Programs | One Year Immersive | Quarter 3 | IDSE 302

Lecture Series: Sustainability & Impact

IDSE 302
Lecture Series: Sustainability & Impact

Course Overview

One of the benefits of the Austin Center for Design is access to a valuable network of design practitioners. This lecture series will expose you to a collection of design leaders, who will share their experience on topics from the varying role of design across organizations to sustainability and measuring impact.

This course is 8-weeks and focuses inward and outward - inward, towards a clearer student understanding of desired impact through design, and outward, towards empowering students to build their design network. This course also serves as a helpful bridge from previous theory based courses in Q1 and Q2, towards the Portfolio & Professional Practices course in Q4. As a result of this course, students will have greater confidence in their career trajectory, and be better prepared for the job market post AC4D.

Each week will expose students to a collection of design leaders, who will share their experience on topics from varying roles of design across organizations, sustainability and measuring impact. While jobs and work contexts may differ, we will continue to return to the themes of understanding impact, design professions, techniques and applications, and resiliency.

Outcomes and Competencies

The following outcome statements articulate the competencies, abilities, and skills a student will have as a result of completing this class. Upon completing this course, students will be able to:

  • Understanding Impact. Students will understand how practitioners contextualize (face) wicked problems in their work and measure their impact against them

  • Design Professions. Students will develop a clearer understanding of the differences between design professions within the realm of human centered design (HCD), including UX, service design, interaction design, civic design, and enterprise.

  • Techniques and Applications. Students will learn about the real-world application of design methodologies and tools preferred by established practitioners that complement the base HCD structures of research, synthesis, and prototyping

  • Resiliency. Students will develop an appreciation for the resiliency of HCD career paths, as many practitioners move between industry verticals and design contexts over time

  • Future Self. Students will through the course of the quarter explore and play with aspirational versions of themselves, giving them the opportunity to reflect both on short term and long term impact they hope to have

  • Career Hustle. Students will build comfort in cold outreach to designers and companies that interest them in order to build connections that help them further build their tribe outside of the AC4D network in realms of design that interest them

Course Schedule

Class 1

In Class - In-House Design Leadership

Course Introduction

  • Assignment 1 Intro

  • Interview,

  • Q&A

  • Discussion

  • Working Time

Activities

  • Guest Speaker

Out of Class

Assignment - Networking Foundations

  • Deep dive on a design career path of your choosing.

  • Leverage your design research skills to craft a research plan, find research participants and conduct research, then synthesize and ultimately present your insights.

  • Conduct at least 8 in depth, qualitative interviews with individuals within the career path of your choosing.

Class 2

In Class

In-Class Working Session

Activities

  • Guest Speaker

  • Interview &Discussion

Out of Class

  • Week 1 Reflection Due

Class 3

In Class - In-House Research / Strategy In Focus

Activities

  • Guest Speaker

  • Interview & Discussion

Out of Class

Activities

  • Assignment 2 - Strengths Assessment

  • Week 2 Reflection Due

Reading

Class 4

In Class - Research Leadership / Design Research for Government Services

Activities

  • Guest Speaker

  • Interview & Discussion

  • Project Work

Out of Class

Activities

  • Continue working on quarter-long assignment

Class 5

In Class

Activities

  • Guest Speaker

  • Interview & Discussion

  • Project Work

Out of Class

Activities

  • Week 3 Reflection Due

Class 6

In Class -- Design in Healthcare

Activities

  • Guest Speaker

  • Interview & Discussion

Out of Class

Readings

Class 7

In Class

Activities

  • Guest Speaker

  • Interview & Discussion

Out of Class

Activities

  • Week 4 Reflection Due

Readings

Class 8

In Class - Design for Enterprise

Activities

  • Guest Speaker

  • Interview & Discussion

Out of Class

Activities

  • Assignment 3 - Future Self Inspiration Board

  • Week 5 Reflection Due

Readings

  • How to Cook a Wolf" by MFK Fisher.

Class 9

In Class - Design For Sustainability In-house, Consultancy, Government & Enterprise Panel

Activities

  • Guest Speaker

  • Interview & Discussion

Out of Class

Reading

Class 10

In Class - Design Consultancy Path

Activities

  • Guest Speaker

  • Interview & Discussion

Out of Class

Activities

  • Assignment 4 - Future Self Career Prototype

Class 11

In Class

Activities

  • Guest Speaker

  • Interview & Discussion

Out of Class

Activities

  • Week 7 Reflection Due

Class 12

In Class - Design Leadership & You

In-Class Working Session

Activities

  • Individual storyboard development 

Out of Class

Activities

  • Finish quarter long assignment

Class 13

In Class

Activities

  • Final presentations

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