Course Syllabus
Overview
Designing People-Centered Experiences introduces students to the approaches and tools of Experience Design. It provides a methodological overview of experience design from the perspective of a visual communication designer. By exploring a range of activities associated with experience design, this course prepares students to make an informed decision about what approaches and outcomes they would like to pursue during their capstone project.
Content
In this course, you will learn experience design through human-centered, contextually-grounded design research. Special attention is devoted to exposing the similarities and differences between the Service Experience, Interaction Design, and Interface Design professions, and their disciplinary activities, deliverables, and processes. You will apply research tools and methods to seek a better understanding of human factors (issues of audiences and contexts), and apply strategic design tools for generating and integrating solutions. Students will engage in individual and team-based approaches to problem-solving.
Format
This course is fully online in a Hybrid Distance format. That means that we will still meet together during our class session but that some activities might happen on your own time. This is also known as a "flipped classroom." Each week, I will upload some new information (readings, lectures, videos, podcasts, etc.) and activities (exercises, reflections, etc.). You will need to review those materials and complete the activities prior to our class meeting time. Then, during class, we will focus on discussion, critique, and feedback. It's important to come into the class session prepared.
I will divide the class into small groups (of ~8). Each small group will have a standing meeting time each week via Zoom.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
- frame the context or circumstances of a design problem in an insightful way
- conduct research by applying appropriate tools and methods to investigate design contexts
- visualize an existing experience and its parts
- draft a plan for how to address weaknesses in an experience
- describe the relationship between people, interfaces, interactions, artifacts and experiences
- enact a problem-solving process that involves the simultaneous creation and evaluation of multiple alternatives
- propose solutions that are cohesive and contextually relevant
- identify personal strengths within the experience design field to better inform decisions about how to approach a capstone project
Grading and Projects
Grades are a little different in this course. Traditional letter grades hinder creativity and place emphasis on task completion rather than creative investigation. With this in mind, your assessment in this course will be focused on your learning rather than your output. At two points in the semester (once around mid-term and once at the end of the semester), you will be asked to complete a self-reflection that will facilitate a one-on-one discussion with me. At that meeting, we will discuss what grade we both believe is appropriate. With all this in mind, expectations for deliverables will always be clearly communicated and your participation in those activities will be considered when determining your grade. Feedback from Aaron, Amrita, and your peers will be provided in both structured (rubrics) and unstructured (critique) venues throughout the semester.
We will have 4 main projects throughout the course. Each one will build on the previous and will increase in complexity throughout the semester.
Projects
| Week 1–2 | What is Design and Intro to Experiences |
| Week 3–7 | Digital Experiences |
| Week 8–13 | Bridging Digital and Physical Experiences |
| Week 14 | Thanksgiving Break |
| Week 15–16 | VCD Online Symposium |
Approach
There are a few principles that should define our collective approach this semester.
Be present, not perfect
"Design, as a problem-solving activity can never, by definition, yield one right answer: it will always produce an infinite number of answers, some 'righter' and some 'wronger.' The 'rightness' of any design solution will depend on the meaning which we invest the arrangement [of design elements]."
-Victor Papanek, Design for the Real World, 1971
Outside of a few issues (spelling, craft, promptness), We will never ask you to be perfect in this class. Your daily goal should be to make your best effort, learn from your mistakes, and continuously improve (even if by very small amounts). Rather than executing perfect solutions, focus on being present and attentive in class, during critique, and in discussions and we promise that you will be a much better designer by the end of the semester.
Reevaluate your expectations for critique
Professor Mitch Goldstein from the Rochester Institute of Technology has put together a very useful guide to critique. Please review it prior to any critique to refresh your memory on the purpose of critique. One of the best quotes from his guide:
"You should walk away from getting a crit feeling empowered and excited to make the work better, not defeated and miserable from the experience. It is up to both the givers and the receivers of the critique to make this happen."
