INFO/STS 4240

Design Workbook

Goals

The goal of this assignment is to develop your ability to use early design concepts (1) to exemplify and explore possible societal impacts of design and (2) to develop your own voice on class topics.

After doing this assignment you will be able to:

Identify and create a personal response to a specific idea in a reading
Use speculative design to (a) explore social implications of design and (b) ideate new design possibilities
Construct a compelling argument through design

Background

In humanities classes, a standard technique used to help students engage with the readings is to have weekly reading responses, which are short pieces of early writing in which you give a personal response to what you have read, before you come to class to discuss it. In this class, we adapt this method by using design sketches as a language for these responses.

This assignment is based on the design workbook method, which is commonly used in product design in early stages of design research. Design workbooks are a method for open-ended design research in which designers work out the parameters of the design problems and issues that interest them by sketching out tentative designs that explore the nature of the issues involved. Particularly in the early stages of design, design workbooks are explicitly not intended to provide a straightforward answer to a design problem but instead explore trade-offs and issues that arise through design. That is to say, a design workbook at this stage does not contain practical solutions that a designer would expect to be implemented but "speculative" designs that help him or her to understand the nature of the problem he or she is facing. These annotated designs may also tentatively explore the possible social worlds, new experiences, or implications opened up by the design.

In this course, we build on the open-ended nature of early-stage design workbook sketching to use it as a method for exploring social issues in and through design and for responding to and creating arguments. The design sketches we make will be a design-based form of reading response to topics and issues that arise in our coursework. Each design will include a description of the design in text and/or drawing on one or more related images, annotated with brief texts that explore and explain how the designs work, what issues they bring up or possibilities they entertain, and explain the ties to course readings.

The form of your design workbook is open. They will not be judged on artistic execution but on the sophistication and clarity with which they explore class-related issues, their accuracy in connecting with arguments and ideas in class readings, and their creativity and variety in concept. You may execute your workbook by hand, electronically, or in some combination of both; you may use photographs, hand-drawn images, collaged found images, or some other form; you may vary the ratio of text and image as makes sense for your own practice and understanding. It is OK to sketch using very poor drawing skills (this is what one of the professors does herself).

What you will do

Each page in your workbook will have 1 design, which is anchored in a single, specific idea or issue which you have identified from a course reading. The total number of pages you need for a unit is 1 per class that has required reading assigned. For example, the Values, Technology and Design unit has 5 classes with required reading assigned, so you should generate 5 pages total for that unit.
Your design should be anchored in the reading by including a specific reference (including the page number) to an issue or idea from the readings that inspire the design or that the design is commenting on. You may include specific quoations from the text, but the specific idea should be described clearly in your own words. The expected length of the description is 1-3 sentences.
Your design should be annotated with short statements (do not need to be full sentences) which reflect on issues that the design raises and how they relate to the idea from the reading. These annotations should not argue for the value of your design, but instead use the design as a launching point for exploring the idea from the reading, based on reflections on the possibilities that would exist if your design were real. These annotations should be nuanced (i.e., not present a black-and-white view of the issues, of the possibilities of your design, or of the reading) and accurately represent the author's perspective, even (especially) when you disagree with it.
You may select whichever readings from the unit you find most compelling to respond to. You may respond to required or optional readings.
We strongly recommend that you add to your workbook every time you do reading. It is much easier to quickly sketch out some ideas while the readings are fresh than to return and try to do them all at once at the end of the unit.

What we are looking for in this design is (1) an accurate reflection of a specific idea from the reading, (2) a creative design idea clearly inspired by or reflecting on that idea, and (2) a thoughtful and personal response that uses the design to reflect on the reading in interesting ways.

What we are not looking for in this assignment is a "good design" with a justification for why the design is good. In a good design response, it is not unusual for the design itself to have serious problems, which your annotations will use to explore limitations of, alternatives to, or questions about the issues raised in the reading.

The form of your design response is open. They will not be judged on artistic execution but on the sophistication and clarity with which they explore class-related issues, their accuracy in connecting with arguments and ideas in class readings, and their creativity. You may execute your design responses by hand, electronically, or in some combination of both; you may use photographs, hand-drawn images, collaged found images, or some other form; you may vary the ratio of text and image as makes sense for your own practice, skills, and understanding.

Submission

You will submit asingle design workbook page in the design workbook checkin due on Feb 21 to get early feedback before you submit the entire assignment. We will give you feedback using our standard rubric (see below), but the checkin is graded pass/fail; you will get full credit for any sincere attempt.

Your first full workbook assignment is due Feb 28. You will upload your design responses in electronic form to Canvas in pdf format. If you work in a non-digital medium (e.g. pencil and paper), you can upload photos or scans of your work embedded in a pdf. If you do so, please double-check both your handwriting and the image quality; your work must be legible to be graded.

Grading

Each page in your workbook will be graded out of 20 points, using the following measures:

Idea (5 points): A single, specific idea from an identified, appropriately chosen reading is clearly stated and correctly described.
Design (6 points): An original design clearly responds clearly to the idea. The design does not need to be 'good' as a design, taken alone.
Reflections (7 points): A clear, nuanced, convincing analysis uses the possibilities opened up by the design to reflect on the reading in a clearly articulated way.
Effort (2 points): Effort has been put into the assignment.

An assignment that meets all these criteria will receive an A (18/20). Additional credit is possible at the discretion of the TAs for designs that are truly imaginative, as well as for reflections that are truly thought-provoking and original.