1a: Individual BrainstormDue: Thursday March 28, 8:00pm |
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The goal of this milestone is to help get you started in thinking of some ideas for a potential projects. Friday's section will then build on these in brainstorming additional potential directions for project proposals.
This quarter, you will be working on a project related to "Designing for Inclusion: Making systems more inclusive and approachable to new audiences." For this first assignment, you'll be coming up with three distinct problems you'd be interested in exploring with your design project.
As you begin to brainstorm ideas, consider the following questions:
Come up with three distinct problems that involve a particular audience being excluded by the design of a system. Recall that "exclusion" can mean a lot of things here, including
Also recall that our working definition of "system" includes:
For each problem, come up with a 1-2 sentence summary describing the audience, the system, and what the problem actually is.
Across your 3 ideas, you must consider at least 2 different audiences and at least 2 different systems.
EXtension Objectives |
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For this Extension Objective, you'll be taking your 3 initial ideas and doing a small brainstorming activity with them. You'll then briefly reflect on the ideas produced by the activity and select your 3 best/favorite ideas for your final 1a submission.
Note: Make sure you've completed the main portion of 1a first!
To start, make a 3x3 grid. Label the columns with the three systems you identified in the first part of the Assignment (one system per column). Do the same for the rows, but with the three audiences you identified (one audience per row). If you only came up with 2 systems or 2 audiences in your initial brainstorm, come up with a third system that is relevant to one of your audiences (or vice versa).
You should now have a grid that looks something like this:
| System A | System B | System C | |
| Audience A | |||
| Audience B | |||
| Audience C |
The nine cells in this 3x3 grid each represent a potential problem space, where Audience X interacts with System Y. You should already have three of these ideas generated from the first part of the assignment– go ahead and fill those three cells in with the problem you identified in each space.
Now, your goal is to identify a problem in each of the 6 remaining problem spaces. For the remaining combinations of System X Audience, consider how the design of the System excludes or fails to consider the Audience and fill in that cell with a relevant problem.
However, be warned: some combinations of System X Audience don't have meaningful problems to explore! For each idea you generate, note how confident you are that this is a "real" problem worth exploring. If you really can't think of any problems (eg, your pairing is "Student Loan Program" X "Billionaires"), feel free to note that instead.
Once you've generated your 6 additional ideas, review your set of 9 ideas and select the three you find most compelling.
Please upload this to Canvas as an additional document in your 1a submission.
No more than one page of text in PDF format.
This is an individual assignment. Ensure your name and section are near the top of your submission.
Review and follow guidance on Clarity and Presentation.
Submit via Canvas here: Canvas - Assignment 1a
If you are unable to access the submission system, submit by sending your assignment to the staff email address.
Be prepared to contribute your initial ideas as part of a larger brainstorm.
Bring a printed copy of your submission, or otherwise have it readily available (e.g., as a photo on your phone).
This milestone will be graded on a scale of 3 points:
Each Unique Proposed Idea: (3 x 1 point)
Do not submit small variations on the same idea.
Be clear what system and audience you're considering, and communicate how the system's design excludes or creates a negative experience for that audience.
Across your three ideas, you must consider at least two distinct systems and two distinct audiences.
1b: Group ProposalsDue: Monday April 1, 8:00pm Revision Due: Thursday April 4, 8:00pm |
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The goal of this milestone is to propose multiple specific problems that could form the basis of a design project for this class. Tuesday and Friday will then include presenting these for feedback from peers and course staff.
Propose three specific problems that are potentially related to the course theme and could form the basis of a design project for this class.
For each problem, in one paragraph, describe the design problem and motivation. This description should convince the reader that this is a difficult and interesting problem, worth spending a quarter considering. State what the problem is and why it is a problem, or describe a new idea and why it will enhance an existing application or practice.
Ensure each problem or idea is significantly different, not small variations on the same problem or idea.
Ensure it is clear why each problem or idea is potentially related to the course theme.
If there are already well-known and widely-available solutions to your proposed problem, explain how these existing solutions fall short or suggest how you may explore a different approach.
After receiving critique on Tuesday, update your proposals ahead of additional critique on Friday.
