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UX with Service Design

DI104-15 Term 2

Module Leader

Adela Glyn-Davies
First year only
Term 2
15 CATS
22 practical class hours and 10 fieldwork hours

All lectures and seminars will be face to face unless otherwise stated in Moodle

Please note this webpage refers to the module as planned for 2024-2025. For other versions, please refer to the module catalogue: Module information 


Service and UX design are rapidly expanding industries which are increasingly demanding versed designers who can contribute to impactful solutions from an interdisciplinary perspective.

As such, designers who can navigate complexity and embrace digital conceptualisation are more sought after than ever. Regardless, if we look towards the education sector, NHS, banking, the immigration system or local government, the demand for ethical and considered design is at an all time high.

This module will introduce students to the distinct yet overlapping disciplines of Service and UX Design from a digital development angle. Students will be learning about common and emerging research and processes from the industry through live brief, which will guide their learning journey from research concept to realisation.

The module will challenge students to use design methods to conceptually and visually capture the social paradigm of designing and how to navigate the needs of diverse groups who might have been at mismatch in current systems. Students will be developing and proposing a UX digital or hybrid solution to a service problem.

Principal Aims

  • To explore how designing happens within a social context, and how designs are deployed socially.
  • We will consider different forms of social organisation and how we respond in our designing to achieve designs that fit with the needs of people, stick for a worthwhile length of time, spread to new people and applications, and grow our collective capability for further designing.
  • We will consider how to spot and address inequalities and biases in designing, and how to decolonize design through pluralist designing.

Outline Syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Intro to UX with Service Design - navigating life through the micro/ meso and macro.
How to research with and for people? The social paradigm of designing.
Navigating bias - design mismatch and current UX / Service landscapes.
Problem framing - the Social Design paradigm.
UX / Service process and digital sense-making.
Proposal, Pitch and Showcase.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

  • Understand diverse Design Thinking processes related to UX with Service Design.
  • Understand how to research and design for people with diverse needs.
  • Understand how designing happens in social contexts.
  • Understand the role of bias and inequality in design.
  • Describe and critically evaluate designs from a multi-stakeholder perspective.

Indicative reading list

https://rl.talis.com/3/warwick/lists/607A64A3-56E0-FED1-0083-806139244206.html?lang=en&login=1Link opens in a new window

View reading list on Talis AspireLink opens in a new window

Research element

Students will be undertaking research on a multi-stakeholder level and will be testing their concepts with a target audience. This module will introduce them to an ethics form in the introductory part of the learning journey.

Interdisciplinary

This module is entirely interdisciplinary as with all modules in Design Studies, with direct links to UX, UI, Service Design, Anthropology, Spatial Studies, Design thinking, Digital Ethnography, and Critical studies just to name a few.

International

This module will provide an international array of contributors and authors to encourage students to undertake holistic learning from multiple perspectives.

Subject specific skills

  • Accessing, evaluating, synthesising and applying knowledge for specific design challenges.
  • Participating in group discussions, design activities, reflections.
  • Facilitating and leading group group discussions, design activities, reflections.
  • Doing design studies (descriptive, analytical, creative).
  • Communicating design studies in a range of formats, synchronously and asynchronously, to a wide range of audiences.
  • Creating and using a personal portfolio of studies, notes and reflections.
    Digital UX and UI prototyping.
  • Understanding of the micro/ meso and macro sphere of innovation for Service Design.
  • Apply Social Design methods to UX and Service for ethical processes.
Transferable skills

All of the above are transferable.
In addition, advanced digital skills including collaborative whiteboards, setting up and running online collaborations, visualisation and planning tools, project management tools.

 Please note: Module availability and staffing may change year on year depending on availability and other operational factors. The School for Cross-faculty Studies makes no guarantee that any modules will be offered in a particular year, or that they will necessarily be taught by the staff listed on this page.