GD6021 - Design for Emerging Technologies

You will learn through a mix of tutor-led taught sessions, group-based practical activities, practical workshop sessions, and independent study. Taught sessions will be a combination of tutor-led discussions and creative discussion groups, and you will be supported in your learning via the module reading lists and directed learning tasks (with additional learning materials provided in taught sessions). Your learning in this module will also be supported through the provision of group tutorials and individual tutorials with the module tutor that will help you to focus and guide your assessment research and completion.

You will be supported academically throughout the module with the clear provision of a module brief that sets out the week-by-week content of the module, its core activities, and detailed information about the assessments, their submission dates and the submission platform (Blackboard and/or Turnitin). Additionally, you will be supported through the provision of on-going tutor contact throughout the module (in seminars and workshops and one-to-one tutorials with the module tutor(s). At the end of the module, you will be provided with feedback on your assessed work that will communicate the strengths and areas for improvement in your work, acting as a tool of evaluation and an important process of feedforward to influence your future assessed work.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

Knowledge & Understanding:


Students will be able to critically evaluate specific emerging design technologies — including IoT, XR/haptics, and generative AI — assessing their current state and potential future trajectories, and the transformative role they play within graphic and digital design practice (K&U 2). Students will be able to analyse the broader societal, ethical, and sustainability implications of emerging design technologies within graphic and digital design, including the cultural impact on users and communities, and the environmental costs associated with technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (K&U 3).


Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:

1. Students will be able demonstrate the ability to assess, select, and implement suitable design processes and techniques when working with new and evolving technologies (IPSA 1).

2. Students will be able to show their ability to generate, prototype, and iterate design concepts (IPSA 3).

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):

3. Students will demonstrate skill in understanding and incorporating change and to continuously learn and innovate in evolving technological industries (PVA 3).

This module will be summatively assessed at the end of the module through the following submission:

Emergent Design Technology Prototype (60%)

Students will develop a concept prototype based on an emergent design technology application for a self-defined need. This can be commercial (a company brand campaign, product launch, or consumer interface platform) or a social need (inclusive design, wellbeing enhancement, city mobility improvement).

To create their prototype, students may use tools such as Figma, Adobe platforms, generative AI, or storyboarding and PDF-based images to visually present their concept. They can illustrate their design using mock-ups, AI-generated imagery, or other relevant methods. Students will include a 500-word design document that explains the prototype development and design decision choices (MLO 1, MLO 2, MLO 3, MLO 4).

1500-Word Technology Evaluation Essay (40%)

Students will also produce a research-based 1500 essay that explains and evaluates the technology that is the basis of the prototype and considers future impacts.
(MLO 5).

Summative feedback will be provided to students through the appropriate teaching and learning platform (Blackboard/Turnitin). Formative feedback will be delivered across the module.

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The module’s title, Design for Emerging Technologies, illuminates how its content will enable you to understand, research, and produce practice-based work that illustrates the key technologies that are revolutionising design, product use, brand interaction, and user experiences. While traditional graphic design approaches are still influential, new platforms such as XR, VR, and especially artificial intelligence (AI) are transforming design and design practices. The module explores a selection of these technologies and illustrates their impact for new forms of social interaction, product and visual communication experiences and consumption, and consumer/user interactions, and, in the case of AI, a platform for creative design co-production processes and practices. The module will cover many of these issues and also enable you to create your own approaches and critically evaluate existing design-led new emergent technology impacts. The module is research-driven in terms of tutor-led lecture/seminar/workshop sessions and your own research engagement and practice-led assessment work.