As part of prompting you to deeply engage with and consider critique, your submitted revision must completely modify at least one of your original ideas (e.g., replacing at least one idea with a completely different idea, completely re-writing an idea to emphasize a different perspective).(Note: This is no longer part of the assignment, apologies for any confusion! -JM)
EXtension Objectives |
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Note: this Extension Objective leverages content and skills that will be discussed in the Week 2 Tuesday Lecture ("Critique"). We would recommend waiting until after Tuesday to begin working on this.
For this Extension Objective, you will apply your understanding of exclusionary design and critique to current solutions and designs that exist in your problem space.
Once you've decided on the three problem spaces you will be submitting for 1b_rev, identify a current "solution" (or the closest thing you can find to a solution) that exists in each space. For instance, if your proposed problem space is "public transit X people who use wheelchairs," you might select the current suite of accessibilty features King County buses offer. If your problem space involves a relatively small system (e.g., something on the scale of a particular app or device), your subject can instead be the system as a whole.
NB: even though many systems do a terrible job of considering diverse audiences, there are few instances where there is absolutely NO support for a particular audience; however, if you are really struggling to find something to critique, feel free to reach out ask course staff.
For each of these solutions*, perform some background research to understand the features of the system. Specifically:
Then, you will write up a brief (~1/2 page) critique of the solution* that analyzes both the successes and failures of the system re: the problem you are trying to address. We would encourage you to use one of the critique techniques we discussed in class, such as the 'I like, I wish, What if?' method. However, as long as you meaningfully discuss both what the solution* does successfully AND how it fails to fully solve the problem, you can structure your written critique however you see fit.
Submit a document that contains the following:
For each of your three problem spaces in 1b_rev:
Additionally, if this critique produces any new insights for your main 1b_rev submission, please feel encouraged to make a note of that and update your 1b_rev accordingly.
Please upload this to Canvas as an additional document in your 1b_rev submission.
Be prepared to discuss your three proposed problems.
Bring several printed copies of your submission, so you can easily share them with peers for critique.
This milestone will be graded on a scale of 10 points:
Do not submit small variations on the same idea.
Be clear why each idea is potentially related to the course theme.
If there are already well-known and widely-available solutions to your proposed problem, explain how these existing solutions fall short or suggest how you may explore a different approach.
In the same additional separate PDF as your Contribution Statement, also provide a brief explanation of revisions (e.g., one paragraph on what you revised, why you revised it).
We will primarily grade the revised version of your submission, but may also apply a penalty if the original submission was severely underdeveloped or otherwise problematic.
1c: Finalized ProposalDue: Monday April 8, 3:00pm |
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The goal of this milestone is to propose and analyze a problem that will form the basis of a design project for this class. You should build upon the feedback you have received from peers and course staff. Although your project will iterate and evolve from this point, your group should have coalesced around an idea.
In one paragraph, describe the design problem and motivation. Describe 1) what system or context you're designing around, 2) who your intended audience is, and 3) what the problem is and why it is a problem. Provide enough detail to convince the reader that this is a difficult and interesting problem, worth spending a quarter considering.
In another paragraph, analyze the problem or idea to give more background and context to convey how your project might evolve to be compelling. Do not just focus on the negative aspects of the current situation, but also identify some positive aspects that may be beneficial to retain. A few salient examples from existing systems or practices could be used to support those claims. If appropriate, you may conduct this analysis by describing a scenario that illustrates how someone might encounter and resolve the problem.
If there are already well-known and widely-available solutions to your proposed problem, explain how these existing solutions fall short or suggest how you may explore a different approach.
Finally, describe your connection to your chosen audience. What prior experience does your group have in interacting with members of this audience? If your group does not have experience interacting with members of this audience: how do you plan to connect to this community for your design research? How will you ensure that you interact appropriately and respectfully with your design research participants?
Submitting a finalized project proposal as part of a group is a requirement for proceeding in the class.
This milestone will be graded on a scale of 10 points:
Provide enough detail to convince the reader that this is a difficult and interesting problem, worth spending a quarter considering.
Give enough background and context to convey how your project might evolve to be compelling.
If there are already well-known and widely-available solutions to your proposed problem, explain how these existing solutions fall short or suggest how you may explore a different approach.