IXD414, 'Design Systems', Spring 2025
MW / 3:20-05:50pm / Chalmers 307
Matt Kirkland / mattk@ku.edu

IXD414 - Designing with Systems

This is a studio course about designing digital products for the screen, with an emphasis on designing with systems in mind. This syllabus will be updated with more information throughout the semester. I'll let you know in class about updates.

Questions? mattk@ku.edu.

Niche, Please

In this project, you will define a new interactive tool that serves a specific niche that you're interested in.

Our goal is that you get to geek out with something you care about, while having more autonomy over your project.


We will follow a similar process as other projects, but this time you'll get to define your deliverables and schedule. I'll keep you honest, but you're in charge.

Your Client

Your client is your niche! You will choose a subject area or interest group that you're interested in serving, and you'll dive into learning about them. The more specific you can be, the more successful your project will be.

Scope

You get to define the problem and solutions! You will propose a digital / software tool or toy you could design to address the Niche. You don't need to follow Paul Graham's ideas above about startup success, because we don't really need this to serve a business. (But if you can pitch some monetization, it'd be fun to think about.)

You can propose an app for phones, a kiosk to be installed in a museum, an interactive billboard, a video game, a web site / web application - whatever you like.

Deliverables

  • Prototype. The final deliverable will be an interactive prototype in figma, however, so don't propose something that you can't adequately mock up an interactive version of.
  • Design System. You'll document and present your design system your project uses. You can build your own from scratch, or apply and adapt an open source system.
  • User testing. Along the way you must do at least two rounds of task-based user testing, documented on your site
  • And...? You can include other deliverables as well if they make sense for your project. A video? a physical prototype? a pair of jeans? Anything extra that helps communicate your vision is up to you.

Schedule

You will propose a schedule of deliverables. I'll keep you on task, but you'll be responsible for making sure things are done on time. Each class meeting we'll check in you what you've proposed to get done, see hwo it's going, and help out where we can.