Social Design
Introduction
This module fosters students' development in becoming designerly agents for change through engagement with their local and regional communities. Social Design understands design as an ethically driven philosophy seeking to make improvements to the lived experiences of people, communities, and the environment . It is underpinned by the principles of co-design/ co-creation, working in partnership to identify, investigate and resolve design problems.
Students will learn a range of approaches to participatory design, social action and entrepreneurship through investigating philosophies, methodologies, and case studies. Through this they will develop a toolkit of techniques and their appropriateness to specific situations. Key to this is being able to understand a social context as a complex interaction of people, artefacts, systems, and economies.
During the module, students will have a relationship with a specific community context and over a period will develop collaborative research into the environment and factors which are shaping that community and propose co-design approaches to address the needs arising from that research.
Module aims
The aims of module are to give students the opportunity to explore and test methods, approaches and frameworks relating to design and systems thinking within the context of interdisciplinary and what will be a stream of students' emerging specialist practice and methodology. Throughout this module will be part of an interdisciplinary team, where they will be sharing, collaborating, and developing their existing and newly developed approaches to researching, defining, and solving complex life-centred design problems. This module aims to engage students in ethnographic, site and precedent studies, in order to learn how to establish a substantial set of qualitative data for problem definition that entails the visual and methodological study of lived, shared, and learned experiences. Social Design aims to encourage students to explore and research community life, impact and value through co-design.
This module aims to further students' individual and group-working skills, whilst challenged to develop abilities of professional pitch as well as crit skills as a part of their evaluative and making practice. Finally, this module presents a continuation of students' design and systems thinking development on an interdisciplinary level.
Key Information
| Module Lead | Adela Glyn-Davies |
Credits | 15 CATS |
| Host Department | Design Studies | Level | UG Level 2 |
| Module duration | 10 Weeks | Teaching period | TBC |
| Year of launch | 2025/26 | Module capacity | 25 students |
| Teaching | Two 1-hour lectures, six 1.5-hour seminars, six 3-hour tutorials, two 3-hour classes | Assessment | 100% coursework |
Outline syllabus
- Intro to Social Design. Live briefing by local community.
- Ethics and research in Social Design - participation vs co-design?
- Towards social- environmental impact - The Civic and Systems Change.
- Intensive tutorials - project development.
- Induction and practical work (fabrication labs, workshops and print).
- The compassionate CRIT and Pitch development.
- Final Pitch with Showcase.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
- Co-create and develop a research and development process to identify and address a social need.
- Understand theories and methodologies of Social Design theory and practice.
- Understand design ethics and sustainability and incorporate these into professional design practice.
- Document an understanding of appropriate community research and co-design methods.
Assessment Structure
Design Portfolio (60%)
This part of the coursework will contain students' research, full process and final rendition and pitch of the given Social Design Brief.
Professional Pitch (20%)
This part of the coursework entails students' group pitch of their proposed Social Design concept as part of the module showcase.
Critical Research Analysis (20%)
This coursework will be a critical reflective piece about the learning journey. It will be templated and divided between critical review and reflective writing.