85202 Designing Social Change
Warning: The information on this page is indicative. The subject outline for a
particular session, location and mode of offering is the authoritative source
of all information about the subject for that offering. Required texts, recommended texts and references in particular are likely to change. Students will be provided with a subject outline once they enrol in the subject.
Subject handbook information prior to 2025 is available in the Archives.
Credit points: 6 cp
Result type: Grade and marks
Requisite(s): 85502 Researching Design Histories AND 85503 Thinking Through Design
These requisites may not apply to students in certain courses. See access conditions.
Description
In this subject students investigate the underlying political dimensions of designing, and explore possible futures by making alternative visions tangible. Students envision expansive spatial and temporal representations, or 'storyworlds', that encompass and communicate different ways of living and being; reimagining society beyond present day constraints, and in the process developing an understanding of the role of design practice can have in shaping future possibilities.
Subject learning objectives (SLOs)
On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:
| 1. | Imagine a range of different alternatives to ordinary yet important cultural phenomena that are often assumed to be inevitable |
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| 2. | Improve the ability in the creation of experiential forms, storyworlds and models for transformation using a range of different, specified mediums |
| 3. | Discuss a range of case specific examples that demonstrate the complexities of socio-technical change |
| 4. | Possess an introductory understanding of the fields of research associated with design fiction, design futuring, history and philosophy of technology, transition design and sociological and ethnographic approaches to design research |
Contribution to the development of graduate attributes
This 2nd year interdisciplinary subject teaches design students ways to engage with the future using design strategies in various contexts. It contributes to the development of graduate attributes in the areas of critical thinking and research, communication and interpersonal skills, and attitudes and values. This 2nd year core subject contributes knowledge necessary for the completion of the Bachelor of Design degree within three design discipline areas.
The term CAPRI is used for the five Design, Architecture and Building faculty graduate attribute categories where:
C = communication and groupwork
A = attitudes and values
P = practical and professional
R = research and critique
I = innovation and creativity
Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs) are linked to these categories using codes (e.g. C-1, A-3, P-4, etc.).
Teaching and learning strategies
Delivery
This subject will delivered face-to-face.
Preparation and participation
To prepare for class each week you will need to:
- read, take notes on and be prepared to discuss the required readings/listenings/viewings and the lecture content for each week
- complete any out of class activities set by your tutor from the previous week
- participant in any agreed upon meetings and activities for the purpose of groupwork
During class you are expected to participate in discussion and activities and present work in progress on your assessments and responses to weekly activities for feedback.
We appreciate different modes of communication suit different people. Some people like to talk, others like to write, others like to draw and make things. The important thing from the perspective of the teaching is that you are getting the most out the subject. Developing the confidence to express your ideas in a safe, public context is an essential part of the skills that will be required of you in the workplace. We want to leave you in a position where you are practiced in finding ways to ensure your ideas are heard. Sometimes this might involve taking the plunge and proactively sharing your thoughts in class.
In group work it is particularly important to share your thoughts with your peers. The communicative space created by a group is a shared responsibility, just like the classroom, whether virtual or physical. Do the right thing by your peers and help make your team and the class greater than the sum of its parts by actively contributing the collective development of ideas.
Feedback
"Error is the mark of the higher organisms, and is the schoolmaster by whose agency there is upward evolution. For example, the evolutionary use of intelligence is that it enables the individual to profit by error without being slaughtered by it." (Alfred North Whitehead)
Providing you with safety from negative consequences when making mistakes is one of the key functions of university learning. The purpose of assessment work is primairly to increase your cognitive and practical abilities by learning from errors, not to obtain higher marks. This is among the central truths of your learning experience and is true now as at all stages of life. As such, you will be provided with feedback in response to your assessments that will enable you to identify your mistakes and improve through practice. Your obligations are to see feedback not as a judgement on your character or a condemnation of your abilities as a designer. To reemphasise: how you use your feedback is far more important than the grade you receive. This is sometimes hard to appreciate in the secondary and tertiary education system but it is undoubtedly true and adopting such an attitude will serve you well after leaving UTS.
In addition to written feedback on your assessments through Review, you will receive informal, impressionistic feedback on in-class activities and in-progress presentations of assessment work.
If possible try and ask your questions about the progress of your work or about assignment details in class, rather than through email, that way your peers are likely to benefit from the advice of your tutor. Email the subject coordinator if you have questions of a private nature that relate to subject curriculum or if feel uncomfortable asking questions in class, but remember, becoming comfortable speaking up in public contexts is essential for your career as a designer and will leave you in a better position to learn.
Stay on track
If circumstances prevent you from maintaining attendance and/or keeping up with assessment you need to meet with your tutor or subject coordinator to ensure you can stay on track to pass the subject. Further assistance with study support can be found at Course and subject advice.
