Syllabus v3.0 20210127
ADS 560 / VISC 525, Designing Digital Products, Spring 2021
Tuesday / Thursday @ 3:20-5:50pm
Matt Kirkland /
mattk@ku.edu /
Zoom Link
This studio course is an introduction to designing digital products for the screen. We'll follow a human-centered iterative design process that includes research, concepting, prototyping, testing, visualization, and refinement.
Over the course of the semester we'll tackle two projects with step-by-step guided processes, and then we will each create a single independent project. Along the way you'll post your work to a single website, and by the end of the semester you'll have a good document showing everything you accomplished.
This syllabus will be updated with more information throughout the semester. I'll let you know in class about updates.
Over the semester, we'll tackle three larger projects, which will be made of smaller, discrete tasks. As the semester progresses, you'll have more flexibilty to use the tools appropriate to your project.
In this intro project, you will design a tool for warehouse or store inventory. Your solution will assist a user in reconciling a putative inventory quantity with actual in-person inventory in a physical location. You will design the tool for an imaginary brand of your choice. We'll flesh out the details together.
We will: research the problem and propose solutions. Create workflows and wireframes. Do some lightweight user testing. Develop mockup proposals and prototypes. Test and refine those prototypes.
In this project, we will design a tool for on-demand desk assignments at a large company. Your solution will need to accomodate desk reservations, travel, in-person searches, and other user requests. The solution will have two user levels with different functional requirements. Your design will need to complement a large existing brand.
We will follow the same general process as the Inventory project, but this time you'll know what you're doing.
You will propose and define a software tool that targets a niche audience or subject matter, which you will pitch to the class. If you can't settle on a niche for yourself, I'll have a few projects you can choose from.
We will follow the same general process as above, but with more freedom and flexibility. We will regularly show our work.
About once per week you will have an assigned 'text'. Some of these texts are actual readings, others will be videos and other interactive activities. They will be online and easily accessible. For each text, you'll write a short response, and post it to your site. Consult the reading list below.
You're going to turn everything in by posting it on your own website.
You'll be maintaining your site throughout the semester, and making choices about information architecture, design, and layout. It will be a daily tool that you use to submit work, but also a final document showing your work for the semester.
This means: you will need to find a website tool! We'll walk you through some options. You can use an off-the-shelf website builder or you can code your own.
Don't be afraid.
Once per class meeting, I'll randomly select one person to tell me something they think an old person doesn't know. You'll need to have this prepared in advance, so figure out your thing now.
Take a couple of minutes and explain something to me that you think I - a 40-year-old white dude, married, kids, full-time job, mortgage, etc - doesn't know or understand. A niche subculture on instagram? Some weird piece of slang? Some kind of technology? Music? Art? You don't need to prepare anything besides your idea, just have something ready when you walk in the door. You'll need to do this about twice per semester.
Consider this an exercise in designing for an audience. You'll get better at this as we go.
I'm very convinced that you need to be good writers and readers if you're going be good designers - because that's how design happens in the real world. You'll always need to explain why your solution works, and show us how.
I'll assign some things to read or watch or listen to throughout the semester. They'll all be online. For each 'text', you'll need to write a short response, and post it on your website. Your response can be short or long, but needs to include:
This shouldn't take you more than say, 30 minutes.
This is a rough plan; we'll go faster if possible! This schedule will be updated as we progress through the semester.
| Wk | Dates | Target |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Feb 2 / 4 | Intro, syllabus, etc. Show & tell. Kick off Inventory Project |
| 2 | Feb 9 / 11 | Inventory sketches, first round of feedback |
| 3 | Feb 16 / 18 | Inventory Wireframes & Prototypes |
| 4 | Feb 23 / 25 | Wireframe Prototype & User Testing |
| 5 | Mar 2 / 4 | Getting Visual |
| 6 | Mar 9 / 11 | Wrap up Inventory |
| 7 | Mar 16 / 18 | Start Desk Reservations |
| 8 | Mar 23 / 25 | Desk Reservations |
| 9 | Mar 30 / Apr 1 | No Class. Use this week to work on Desk Reservations! |
| 10 | Apr 6 / 8 | Reservations Async reviews only, no class meetings |
| 11 | Apr 13 / 15 | Wrap up Reservations! |
| 12 | Apr 20 / 22 | Niche project! |
| 13 | Apr 27 / 29 | Niche project |
| 14 | May 4 / 6 | Last Week of Classes. Niche Project. |
| 15 | Thursday May 13, 1:30pm FINAL Meeting | Final Niche Project due. |
We're all adults here, let's act like it. Put your phones down unless we're using them for something in class.
This is a studio course, which means we're learning by doing, and experiencing that all together. So turn on your web cam, look us all in the eye. We've got a fairly small group, so this should be pretty manageable.
KU has rules about attendance and we'll follow them. We're all working together here so it's important that you actually show up. Don't be late, it's rude to everybody.
We'll follow the regular KU Design departmental policies: You can reference them here.
Grades will be based on performance and participation. Show us all that you're working hard and you'll be fine. Turning things in on time is important; we're going to move along with deadlines, so if your work falls behind you'll lose points for this.
On our first day, we'll walk through our objectives for the class and do these set up exercises: