IDSE303 Studio: Ideation and Development – Austin Center for Design

Name	Quarter 1 (8 weeks)	Quarter 2 (8 weeks)	Quarter 3 (8 weeks)	Quarter 4 (8 weeks)
Methods	IDSE101 Interaction Design Research and Synthesis	IDSE201 Rapid Ideation and Creative Problem Solving	IDSE301 Evaluation and Product Management	IDSE401 Entrepreneurial Practice
Theory	IDSE102 Design, Society and the Public Sector	IDSE202 Service Design	Workshops	IDSE402 Theory of Interaction Design and Social Entrepreneurship
Application	IDSE103 Studio Foundation	IDSE203 Studio Research and Synthesis	IDSE303 Studio Ideation and Development	IDSE403 Studio Pilot Launch and Completion

About this course

This course is the second phase of the Interaction Design and Social Entrepreneurship Project. Students will begin to iteratively prototype and test designs related to a particular humanitarian and social problem space. Students will build physical and digital artifacts as necessary to describe their design solution, and will test that material in the actual context of the particular design problem.

Outcomes and competencies

The following outcome statements articulate the competencies, abilities, and skills a student will have as a result of completing this class. Students will...

Be able to illustrate, through prototypes, sketches, and presentation materials, a cohesive design idea for a particular large-scale social and humanitarian problem.
Be able to scale back that design to a small form for build-out and pilot testing
Be able to describe and rationalize the particular design decisions that have led to the development of the design vision and the small-form

Core concepts and ideas

This class emphasizes the following main ideas, themes, and concepts:

Criteria and insight definition, applied, in order to begin a comprehensive design effort
Rapid Ideation, applied, intended to explore multiple design solutions to a single problem, and to reframe problems from various new and interesting perspectives
Evaluation, applied, in order to understand how a given design solution is perceived by an intended audience
Development and Refinement, applied, in order to continue advancing the fidelity of a design solution and understand tradeoffs of various design changes

Schedule

Class #	Date	Major Theme	In Class	Out of Class
1	Jan 7	Ideation & Concept Design	Review Syllabus and expectations for IDSE 303 During class, students will explore, complete and present their top ideas from the previous quarter Class critique on concepts Continue concepting and ideation	Refine 1st concept presented in class. Build out two (2) additional design concepts for next class (Each should be roughly sketched as end-to-end stories) Readings: Human Centered Design – Why empathy isn’t everything. Video: The first secret of design is… noticing
2	Jan 14	Ideation & Concept Design	During class, students will explore, complete and present their top ideas as a fully illustrated storyboard Walk the walls: Evaluate & critique concepts, and select two (2) concepts for testing Discuss assigned readings and the application of ideas to concepts Create hero flows for selected concepts	Continue to iterate and refine hero flows Complete testing strategy & schedule research participants Begin creating draft evaluation plan Deliver draft evaluation plan by Wednesday Jan 18st (via email) include a plan for two (2) sets of users for in-class sessions on January 28 and an out-of-class session during the week of February 13 Create Testing Assets (due next class)
3	Jan 21	Concept Design Refinement	Pilot evaluation sessions—testing with at least one (1) participant Pilot evaluation Summary and Debrief Iterate concepts based on pilot testing (as appropriate)	Create next iteration of concepts Reading: Steven D Pow – how prototyping practices affect design results.
4	Jan 28	Testing Concept Refinement	Working evaluation sessions—testing with at least two (2) participants Start building vision story & mid-point presentation content	Create Mid-Point Presentation Readings: The Year’s Best Prototyping Insights and Resources
5	Feb 4	Mid Point Review Prototype	Faculty and Guest Panel Critique of Mid-Point Presentations. 20 minutes per group with 10 min Q/A Discussion on prototyping Working session—identify prototyping opportunity & begin building prototype	Continue building prototype of single concept.
6	Feb 11	Prototype & Testing	Working Session (continue building prototype) Finalize prototype & dry run with Alumni / Faculty/Guests	Refine hero flow / archetype screens, based on selected visual style, to a medium level of fidelity Test prototyped concept with two (2) to four (4) users All testing must be completed by end of February 18 class
7	Feb 18	Concept Refinement	Discuss road map and planning. Re-visit minimum viable product discussion as necessary. Working session (refine concept & build final presentation draft) Discuss expectations for final presentation	Refine design as necessary to show during final presentation. Create final presentation. Final presentation must be submitted via email or dropbox 1 hour prior to presentation.
7.5	Feb 23 (Thursday)	Presentation rehearsal	Students will present their concepts for refinement & feedback
8	Feb 25	Presentation	Students will present their concept vision, roadmap and MVP scenario (open to the public)