Class Syllabus

Class Location:  5 West 13th Street, 10th Floor

Syllabus – Major Studio: Interface Fall 2011

Parsons The New School for Design

MFA in Design and Technology

PGTE 5200 MAJOR STUDIO: INTERFACE

Course Dates: August 31, 2011 to December 14, 2011

Course Meeting Times: 3:00pm to 5:40pm

Course Location:

Mondays: 5 West 13th Street, 10th Floor, Room 1005

Wednesdays: 5 West 13th Street, 10th Floor, Room 1013

Mondays & Wednesdays:  Room D-1204 in the new graduate studio classroom space at 6 East 16th St.

Instructor: Jonah Brucker-Cohen

Email: jonah@coin-operated.com

Class Blog: http://interface2011.coin-operated.com

Office Hours:  by appointment

Course Description:

This course is the primary introduction to the creation of work within a design and technology context and should be seen as the interface for MFADT core topics — Narrative, Computation, and Interactivity — as well as the tripartite of the program: design, technology, and society. The course is designed as a stepping-stone to a student’s own investigations and interests, as well as a space for exploration and experimentation with alternative design processes and methodologies. The course is run in a studio format, which means all students are expected to participate in the making, discussion, and critique of work.

Three Primary Assignments:

  1. Weekly projects (mini projects): introduction to design research methods; translating research into a series of roughly prototyped designed artifacts that feature a specific point of view. Objective of the assignment: reflective and analytical thinking (how did they make the choices they made?), research methods, contextualization of work, user scenarios and user testing.

a. Identity / Mapping: FaceBook Reworking

b. 7 in 7 (7 projects in 7 days)

c. Scrapyard Challenge

c. Mashup / Feedback Loops

  1. Instruction Sets for Strangers – 3 weeks: collaborative interfacing with communities in urban space. Objective of the assignment: creating user scenarios, working in teams and participants in the iterative design process.
  1. Individual project – 3 weeks: research, the flow of concept to design, production, testing and application. Objective of the assignment: articulating a thesis; actualizing and externalizing the thesis idea in a project; analyzing and evaluating the project’s success; written documentation.

Weekly Assignments:

Each week students will also work on smaller, targeted in-class assignments designed to support work on the primary assignment. We encourage writing as an integral part of design thinking. Weekly projects may be done individually or in groups, at the faculty’s discretion. Additional Reading may be assigned throughout the semester. All reading should have a one paragraph minimum reaction posted to the class blog.

Detailed Course Outline:

Week 1, Class 1, Wednesday, August 31, 2011.

Introduction

Introductions all around: Who you are, Where you’re from and What is your design specialty?

Explanation of syllabus, 4 initial assignments of one-week duration, two more longer projects, critique, readings / groups, writing assignments, blogs.

Discuss 1st assignment, What is an interface? Brainstorm in class on a shared definition.

Examples of interfaces, what makes something an interface?

In-class activity: Self-mapping in groups.

Week 2, Class 1, Wednesday, September 7, 2011.

Reading:

Donald Norman, “Natural Interfaces are not Natural” – link http://bit.ly/coSxQi

Fred Vogelstein, The Great Wall of Facebook: http://bit.ly/8jH47Z

Jeffrey Rosen: “The Web Means the End of Forgetting”, http://nyti.ms/atnScD

Students Present Results from Identity/Assignment 1

Week 3, Class 1, Monday, September 12, 2011.

Finish presenting FaceBook Redesigns

Introduction to Assignment 2: (7 in 7)

Build 1 project a day for 7 days, document your projects before you build them! and after you build them!

Readings:

“What Do Prototypes Protoype?” Stephen Houde and Charles Hill

“Experience Prototyping” Marion Buchenau and Jane Fulton Suri

“Cardboard Computers” Pelle Ehn and Morton Kyng

Week 3, Class 2, Wednesday, September 14, 2011.

Present Results from 7 in 7/Assignment 2

Assignment: Go to Maker Faire NYC This weekend – either Saturday, September 17 or Sunday, September 18th.. Write on the class blog about your experience there. Identify 3 interfaces you found at the faire and write down how effective they were in achieving their goals.

Maker Faire New York: http://makerfaire.com/newyork/2011/

Week 4, Class 1, Monday, September 19, 2011.

Present Results from 7 in 7 Assignment: Reports from Maker Faire NYC

Reading: (remember to post a response to to the class blog!)

