Fun, sun & interaction

Bye bye, amazing Summer Schoolers of 2015! 

It was a pleasure to have all of your talents in Copenhagen this July. Take care, have fun with your new skills and keep in touch!

Prototyping with littleBits and Arduino, learning the basics of 3d printing, laser cutting, electronics and making dummy apps - what a hands on week! 

Faculty: Andrew Spitz, Ruben van der Vleuten (FROLIC studio)

Keywords: Connected Devices, Product Design, Innovation, Prototyping

Connected devices bring a whole new range of opportunities and challenges. Established companies are facing the problem to adapt and come up with innovative applications while nimble start-ups beat them to the punch. The technology enabling all this is cheap and accessible to most but with it comes the risk of making existing products “smart” for the sake of the hype instead of solving a real need and making our world work a little more coherently.

Learning how to conceptualise and prototype new products or services that will create meaningful change at Design For Social Impact. Its participants got the chance to work on a real brief with real clients - and presented their projects with big success. 

Faculty: Adam Little, Priyanka Pathak, Claudia Bernett

Keywords: human­ centered design, social impact design, co­design, inclusive design, international development, information communication technology for development (ICT4D)

A one week workshop that gave hands ­on lessons in designing appropriate technology­ driven solutions that address social needs in resource ­poor parts of the world.

Students have worked in groups to conceptualize and prototype new products or services that address real world needs experienced by people who generally lack access to well designed technology. Throughout the workshop, individual students have participated in mini­ exercises and lectures related to design for social impact. A “real world brief” has been generated and students were put in touch with remote collaborators. 

The Incredibles aka Week 4 Faculty (including a photo bomber)

Faculty: Gizem Boyacioglu (8 Interactions), Filippo Cuttica (BBC) and Jennifer Kay (Intel)

Keywords: Design Thinking, Collaborative Design Process, Decision Making, Making Ideas Tangible, Effective Communication, Creative Facilitation

How does an idea pop in to our head? When it does, how do we know that it has value, or even logic? As designers, we must construct methods that allow us to harness our creativity and produce valuable ideas quickly.

Unless that genius moment occurs, we rely on these methods to help stimulate discussion with each other. Working in groups, it is important to learn how our individual thought processes can be made tangible to others and help us engage in a physical dialogue.

In this intense 1-week, hands-on workshop, the participants walked through a complete design process, starting from a given subject area and finishing with a final concept. While they gained various tools in design thinking - such as design research, design challenges, persona & scenarios, brainstorming, lenses, prototyping and more - they’ve kept the focus on 3 main areas:

From details to big picture: How does your idea fit in people’s lives? And how does it fit with existing technological, social, environmental systems?

From complexity to simplicity: What is the core DNA of your idea? And how do you communicate this to others in an effective way?

From self to team: How do you start this journey outside of ourself, into the idea of a team? This is where the importance of thinking out loud lies.

Faculty: Mary Sherwin and Kara Pecknold   

Keywords: brainstorming, team building, effective critique, prototyping, observation

Buried in deadlines and overwhelmed by deliverables? Feel like you’re doing the same work over and over? In design, our world gets so busy with wireframes and personas that we don’t have time to work on the most basic of skills. But these “soft skills” – creativity, insight, empathy— are what make our professional lives easier and our work more fulfilling.