Programs | One Year Immersive | Quarter 3 | IDSE 302

Lecture Series: Sustainability & Impact

IDSE 302
Lecture Series: Sustainability & Impact

Course Overview

One of the benefits of the Austin Center for Design is access to a valuable network of design practitioners. This lecture series will expose you to a collection of design leaders, who will share their experience on topics from the varying role of design across organizations to sustainability and measuring impact.

This course is 8-weeks and focuses inward and outward - inward, towards a clearer student understanding of desired impact through design, and outward, towards empowering students to build their design network. This course also serves as a helpful bridge from previous theory based courses in Q1 and Q2, towards the Portfolio & Professional Practices course in Q4. As a result of this course, students will have greater confidence in their career trajectory, and be better prepared for the job market post AC4D.

Each week will expose students to a collection of design leaders, who will share their experience on topics from varying roles of design across organizations, sustainability and measuring impact. While jobs and work contexts may differ, we will continue to return to the themes of understanding impact, design professions, techniques and applications, and resiliency.

Outcomes and Competencies

The following outcome statements articulate the competencies, abilities, and skills a student will have as a result of completing this class. Upon completing this course, students will be able to:

  • Understanding Impact. Students will understand how practitioners contextualize (face) wicked problems in their work and measure their impact against them

  • Design Professions. Students will develop a clearer understanding of the differences between design professions within the realm of human centered design (HCD), including UX, service design, interaction design, civic design, and enterprise.

  • Techniques and Applications. Students will learn about the real-world application of design methodologies and tools preferred by established practitioners that complement the base HCD structures of research, synthesis, and prototyping

  • Resiliency. Students will develop an appreciation for the resiliency of HCD career paths, as many practitioners move between industry verticals and design contexts over time

  • Future Self. Students will through the course of the quarter explore and play with aspirational versions of themselves, giving them the opportunity to reflect both on short term and long term impact they hope to have

  • Career Hustle. Students will build comfort in cold outreach to designers and companies that interest them in order to build connections that help them further build their tribe outside of the AC4D network in realms of design that interest them

Course Schedule

Class 1

In Class

Introduction to Experience & Service Slices

  • Syllabus Review & Course Goals

  • Introduction to Experience

  • Introduction to Service Slices

  • Discuss Assignment 1

Activities

  • Service Slicing - Service Slicing - Use a transcript from Q1 as a class

Out of Class

Assignment - Quarter Long Research

  • Deep dive on a design career path of your choosing.

  • Leverage your design research skills to craft a research plan, find research participants and conduct research, then synthesize and ultimately present your insights.

  • Conduct at least 8 in depth, qualitative interviews with individuals within the career path of your choosing.

Class 2

In Class

In-Class Working Session

Activities

  • Class time reserved for conducting service research

Out of Class

  • Finish service research

Class 3

In Class

Journey Mapping

  • Discussion: Service Research

  • Introduction to Customer Journey Mapping

Activities

  • Continue service slice modeling

  • Service mapping - Use data from service research (round robin)

Out of Class

Activities

  • Service Slicing - Service Slicing - Use a transcript from Q1 as a class

Reading

  • [Article] Tools for Systems Thinkers: Systems Mapping by Leyla Acaroglu

  • [Excerpt] Closing the Loop: Systems Thinking for Designers Ch. 1. The Shortcomings of User-Centered Design

Class 4

In Class

Systems Thinking & Critique

  • Discussion on reading

  • Understanding Critique

Activities

  • Continue mapping service slices - pair up and critique

Out of Class

Activities

  • Continue Service Slices Mapping

  • Begin Digitizing Service Slices Map, Prepare Presentation

Class 5

In Class

Working Session

Activities

  • Run a critique using in-progress service slices for peers and instructor

Out of Class

Activities

  • Finalize presentation for Assignment 1

Class 6

In Class

⏰ Assignment 1 Due: Service Slices Presentation

Discussions

  • Introduce Assignment 2

Out of Class

Activities

  • Begin Journey Mapping

Class 7

In Class

In-Class Working Session

Discussions

  • How-to Present Complex Artifacts

Activities

  • Peer critique in-progress journey maps

Out of Class

Activities

  • Gather additional research data as needed

  • Continue Journey Mapping

Class 8

In Class

In-Class Working Session

1:1 time with instructor 

Out of Class

Activities

  • Finalize Customer Journey Mapping assignment

Class 9

In Class

⏰ Assignment 2 Due: Journey Map Presentation

Discussions

  • Design Criteria

  • Introduce Final Assignment

Out of Class

Activities

  • Create Design Criteria definition

Reading

  • [Excerpt] Orchestrating Experiences Ch. 6 Defining Experience Principles

  • [Excerpt] Orchestrating Experiences Ch. 9 Crafting a Tangible Vision

Class 10

In Class

Experience Vision

Discussions

  • Review reading

  • Introduce Vignettes & Value

Activities

  • In-Class Working Session

  • Instructor 1:1s

Out of Class

Activities

  • Create initial Vignettes & Value Promise

Class 11

In Class

Scenarios & Storyboards 

  • Introduction to Scenarios 

  • Introduction to Storyboards

Activities

  • Peer critique in-progress vignettes

  • In-class: Value promise writing 

  • Scenario development (round robin)

Out of Class

Activities

  • Continue vignette ideation 

  • Write scenarios

Class 12

In Class

In-Class Working Session

Activities

  • Individual storyboard development 

Out of Class

Activities

  • Create storyboards

Class 13

In Class

Critique

  • Critique: In-progress storyboards

  • Instructor 1:1s

Out of Class

Activities

  • Finalize Scenarios, Storyboards, Vignettes & Value Promise assignment

Class 14

In Class

⏰ Final Assignment Input Due: Scenarios, Storyboards, Vignettes & Value Promise

Out of Class

Activities

  • Develop final presentation

Class 15

In Class

Activities

  • Presentation Feedback Session

  • In-Class Working Session

Out of Class

Activities

  • Finalize presentation

  • Practice

Class 16

In Class

⏰ Final Assignment Due: Final presentations & critique

  • Presenting jointly with 201 Prototyping & Testing class

Out of Class

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