  • Interaction Relabelling and Extreme Characters:Methods for Exploring Aesthetic Interactions Gaver, Djajadiningrat, Frens
  • “Hertzian Tales,” Anthony Dunne (excerpt)
  • “The Design of Everyday Things”, Donald Norman (excerpt)
  • “Why We Need Things”, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
  • “The Computer Revolution Hasn’t Happened Yet” Alan Kay

Week 4, Class 2, Wednesday, September 21, 2011.

Discuss 7 in 7 Assignment

Intro to Mashups / Feedback Loop Assignment

Readings: (remember to post a response to your blog or website!)

1. Harnessing the Power of Feedback Loops: Thomas Goetz. Wired Magazine, 2011.

2. Mashups: The new breed of Web app, An introduction to mashups: http://bit.ly/6JisC

3. Michael Hohl, “Calm Technologies 2.0: Visualising Social Data as an Experience in Physical Space,  http://bit.ly/JOTHW

4. “A Manifesto for Networked Objects: Why Things Matter”,  Julian Bleeker: http://bit.ly/CYQDu

5. Grey Album Producer Danger Mouse Explains How He Did It, http://bit.ly/hEOUS

Week 4, Class 3, Sunday, September 25,  2011.

Scrapyard Challenge Workshop! 12pm to 6pm, DT Lab.

Week 5, Class 1, Monday, September 26, 2011.

Present Mashups Assignment

Week 5, Class 2, Wednesday, September 28, 2011.

Present Mashups / Feedback Loop Assignment!

Week 6, Class 1, Monday, October 3, 2011.

Present Mashups / Feedback Loops Assignment

Week 6, Class 2, Wednesday, October 5, 2011.

Midterm Review: Individual Meetings

Week 7, Class 1, Monday, October 10, 2011.

Instruction Sets for Strangers Begins – Assignment 5

Screening of “The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces.” Introduction to the new assignment + discussion of reading.

Week 7, Class 2, Wednesday, October 12, 2011.

Instruction Sets for Strangers Begins – Assignment 5

Reading:

“The Social Life of Urban Spaces” William Whyte

“Cultural Probes” Bill Gaver, Tony Dunne, &  Elena Pacenti

Week 8, Class 1, Monday,  October 17, 2011.

Instruction Sets for Strangers Presentations – Assignment 5

In-Class Critiques

Week 8, Class 2, Wednesday, October 19, 2011.

Instruction Sets for Strangers Presentations – Assignment 5

In-Class Critiques

Week 9, Class 1, Monday, October 24, 2011.

Instruction Sets for Strangers Presentations – Assignment 5

In-Class Critiques

Week 9, Class 2, Wednesday, October 26, 2011.

Instruction Sets for Strangers

In-Class Critiques

Week 10, Class 1, Monday, October 31, 2011.

Instruction Sets for Strangers

In-Class Critiques

Week 10, Class 2, Wednesday, November 2, 2011.

Instruction Sets for Strangers

In-Class Critiques

JBC at Dorkbot NYC

Week 11, Class 1, Monday, November 7, 2011.

Instruction Sets for Strangers – FINAL PRESENTATIONS!

In-Class Critiques

Week 11, Class 2, Wednesday, November 9, 2011.

Work on Individual Projects

Week 12, Class 1, Monday, November 14, 2011.

Work on Individual Projects

Week 12, Class 2, Wednesday, November 16, 2011.

Work on Individual Projects

Week 13, Monday, November 21, 2011.

Work on Individual Projects

Week 13, Wednesday, November 23, 2011.

Work on Individual Projects

Thanksgiving Break: class cancelled

Week 14, Class 1, Monday, November 28, 2011.

Individual Projects

In-Class Critiques

Week 14, Class 2, Wednesday, November 30, 2011.

Individual Projects

In-Class Critiques

Week 15, Class 1, Monday, December 5, 2011.

Individual Projects

In-Class Critiques

Week 15, Class 2, Wednesday, December 7, 2011.

Individual Projects

In-Class Critiques

Week 16, Class 1, Monday, December 12, 2011.

Final Reviews

Interface Studio Final Reviews with outside critics.

Week 16, Class 2, Wednesday, December 14, 2011.

Final Reviews

Interface Studio Final Reviews with outside critics.

All class materials must be posted to your website and emailed to me with a link no later than Wednesday, December 14th at 11:59 pm. No materials will be accepted for submission after this date.


Permanent link to this article: http://interface2011.coin-operated.com/class-syllabus/