Advanced Principles in Design (Mandatory only for students with no background in design)

COURSE DESCRIPTION
Through demonstrations, workshops and studio sessions, this course will exercise students’ creativity and knowledge regarding both traditional and contemporary, innovative ways of creating and doing. As creative minds and human beings in a constant learning process, we must understand the importance of context and the interactions between the artist/designer and the surrounding world.

This course emphasizes collective creation, building teams and bringing students out of their comfort zones. This course will guide students through research and project exercises, culminating in the creation of an ephemeral installation within the public space of Barcelona. Visiting and re-visiting the city will help students reach an immersive understanding driven by analysis, data visualization, sketches and presentations. Students will select the most interesting ideas and make them happen.

MODULES
– Advanced Principles in Design

– Compositional criteria: from shape to structure

– Storytelling & Data Visualisation

LEARNING OBJECTIVES/OUTCOMES
At the end of the course, the student will be able to:

– Demonstrate understanding of the foundations of a project (form, shape, texture, color, semantics, etc.)

– Analyze morphology and semantic meanings.

– Apply fantasy and imagination to a design project, encouraging divergent thinking.

– Practice collective creativity models away from existing preconceptions.

– Work in collaborative environments, especially between students from different background.

REQUIREMENTS
Students will create the following project exercises:

– Genius Loci: the essence of the space.

– Analysis and simplification: History of infography.

– Visualisation as a tool of change.

For the final project, students will design an installation aimed at transforming a public space by the generation of an engagement between the creators, visitors and the city

TEACHING METHOD
This course will combine classroom lectures, discussions, interactive hands-on learning and projects.

GRADING
10% attendance to class and field visits

20% commitment and participation in class discussions

30% research process and personal sketchbook

40% design outcomes

Students will have to complete all the parts included in the grading weights and earn at least a 5/10 in each part.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

– BAUMAN, Zygmunt. Liquid modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2000.

– DE BONO, Edward. Lateral thinking. London: Pelikan Book, 1991.

– DE BONO, Edward. Six thinking hats. New York: Back Bay Books, 1999.

– DONDIS, Donis A. A primer of visual literacy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1973.

– GARDNER, Howard. Multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Book, 1983.

– GARDNER, Howard. Five minds for the future. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard Business School Press, 2007.

– GOLEMAN, Daniel. Emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam Book. 1997.

– MOLES, Abraham. Information theory and esthetic perception. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1968.

– MUNARI, Bruno. Design and visual communication. Laterza 1st Edition,1993.

– MUNARI, Bruno. Fantasia. Bari: Laterza, 1977.

– NORMAN, Donald. Emotional design: why we love (or hate) everyday things. New York: Basic Books. 2004. – RAIZMAN, D. History of Modern Design. London: Laurence King, 2003