The self-defined Final Project, serves as preparation for the MFA in Design and Technology Thesis Process, which begins in the third (fall) semester of work.
As a reminder, a Design and Technology thesis is:
i. A singular subject concerning Design, Technology and the Human Condition (Society);
ii. A subject that is debatable, controversial, thought-provoking;
iii. Where evidence and precedents are presented through arguments for or against the thesis (recognizing opposing points of view is critical);
iv. Evidence is made by the design student in a set of iterative experiments and finished projects to prove or disprove the thesis
v. Students should consider the context (historical, domain/field specific), content (concept and execution) and contribution (to the field and/or a group of people) of their thesis.
vi. This is a “mini-thesis” and the project scope needs to be small enough for the period of time allotted for all phases of the project: research, development, ideation, iteration/methodology testing, prototyping and final project. Documentation of the project should be through the use of websites or production notebooks and/or sketchbooks.
April 5th
Explore Personal Motivations/Interests
Questions and/or Motivations:
Make a list of 2-4 primary questions that explain what it is that you are trying to discover. OR, illustrate the primary motivations for your work with design and technology. Your primary questions or motivations may contain a set of sub-questions/motivations as well.
Domains:
What are the domains/fields with which your project engages? List keywords, terms, phrases, concepts, industry-jargon, tags that illustrate these domains. What relationships exist between these domains? Illustrate the domains your project deals with in a Venn diagram.
Illustrations:
Prepare Include illustrations of your domains, interests, and/or motivations. Include keywords, tags, industry-jargon etc.... see:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venn_diagram
500-1000 words / 1-3 Venn Diagrams
April 9th
Precedents and Research
Homework:
What are examples of work that share something in common with your motivations? These precedents can be contemporary or historical, can be drawn from the realms of design, technology, sociology, psychology, etc. In preparing this section of your document, please include the following information for each precedent discussed:
• title of work and author/designer/artist
• brief description of project
• relevance of the project to your motivations
Illustrations:
Overlay Precedents on your Venn Diagrams
500-1000 words / 1-3 Venn Diagrams
April 12th
10 minute presentations.
Homework:
Apply motivations to a concept(s)
Summary:
Write a narrative description of the project(s). What is it, who is it designed for, what is it designed to do, what kind of technology does it explore, why should we care about it, where will we see or what is the project’s life beyond the classroom, how does it make a difference?
Illustrations:
Overlay your project on your Venn Diagram
500-1000 words / 1-3 Venn Diagrams / Other related images
April 16th
10 minute presentations.
Homework:
Illustrate the Process. Illustrate how your concept would functions. Include: a narrative description of your process, key methods, sample sketches, user experience storyboards, diagrams, IA, Technological Solutions etc.
500-1500 words / 1-3 Venn Diagrams / Other related images
April 19th
10 minute presentations.
Illustrative the Prototype, User Experience, and/or Recipe for Construction
Homework: Illustrate your ideal user experience. Provide refined IA illustrations, showing user experience and data flow. Build a recipe for making the concept.
500-1500 words / 1-3 Venn Diagrams / Other related images
April 23th
10 minute presentations.
Homework: Update your research and documentation
April 26
User Feedback
Homework:
Conduct interview with potential users. Collect data on who your users' thought's matched your concept or predictions.
500-1500 words / Other related images
April 30
10 minute presentations.
Homework:
Combine, Redesign, Update document
May 7 and May 10th
Crits
Turn in 5-10 page document which meet the above objectives. Turn in MLA reference and resources.
Design writing represents one form of expression with the MFADT program. As a result, students in the Major Studio will be required to actively engage in writing as part of their overall studio experience. In addition to learning how to write a design brief, students will also be asked to produce a longer piece of writing associated with some aspect of their course work. The following presents the documents general objectives.
+Document Objectives
1. Present a clear and concise overview of the project concept;
2. Situate the project within historical and creative contexts;
3. Provide a set of criteria used to evaluate the project;
4. Provide self-assessment of the project’s strengths and weaknesses;
5. Give an overview of the design process;
6. Present a list of related resources.
By the end of the semester, an annotated Domain Bibliography in MLA format is due to the Department Director for each student with no less than 10 primary and secondary sources. (Primary source examples are direct interviews or user studies; personal diaries/writing; surveys, etc. Secondary source examples and vetted websites).
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