New Course Proposal - IAT 230-3 Design for Digital Environments

T. Calvert, School of Interactive Arts and Technology

February 15, 2004

Calendar Information

Communication Design is used as a medium through which to introduce design process, design methods, and the relationship of experience to emergent interaction design thinking and problems. Projects are applied, but grounded in historical context and focus on design as a language-based activity. The course builds from simple graphic image and communication problems to grounded brand experience and marketing issues, to urban-scale issues and site considerations.

Special Instructions: Students with credit for IART 213, 214 and 215 may not take this course for further credit.

IART 213-1 Digital Design Process, Language and Vocabulary, IART 214-1 Digital Graphics and Visual Communication and IART 215-1 Digital Environmental and Event Design.

Rationale for Introduction of this Course

This course consolidates three 1-credit module-based (5 week) courses into a single 3-credit semester-based course.

Will this be a required or elective course in the curriculum; probable enrolment when offered?

Required course in the Interaction Design stream; enrolment estimated at 100 per year.

Scheduling and Registration Information

Indicate Semester and Year this course would be first offered and planned frequency of offering thereafter.

2004-3 and annually thereafter.

Which of your present CFL faculty have the expertise to offer this course? Will the course be taught by sessional or limited term faculty?

The course has been delivered to this point by Russell Taylor, Senior Lecturer, SIAT. It is expected that he will continue to deliver this course. Ron Wakkary and Jim Budd willing to teach the course.

Are there any proposed student fees associated with this course other than tuition fees?

Yes. There is an annual field study in Seattle, WA. The cost is approximaelely $150 cdn. There are also materials and printing costs of approximately $200-300.

Is this course considered a `duplicate' of any current or prior course under the University's duplicate course policy? Specify, as appropriate.

This course duplicates IART 213-1, IART 214-1, IART 215-1.

Resource Implications

Note: Senate has approved (S.93-11) that no new course should be approved by Senate until funding has been committed for necessary library materials. Each new course proposal must be accompanied by a library report and, if appropriate, confirmation that funding arrangements have been addressed.

Provide details on how existing instructional resources will be redistributed to accommodate this new course. For instance, will another course be eliminated or will the frequency of offering of other courses be reduced; are there changes in pedagogical style or class sizes that allow for this additional course offering.

This course will use the resources already in place for the three 1-credit modules it replaces.

Does the course require specialized space or equipment not readily available in the department or university, and if so, how will these resources be provided?

Does this course require computing resources (e.g. hardware, software, network wiring, use of computer laboratory space) and if so, describe how they will be provided.

No new resources are required by virtue of this course consolidation.

Course Outline

Course Description

In the information age, it is essential to know the difference between data and information. Data does not communicate. Anything that is designed, from a poster to a building communicates. This course begins a longer study of how. Projects are applied studies of history and theory leading to new approaches to designing for experiences, not merely designing things. The initial focus of the course is on graphic or communication design, first in print, then in web and motion. These studies lead to a foundation for approaching more complex problems and the course ends by looking at 2 major studies that involve, first; urban studies, architecture and exhibition design and the integration of computing and information technologies into such spaces, and then, secondly; a study of brand experience as way of introducing the client and the audience into the now-emerging student understanding of the centrality of design process in the act of designing, and finally, the relationship of design forms, or patterns, into that complex human-centered mix.