The main aim of the course “Advanced Design Studio: Design Justice and Designing for Diversity” is to bridge the gap between emerging social concepts and their reflection and interpretation in the act of designing. The course “Social Design Studio: Design Justice and Designing for Diversity” offers a socially engaged design studio environment. Seminars and impulse lectures will be held on 3 contemporary topics throughout the semester. Students will deal with social issues with design tools in collaboration with NGOs and activists. Methods like workshops, hack sessions, laddering interviews, social juries will be used. The three topics of the studio are: “Inclusion & Diversity”,“Food Sustainability & Migration”, “Activism, Design and Gender”
This course aims to bridge the gap between emerging social justice and diversity concepts and their reflection and interpretation in the act of designing. The course further aims to help students to develop their social and critical awareness while building design tools and completing design interventions. Contemporary critical readings will be given on each studio topic. While supplying students with the tools for co-experience and social innovation, using different methods to collect data and the class practice will help students to build services for diversity and broader societal contexts.
We value open communication and constant feedback between students and instructors. We believe that it is the necessary condition for effective learning and for students to develop the skills that the course aims to provide (e.g. developing a critical and responsible design perspective). Students are encouraged to challenge the discussion topics and methods.
This course is designed as an advanced course, “Area Elective” for students from Media and Visual Arts but it will be open to students from different backgrounds, especially senior students from social sciences such as sociology and psychology will be encouraged to join.
In this course, seminars and impulse lectures will be held on 3 contemporary topics throughout the semester. These topics will be critically re-designed via classical design tools such as character building, game design, dialogue meetings, bodystorming. The design processes will be guided with social models and critical constructivist theories of design.
On-site visits to KU-Hospital, a municipality, an artistic studio are planned depending on the availability of the sites (or remote guests will be invited, and remote visits will be organised, if online course). For each topic, students are expected to complete the assigned readings to actively participate in the discussions in class. Throughout the semester, students will be working on 3 different topics, all related to design justice and diversity and will be conducting design research projects for each topic as groups. The groups will be different for each project, so that the whole students from different backgrounds and with different skills will get a chance to work and design together. Further, students will be delivering reflection papers/presentations including information and their perspective over each project showing their know-how on the introduced concepts about the topic and their individual stance and take-aways from each research process.
Students successfully completing this course will be able navigate in complex social topics with a critical and responsible design perspective. They will be equipped with various design methods to work with different communities. Students will be able to critically analyse existing theories around design and diversity, explore and apply them through ideating, collecting data, making analysis, communicating and sharing their insights. Throughout the semester students will explore the strengths and weaknesses of existing design methods and tools to work and design with disadvantaged groups, and transfer their insights into design implications and tangible outcomes or services as teams.
Here are some of the similar courses and publications that inspired our course content:
Diversity in the classroom: teaching inclusion and overcoming prejudices and discrimination
https://www.schooleducationgateway.eu/en/pub/teacher_academy/catalogue/detail.cfm?id=53694
Diverse by Design
https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/exec-ed/programs/stanford-lead/curriculum/courses/diverse-design
Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice
Cultural diversity in Education
https://www.erasmustrainingcourses.com/diversity-and-intercultural-learning-in-the-classroom.html
Gender in HCI