DE5038 - Contemporary Design & Critical Issues

Your tutor/s will curate a set of design research-informed online and live lectures that will be co-delivered by design researchers from across the School of Design. These will be complemented by seminars and workshops to foster discussion and debate around these selected contemporary critical issues and will provide a space to test and practice your growing toolkit of design research methods.



As the module progresses, you will be asked to gather and visualised your own data, reflect and articulate your position in a professional or research context and explore a design problem/setting that you imagine working within your final year. You will be supported in this work through seminar groups and workshops aimed at helping you ideate and guide you towards producing a Research Report that could, for example, address either a design-led behavioural change/modification, a critical discussion on a topic that merits further debate, or a public engagement proposal relating to a design issue.

Your tutor/s will give online and live design research-informed lectures and presentations and run seminar sessions and workshops to support your learning. As the module progresses you will be supported in undertaking explorative research into a personally relevant design setting through critiques by your tutors and peers. Formative feedback will take place throughout the module.

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)

Level 5



Knowledge & Understanding (K&U): 

Independently source, appraise and critique appropriate contemporary theories and debates to inform and support your creative practice, situating it in real-world contexts.

Extend your understanding of graphic design practice, methods and processes, challenging/playing/experimenting with increasingly complex information or experiences to realise innovative concepts and artefacts.



Intellectual/Professional Skills & Abilities (IPSA): 

Develop and evidence a more sophisticated approach to graphic design practice, both intellectually and ethically, to deliver increasingly professional outcomes



Personal Values Attributes (Global/Cultural Awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA) Level 5:

Evidence a capacity to work independently, reflecting on your own learning to identify your own future learning needs.

This module will be assessed via at:



Research Report (100%)



You will produce a research report (also known as a research deck), that through the confident use of storytelling and data visualisation, effectively and sensitively establishes your design problem/setting and your insights.

(KU01) (KU02) (IPSA01)



As an appendix the report will be complimented by a 500-word personal reflection that outlines your learning journey and positionality as a designer

(PVA01)



Formative feedback will be given throughout the module. Formative feedback will be given verbally, whereas summative assessment will be written, giving a marks breakdown of how the submission met the five individual learning outcomes.

N/A

N/A

This module encourages you to professionally and self-reflectively, debate and communicate critical issues at play in professional practice and design research through the challenge of designing and delivering a research-informed report that is enjoyable to read. The module will also expose you to emerging and new design-related research and advanced practice with a focus on social science and design methods - helping you to better understand human behaviours in a contemporary context. This will help you situate yourself and your interests in advance of your final year.