Comm 146: Critical Design Practice (Winter 2013)

Roughly half of our class sessions will be run as a studio. During studio sessions, students will work with their team members on group projects, participate in “crits,” or critiques, of each other's work, and present assignments to the class. For presenters, crit sessions are an opportunity to get feedback from instructors and peers about works in progress. For critics, crit sessions are an opportunity to apply cultural analysis to interventionist projects, to offer constructive feedback, and to learn from the design challenges of your peers. To benefit from these sessions, students should prepare materials prior to class and be open to receiving constructive feedback (e.g. don’t be defensive!). When giving feedback, be considerate and remember that it is hard to offer one’s work for public discussion and evaluation.

Team process blog: In addition to the final design project, each team will turn in a final paper that describes their proposed design intervention and, more importantly, the process they followed in developing the intervention. The final paper will build on a “process blog” that teams update weekly. 

Observation exercise: Near the beginning of the quarter students will work in teams of two to conduct an observation exercise. More information will be handed out in class.

Individual sketchbooks: Each student will also maintain a personal “sketchbook” in which they document observations of design in their everyday lives and sketch or jot possible ideas for their group projects. The instructors will collect students’ sketchbooks periodically so be sure to bring your sketchbook to class. 

For questions related to enrollment in the class or in sections, please contact your undergraduate adviser in the Communication Office. For all other matters, please attend the professors’ or IA’s office hours. Generally, do not use email to replace face-to-face discussion with the instructors and IA about grades and course material. The instructors have scheduled four hours of office hours per week and both instructors are also available by appointment.

Any student who requires accommodations for a disability should bring the professors the requisite letter from the Office of Students with Disabilities specifying what accommodations are to be made.

All suspicions of academic misconduct will be reported to the Academic Integrity Office. Academic misconduct is not only blatant cheating (e.g. copying off another student during an exam or quiz), but also: copying other students' papers or assignments; copying or using old papers/reports; forgetting to cite material you took from an outside resource; turning in work completed in total or part by another; signing in your friend to class; taking a quiz for someone else. The Policy on Integrity of Scholarship (academicintegrity.ucsd.edu) list some of the standards by which you are expected to complete your academic work.

Mini Critical Design Project 20%

Final Project and Paper 50% (process blog 10%, final project & presentation 25%, final paper 15%)

Participation 10%

Sketchbook 10%

Since much of the course focuses on group projects, part of each student’s project grade will be based on assessments by fellow team members.