Content (topics)
Key concepts and approaches
- Different ways to think about technological change and use
- Designing with storyworlds
- Diegetic prototypes
- Design fiction and design futuring
- Sociotechnological imaginaries
- Transition design
- Concept mapping
- Storyboarding
- Annotated illustrations
- Desk/ computer research/ academic research skills
- Design anthropology
Assessment
Assessment task 1: Speculations
| Intent: | Intent The purpose of this assessment is for you to demonstrate what you have learnt from the key content from weeks 2-7. The assignment should include refined version of two weekly tutorial activities aligned to the module focuses, and a reflective statement for each highlighting how your learning in response to the activities progressed through further research. In short what we really want to see is how your thinking has changed as you've spent time exploring some of the ideas and approaches from this subject. The three activities are focused on the modules People, People and Things, and People, things and Organisations. The activities will be introduced in class, you'll work on them week-to-week, and then refine further for the final submission. Choose 2 out of 3. In the Canvas modules you will see each activity has two parts that build on each other. Activity 1: Persona (based on Weeks 2 and 3) Activity 2: Sense-substance substitution (based on Weeks 4 and 5) Activity 3: Organisational change (based on Weeks 6 and 7) 1. Connecting the activities with the concepts The activities give you the opportunity to creatively explore and experiment with key concepts from course content. Make sure there is an explicit connection between your activities and the concepts and approaches you've been introduced to in Weeks 1-7. 2. Exploring lots of concepts and ideas One of the things often heard from leaders of design teams is that they struggle to get junior designers into the process of creating high volume (lots) of low-fidelity prototypes or sketches for the purpose of sharing ideas and working out what they think. The tendency in the studio trained designer can often be to fixate on an initial idea and start attempting to perfect this too early, without exploring other conceptual alternatives in a rough, low-stakes way. This is why we push you in the activities to push your imagination and come up with multiple ideas to show in class. The point is that the high volume pushes designers into a mindset of not perfecting the first, second or third idea. 3. Refining your chosen ideas and activities for the submission You should have begun the activity in class, further developed ideas through experimentations and then refined these as you lead up to the assignment due date. And refinement doesn't necessarily mean making it look perfect, it means refinement at a conceptual level, going from lots of very roughly sketched out (can be notes) ideas, to one that seems the most original or distinctive with regard to the norms associated with futuring that you've been learning about. Beyond legibility, don't worry about too much about the visual quality of these activities, there is a criteria for visualisation skill in Assessment 2. For the activities that involve finding images or writing, the same goes, clear writing and original (not generic) images. 4. Reflecting on what you've learnt Reflecting on what you've learnt and demonstrating that you can evaluate better and worse work in your own practice is a crucial part of the assignment. For each activity you need to show that you understand how your learning has progressed and that you have an explicit, emerging sense of what good and bad looks like for each of the activities and the associated objectives. Criteria
Deliverables Roughly 2-3 Pages per activity (4-6 pages for 2 activities) with 1000-1500 words of reflective, analytical writing, using appropriate APA reference conventions where necessary. Submitted as a well-presented PDF. Include process work as part of this where appropriate. Basically you should be submitting a pdf of between 6-9pages in length in total. Landscape or portrait is fine depending on how you'd like to present your work/ what fits the content, but my suggestion would be landscape. You can include the reflective component on a page by itself, or neatly overlay/ annotate on your activity work. The 500 per reflection word count does not include any text in the activities (for example, it does not include the descriptive text for the persona). |
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| Objective(s): | This task addresses the following subject learning objectives: 1 and 4 |
| Type: | Report |
| Groupwork: | Individual |
| Weight: | 50% |
Assessment task 2: Prototyping Future Worlds
| Intent: | The purpose of this assessment is to practise the envisioning and presentation of a future storyworld, and designing an accompanying diegetic prototype. This will be informed by the concepts and activities explored throughout the subject, following on from the first assessment. This is a group project where you will employ your designerly knowledge and skills to imagine a vision for the future that is both grounded in insight-generating, empirical encounters with a certain segment of the world, and free or distant enough from the present to provokes different thinking about taken for granted norms about social or technological change. Groups will present a series of images that give an overview of their storyworld, and an insight into the day-to-day rhythms of that as shaped by the interactions of people, things and organisations. These overview and narrative images will be supported by individual diegetic prototypes, and a design rationale and documentation of the creative exploration of the group. Presentations will be structured to ensure a dialogue relationship between presenters and audience (the tutor in particular). You will recieve more guidence on presentation approach during semester. Thematic guidance for the focus of the storyworlds will also be provided over the course of the semester. See Canvas for further details. |
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| Objective(s): | This task addresses the following subject learning objectives: 1, 2, 3 and 4 |
| Type: | Project |
| Groupwork: | Group, group and individually assessed |
| Weight: | 50% |
Minimum requirements
ATTENDANCE
Students are required to be punctual and regular in attendance for all classes. A minimum of 80 percent attendance and participation in both lectures and studios is required to complete the subject.
The DAB attendance policy requires students to attend no less than 80% of formal teaching sessions (lectures and tutorials) for each class they are enrolled in to remain eligible for assessment.
STATEMENT ABOUT ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES AND ADVICE
Students will be expected to submit two assessments (one individual and one group work task) over the semester. Marks will be deducted for lateness unless arrangements have been made in advance. The task must be the student’s own individual work, and must not have been submitted for assessment in other subjects. Students must refer to the following information and UTS assessment information, which is published in the Policy and Procedures for the Assessment of Coursework Subjects, available at: www.gsu.uts.edu.au/policies/assessment-coursework.html