Make sure you have backups
Losing your computer (either from a software crash, hardware failure, theft, or otherwise) is an inevitability. Embrace this and plan for it: have a plan to backup your computer. We recommend having a two-pronged backup strategy. You should have one hard backup on an external hard drive somewhere. If you use a Mac, make sure Time Machine is connected and use it regularly. The other backup should be remote. You could use Dropbox, Google Drive, etc. or use a remote backup service like Backblaze or iDrive.
Be informed and VOTE
As a student, you have access to a lot of great resources for free or reduced prices. Take advantage of these while you can. Get your news from somewhere other than Facebook. We have free access to The New York Times through IU. Wherever you get your news, get good at assessing the credibility of what you see.
Check to see if you're registered to vote. Or, register.
Be honest and sincere
To do our best work together, we need to have a good working relationship. Trust is the cornerstone. Do your best, and if you fall short, be humble and ready to learn. If you need to miss class for any reason, just tell us. We've heard it all and that's okay.
Honesty also works both ways. If something is not going as you would like in this class, tell one or both of us. I'm ready to talk about it and work through it.
Important Terms
Throughout the semester, we will consistently use a few terms. Designers use terms interchangeably sometimes or there may be multiple understandings for the same term. Or, in some cases, we may have made up a term to more easily describe a concept. These definitions will help us build a common vocabulary and clear up some confusion.
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Context |
The distinct set of conditions around a person that influences their actions. A person’s satisfaction with a design is almost always dependent on context (for example, chat apps are designed differently depending on their context of use: a public context (Twitter), romantic context (Tinder/Snapchat), and a professional context (Skype). |
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Articulation |
These are terms that Helen and Aaron use to generally reference the genre of experience mapping. These terms are usually a placeholder for a specific type of map (customer journey, experience map, service blueprint, etc.). |
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Customer Journey |
A specific type of Articulation Map that focuses on one person (or a persona’s) journey with a product or service. |
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Experience |
A specific type of Articulation Map that focuses on human activity (and goals) within a certain context. It documents a person’s journey but shifts the perspective from a concrete "solution” to a "desired experiential state of mind.” |
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Phase of experience |
A distinct segment of an experience. Usually used to help frame the underlying actions and touchpoints through specific goals. (ex: Awareness > Decide > Purchase > Use) |
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Touchpoint |
A moment in time where a person encounters a product or service. Touchpoints usually impact the person’s understanding of that service. (ex: checkout) |
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Action |
Any activity that a person undertakes in their journey. They may or may not coincide with a touchpoint (ex: ‘Turn doorknob to open door’) |
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Artifacts |
Tangible, designed objects that a person encounters throughout an experience. (ex: a sign, the previously mentioned doorknob, an app, etc) |
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End Goal |
What a person literally wants to accomplish. (ex: I want to send a message to my friend). |
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Experience Goal |
How a person wants to feel while they using a product or service (ex: I want to feel creative). |
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Life Goal |
How the use of a product or service feeds into a person’s grander sense of self (ex: I want to be a good citizen). |
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Elements of Design |
The basic elements of our craft:
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Principles of Design |
Concepts we use to apply the elements of design in meaningful ways: |
Readings
Suggested:
Kalbach, James. 2016. Mapping Experiences: A Complete Guide to Creating Value through Journeys, Blueprints, and Diagrams
Strongly suggested
Stickdorn, Marc, et al. 2012. This is Service Design Thinking: Basics, Tools, Cases
Cooper, Alan. 2014. About Face 4: The Essentials of Interaction Design.
Berinato, Scott. 2016. Good Charts: The Harvard Business Review Guide to Making Smarter, More Persuasive Data Visualizations
Baker, Nicholson. 1988. The Mezzanine
B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore. “In The Experience Economy: Work Is Theatre & Every Business a Stage”, B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore
B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore. "Welcome to the Experience Economy." Harvard Business Review.
Buchanan, R. (1995). “Wicked Problems in Design Thinking”, in The Idea of Design, Buchanan and Margolin, eds. Cambridge: MIT Press, pp 3-20
Garrett, Jesse J. 2010. "The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web and Beyond" (2nd Edition).
Course Summary:
| Date | Details | Due |
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