This advanced studio course focuses on the design of digital artifacts and interactive products. Based on knowledge acquired in “Interactive Product Design I”, the objective of this course is to learn conceptual and practical methods to improve the design process, including 3D solid modeling tools for virtual prototyping. The course investigates digital interfaces, devices, and materials from a user-centered design perspective. Participants are encouraged to explore functional, structural, aesthetic, and expressive possibilities to develop meaningful digital artifacts for an increasingly technologically mediated society.
You will further explore notions of interactivity and interface. You will analyze digital artifacts, and develop your own ideas by following a complete iterative design process using analog and digital media. Topics include Information Design (Structure, Information Architecture), Interaction Design (Navigation, Behavior, User Experience), Presentation Design (Iteration, Style/Look and Feel, Publishing), and Visualization (Sketching, Virtual and Physical Prototyping). The class also includes some introductory workshops to the basics of Physical Computing, sensing and controlling the physical world using micro-controllers.
Activities include lectures, workshops, and a series of three exercises and projects (combining technique and concept) followed by a final project. There will be a critique for each project where participants present their work and receive feedback from the Professor and the class. Technical exercises will mainly be evaluated through the class website. The participants will conduct individual research, and present the results to the class. Selected chapters from the book Thoughtful Interaction Design: A Design Perspective on Information Technology (available at UIC Bookstore) will serve as the basis to stimulate class discussion and help improve the design process. The process of creating the work, and the documentation of the process itself is equally important as the final outcome – and an important component evaluating your work. You are expected to document your thought process in a sketchbook, which will be shared periodically with the professor throughout the semester. Generally, all projects start in the sketchbook.
Evaluation
Exercises and Projects will be evaluated based on originality, conceptual depth, integration of design goals, aesthetic qualities, inventiveness, and the quality of implementation. Creative and ambitious projects will be evaluated high, while obvious and easily attained solutions are evaluated low. The following criteria will be taken into consideration. How innovative is your idea? Does it engage existing contexts in interesting ways or push conceptual boundaries? How thorough do you conduct your research? Are you able to analyze and transform this analysis into a conceptual framework for your ideas? What is the purpose of your design, and what is it about? How do users interact with your design? Is it intuitive to understand? Does your design interact in interesting ways with the user? How do the digital and the physical correspond? Is your idea/design presented in a clear and concise manner? Did you include important details? Is your presentation visually convincing and does it communicate to others?
Active contribution during class and attendance is required (15% of the final grade). You are expected to be resourceful to your peer students and seek help when needed. All assignments must be completed in order to pass the course. Late assignments will reduce the grade proportionally. Exercises are only considered as completed when they are accessible from the course website as specified.
Exercises and Grading (% of final grade):
1: Exercise/Project 1 (15%)
2: Exercise/Project 2 (15%)
3: Exercise/Project 3 (15%)
4: Final Project (40%)
0: Research Report, Participation and Contribution (15%)
Materials
Students who have been enrolled at UIC in Fall 2005 or later are required to participate in the School of Art and Design Laptop Program, all participants are recommended to participate. The Adobe PDF document available online at http://uic.edu/~dsauter7/laptop-letter-2006-ID_EV.pdf explains the laptop program as well as what specifications you should consider when purchasing your laptop.
The course requires frequent handling of at times large digital files. It is required after every class meeting that participants remove their files from the lab computers. Participants are also required to store and backup their files appropriately. PC compatible USB memory key sticks (at least 100 MB capacity, 512 MB recommended) are a quick and easy way to transfer data without the use of a network. You may also need several CD-R recordable disks to backup and hand in assignments. It is recommended to store data additionally on a private computer or external hard-drive.
Participants are required to set up a DVL lab account, which offers access to approximately 700 MB storage space on a file server as well as drop and pickup folders for class purposes (only accessible by the individual student). File safety or backup is not guaranteed on this server, it is however an additional way to make sure that files do exist on different storage devices and locations at all times. Loss or damage of data is not an acceptable explanation for late or missing assignments.
Attendance
Attendance is mandatory and required for a successful completion of the course. Unexcused absences will affect your grade directly, excused absences indirectly. Two unexcused absences will result in a reduction of the final grade by ½ letter grade, three unexcused absences by 1 letter grade, and four or more unexcused absences will result in failing the course. Absences without the Professor’s prior permission are generally considered unexcused absences. Late arrivals are very disruptive for other participants. Being late to class three times will count as one unexcused absence.
Absences are only considered as excused with the Professor’s prior permission before the class meeting (accompanied by appropriate documentation). It is generally recommended to drop the course with more than four absences.
There will be a sign-up sheet for each class meeting; it is the participants’ responsibility sign up in this list. The sign-up sheet is the basis to determine class attendance.
Required Readings
Löwgren, J & Stolterman, E. (2004). Thoughtful Interaction Design: A Design Perspective on Information Technology. Cambridge, Cambridge, MA; London, England: The MIT Press.
Recommended Readings
Preece, J. & Rogers, Y. & Sharp, H. (2002). Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Cooper, A. & Reimann, R. (2003). About Face 2.0: The Essentials of Interaction Design. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing Inc.
Sterling, B. (2005). Shaping Things. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Cameron, Andy (2004). IdN Special 04: The Art of Experimental Interaction Design. Corte Madera, CA: Gingko Press.
Johnson, S. (1997). Interface culture: how technology transforms the way we create and communicate. San Francisco: Haper Edge.
Bolter, J. D. & Gromala D. (2003). Windows and Mirrors: Interaction Design, Digital Art, And The Myth Of Transparency. Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England: The MIT Press.
Norman, D. A. (1988). The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic Books.
Norman, D. A. (1993). Things That Make Us Smart: Defending Human Attributes in the Age of the Machine. New York: Perseus Books.
Schrage, M. (2000). Serious Play: How the world’s best companies simulate to innovate. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Kay, A. & Goldberg A. (1977). Personal Dynamic Media. In Wardrip-Fruin N. & Montfort N. (Ed.),The New Media Reader (pp. 393-404). Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England: The MIT Press.
Rokeby, D. (1996). Transforming Mirrors: Subjectivity and Control in Interactive Media. Retrieved Jan. 3, 2006, from http://homepage.mac.com/davidrokeby/mirrors.html
Weibel, P. (1996). The World as Interface: Toward the Construction of Context-Controlled Event-Worlds, In Weibel, P. & Druckrey T. (Ed.), Net _Condition: Art and Global Media (Electronic Culture – History, Theory, Practice). New York: Aperture, 1996.
Dinkla, S. (1994). The History of the Interface in Interactive Art. Retreived Jan. 3, 2006, from http://www.kenfeingold.com/dinkla_history.html
Huhtamo, E. (1992): Commentaries on Metacommentaries on Interactivity. in TISEA (Third International Symposium of Electronic Arts), Sydney: Australian Network for Art and Technology.
Daniels, D. (2000). Strategies of Interactivity. Retrieved Jan. 3, 2006, from http://www.mediaartnet.org/source-text/65/
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