Design for Sustainability Curriculum

This is the first of a series of studio courses that allow students on the MA and MFA Design for Climate Action programs to develop their skills and knowledge in live design briefs with industry and community partners. By their nature, these courses include socio-economic and political considerations. The studio courses are designed to challenge students with projects of increasing complexity and progressively strengthen the students’ problem-solving skills. Students will solve design problems requiring substantive research, concept ideation and realization, and implementation. In conjunction with the Zero-Waste Materials and Processes course, Climate Action Studio I uses creative practice to focus on life-cycle analysis: manufacturing cycles, materials cycles, and distributions systems.

This is the second of a series of studio courses that allow students on the MA and MFA Design for Sustainability programs to develop their skills and knowledge in live design briefs with industry and community partners. By their nature, these courses include socio-economic and political considerations. The studio courses are designed to challenge students with projects of increasing complexity and progressively strengthen the students’ problem-solving skills. Students will solve design problems requiring substantive research, concept ideation and realization, and implementation. Projects on this course address the environmental impact of human habitats, including domestic waste infrastructures, energy usage, transport systems and logistics.

This is the third and final of a series of studio courses that allow students on the MFA Design for Sustainability program to develop their skills and knowledge in live design briefs with industry and community partners. By their nature, these courses include socio-economic and political considerations. The studio courses are designed to challenge students with projects of increasing complexity and progressively strengthen the students’ problem-solving skills. Students will solve design problems requiring substantive research, concept ideation and realization, and implementation. Projects on this course address environmental stewardship, concern for natural habitats, ecology, urban green spaces, and land use.

This course introduces scientific theories, methodologies, and findings used to explain anthropogenic climate change. It provides designers and those from other disciplines with a clear understanding of processes, terminology, data and statistics that can reliably inform and support problem solving and systems intervention with multidisciplinary perspectives; it enables credible and transparent shaping of strategic narratives and communication.

This course introduces students to the selection and specification of appropriate materials, processes and systems for carbon neutral, non-polluting design. Students will explore low-energy and renewable materials, closed-loop manufacturing and construction, industrial symbiosis, and perpetual material cycles for circular economies. Students will learn about the development and selection of non-harmful materials and processes, localized logistics, design for disassembly, longevity and ethics. The course also covers regulatory factors relating to safety standards, materials recovery and reuse, pollution, and emissions.

In this course, students will learn techniques for effective listening, persuasion and negotiation in the climate crisis. They will learn to form rational and ethical arguments and debates that advance positive action informed by verifiable data. The climate crisis is culturally and politically complex, and often polarized. Communication narratives require rational, measured and skillful delivery. In this course, with reference to the work of others, students will learn how to create accurate and well-judged communication, PR, and persuasion strategies in the climate crisis, using text and audio-visual formats through a range of media channels (social and commercial).

In this course, students will learn about the principles of new economic models for the climate crisis (i.e. circular economy, degrowth). Students will explore the economic advantages for cradle-to-cradle design, closed loop manufacturing, alignment of waste-streams to material flows, and industrial symbiosis, and also the call for degrowth. Through a design project assignment, students will explore the challenges of transitioning from infinite growth to circular economies and/or degrowth economies.

On this course, students will reflect on their program studies so far and make persuasive cases for policy change.  Understanding global mapping of climate action, business practices, and social justice is necessary for effective advocacy for change. Students will learn about geo-political, economic and trading factors that impact climate change.

The Graduate Seminar course brings together the full cohort of CCS graduate design students to discuss and debate key contextual issues in and around design, and advance critical thinking skills. Students explore how engagement with key contextual themes informs and enriches the design process and design leadership. Students attend lectures and seminars and undertake visits to key exhibitions, galleries and/or public talks. Graduate Seminar serves to advance both critical inquiry and critical writing skills of students, and enable the cross-referencing of theory to practice. Weekly classes are led by debates in areas including climate change, economics, social justice, globalization, and emerging technology. This course involves extensive reading, research, group presentations, short written assignments and one longer written assignment.

The Graduate Research Methods course equips students with the knowledge and skills required to undertake a range of advanced research methodologies appropriate to contemporary creative practice and critical inquiry in art and design. This includes ethnography, field research, interviews, case studies, reflective practice, interviews, and practice-based methods. Using a wide range of primary and secondary sources students will learn to critically explore and evaluate art and design research practices. The knowledge acquired throughout the course will support students in the formulation of sophisticated, reflective and fully referenced proposals for research-led creative practice, and a rigorously informed critical discourse.

Students learn to use Design Thinking as a cross-disciplinary method for problem solving. Design thinking is characterized by a non-linear, creative, playful, and collaborative approach for generating and testing ideas through rapid ideation and prototyping. Students learn to challenge assumptions, take risks, and adopt unconventional perspectives in the process of problem solving. The class teaches students to take a human-centered approach, led by user empathy to (re)define problems, generate ideas, prototype, model, and test concepts and ideas for new products, services, processes, and strategies. Students do not need any formal design training to take this course, but will be required to visualize, map, enact, and document thinking and ideas in collaborative spaces.

This course is part 1 of a self-directed major project that will be the culmination of the graduate study experience. Students will critically situate the project in a specific context and it will be informed by robust research methodologies. Students will develop a body of well-documented iterative ideation, that will underpin thematically relevant creative outcomes in part 2, evidencing practical impact and/or a critical provocation.

This course is part 2 of a self-directed major project, a body of work that is the culmination of the graduate study experience. Following on from part 1, students will resolve, realize and present thematically relevant creative outcomes, evidencing practical impact and/or critical provocation.

This course will introduce the fundamental concepts, methods, and practices of data visualization design. Data visualization is an emerging field requiring technical skill, design aptitude, information translation, and interdisciplinary thought. Students will work both individually and in teams to explore the data visualization in the design development process and communicate data effectively through visual narrative. The purpose of this class is to equip students with a new range of skills that will facilitate deep engagement of diverse audiences through a design thinking process, to display the results of their research, analysis and creating powerful tools for brainstorming.

Trends in the 21st century have paved the way for a participatory approach to design. The goal of this class is for students to understand human-centered and participatory methods of design– conducting observational research, interviews and workshops, undertaking internal and external research activities, generating conceptual frameworks, formulating insights, and designing a user-centered solution– with the result of completing a project that demonstrates learning and execution of inclusive co-creation with users throughout a participatory design process. This outcome of this course-long project may be used as part of the student’s portfolio.

The Written Thesis is a self-directed, academically rigorous and fully referenced 8000-10,000 words document providing a critical appraisal of primary and secondary research sources, and theoretical discussion and debate on the overarching context of the Thesis Project. It runs concurrently with the Graduate Thesis 1 course in semester 1.

Students may take a class from any other program (both Graduate or undergraduate), or an independent or guided study. A summer internship may be used in lieu of this.

Students may take a class from any other program (both Graduate or undergraduate), or an independent or guided study. An extended summer internship may be used in lieu of this.