter (2003), Type Spaces, London: Hyphen Press.
References	Visual contemporary references on magazines like: WAD, Fashion and Urban Culture, Another Magazine, Domus, eye, Abitare, wallpaper, The Face, Wired, Design Diffusion, Ottagono, Creative Review, +design.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods	Students begin to utilize their abilities through continuous experimentation that inevitably leads to discoveries. Teaching such students is to constantly being reminded to have faith in design process, both visual and theoretical, and to err in order to arrive to creative solutions. Students cultivate their own personality which gives them a sense of purpose and pride unsurpassed as working designers and researchers. They become more independent and begin to search for their own set of values and knowledge, to develop them and learn to apply them. They begin to believe about themselves and with their own self-confidence initiate ideas and concepts and begin to follow their own dreams in life. The approach to the design processes is much disciplined and their final design solutions can be characterized by excellent methodology and rational decision making with visually stimulating design solutions. Intuitive approaches and chance operations are encouraged and advanced students learn to handle them with a spirit for experimentation. Motivation with a high level of intellect and sense of humour are stressed to the extend of being essential elements of the design research process which is embedded in all design disciplines. Their conceptual abilities are strengthened from continuous research work, both visual and theoretical. Illustrated lectures and group discussions and critiques are utilized within the course delivery. Furthermore, real life situations from the industry are introduced in class by professionals or on sight whenever is possible.
Assessment methods and criteria	Field specialization visual study – Research Project Methodo 30% Interim Critique 20% Presentation/Implementation of study in real case scenario 20% Final Assessment 30%
Language of instruction	English
Work placement(s)	NO