CAMPAIGN PROJECTS 2009
A studio in two parts: Individual Projects (7) & Car of the Future (5) Soumitri Varadarajan Industrial Design Program RMIT University Melbourne/ Australia
The Campaign is an interesting way of speaking about a particular kind of project - one that involves working with communities and implementing change. Often in these situations the forces against change may not be overt - though sometimes they are but equally the established manufacturers and service providers are not interested in adopting the solution of the designer. This may be because they are set in their ways, see no need for change or the process of change requires too much effort. This is the classic ‘inertia’ that established agencies have - and this is also a situation where the designer may have stumbled upon a paradigm shift or a different way of looking at the situation.
When the ‘big’ agency says - ‘forget it’ to the idea of the designer we have a problem. Should the designer walk away and save themselves the bother or should they stay and provide the solution/ product/ service themselves? In the ‘new inventors’ the inventor/ designer goes ahead and develops the product and becomes a manufacturer. But this usually takes years and years of working away. Designers are of the view that they must not hang around doing just one thing - which is sensible as they cant make a living on the job then - and that they should move on after really short/rapid stints at any one job/ project.
Can one walk away from communities? Obviously not - and here lies one problem. Is the designer equipped to function in a project that involves them hanging around to see the implementation of their ideas? Not necessarily I would say - but they can function in this environment - by developing their skills as they go along. Which makes the acquisition of the skills as a student worth while.
Campaign Projects Developing a self directed project
My practice is in the area of sustainability – which I articulate as the development of projects that look at material and systemic sustainability in Industrial Design Projects. A lot of these projects are speculative and propositional so located in the future. I work with a set of defined methods and strategies to think through the projects and develop the solutions. In recent years I have seen the amplification of the social dimension in my projects – and I have also seen the outcomes of the projects as social innovations. Often I have seen the projects become new, viable and self sustaining business ventures – which are social entrepreneurship ventures. I campaign for a dematerialised world and therefore privilege service design – which in recent days has seen me move towards interaction design which is needed in the development of and delivery of services.
I see two kinds of students in the studio. One with clear projects (developed in Research Methods) and others who can; one, quickly come up with a project idea in the area of sustainability, or two, work on a project within my campaigns. This latter is a cluster of projects that I have been working upon for quite some time and also a new project – a closed loop ecosystem for a university campus in India. Therefore the topic spread will look like this: 1. Individual project 2. Closed System (12 design projects)
Modelling solutions
Ecosphere
No sewage pipe – extreme water use challenge Clothing care Washing, cooking and cleaning Zero waste – no garbage out of campus Energy – self sufficiency Food – Urban agriculture Subterranean bunkers – cool room Transport – No personal vehicles and sharing
Social Innovation
Food – Local food, student food Health Sharing Car and car sharing Bushfire Bunker Diabetes
I went to shed number 4 in the Docklands area, I heard speeches and passed around the food. Amidst all this I wrote the words that were floating around.When I had finished - I pulled out my phone and took this picture. I see the words and they say it all. ‘We will most certainly have disaster and suffering, but we should begin work now to avoid catastrophe’.
Key Learning objectives: to refine your ability to conceive, plan and execute a self directed project & to explore an individual way of constructing design practice.
Content
The main content of the course will be your learnings from the project area(about the subject area) you choose. In addition you will be required to deploy all the skills and knowledge you have acquired about design practice through the three years in the program. This last will constitute a revalidation of your abilities – and your realization will be arrived at through a process of reflective writing.
Methods
Sketch design, research, propositional design, prototyping
Online Resources
Your online resources are: The blog of my practice http://campaignprojects.wordpress.com/ and Blackboard.
Schedule
Calendar - Week 3 (end research), week 6 (at risk check) and week 8 for closure (presentation of digital finals), week 8 to 15 is for execution/ making.You will work collectively with your tutor to develop your project time line in your project. Additionally you will have to participate in the presentations scheduled with the other tutorial groups.
Activities
Bushfire bunker: This is a warm up exercise and is your experience for pro-bono work in design.You are required to develop a sketch scheme in the best traditions of pen and ink drawing. The assignment will be done over two weeks – week 3 your sketch submission. Develop a detailed project:You have to develop your project with enthusiasm and vigour. Exhibition/presentation:You will present your project at the mid semester review and at the end of the semester.
Deliverables
Skills
What you deliver at the end of the project – Digital, Report/ Folio, Model/ Prototype – will be proposed by you and discussed with the tutor.
Wordpress:You will be required to learn wordpress which coupled with Firefox and its addons (scribefire, delicious, vodpod) will afford you a unique research method. You will keep notes through the whole period of your project – and pull off your final publication from the writings compiled in wordpress. This exposure will afford you a byline, and develop your online publishing capability.
Evaluation The course will adhere to the spirit of ‘grades at the beginning of the course’ – and so you will indicate your grade aspiration (as a letter grade).Your grade will be validated at the end of the semester through a peer review process.
Endnote:You will be required to learn Endnote.You have to compile all your readings and literature research into an endnote bibliography.
Readings and References
Yi Yuan, Car for Car Sharing, Campaign Projects 2008
You will develop a detailed endnote bibliography of your readings.
Pre-Major Project, 24 Credits, March 2009 Tutor: Soumitri Varadarajan (soumitri.varadarajan@rmit.edu.au) Contact Hours: 4 hours per week over 12 weeks. [48 hours contact] Non-Contact Hours: 20 hours per week over 12 weeks [240 hours] Location: Building 87 [levels 4 & 5] Time: 9.30am –12.30pm Thursdays
The Car of the Future
Consider this - there is a news flash that GM is to be liquidated. This may not happen because the impact of this bankruptcy will be disastrous for a large population that is linked to this company and its subsidiaries. However GM apart there is general perception today that car companies seem to have got it wrong they just seem to be making the wrong kind of cars. There is also a general perception gaining ground, fueled by the fossil fuel and the global warming debates, that cars are to blame for many of the problems facing the planet today. That we need cars to go about our lives is not in doubt, especially if you live away from cities, or use the car for business as in the case of a community nurse. So while we continue to value public transport, as a solution for commuters in urban centers, we still need to engage with the global project of thinking about - what should the car of the future be.
Industrial Design Challenge In 2009 the GFC and the perilous state of auto manufacturing has a created a unique situation - a race, a challenge, to create a vision for the future of the automobile. Now, is this something that excites you? Do you have an idea or a burning desire to work upon a project to design the car of the future? If yes, then this studio is for you. Š Soumitri Varadarajan, 2009
industrial design
SEMESTER 1 9.00
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10.00
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11.00
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1.00
mon
GRAP2304-2306-1048 DESIGN ELECTIVES 49.01.A (Gossard) 87.5.04 87.5.06 10.30-12.30pm
1:30
2.00
2:30
3.00
GRAP2304-2306-1048 DESIGN ELECTIVES 49.01.A (Gossard) 87.5.04 87.5.06 1.30-3.30pm
3:30
YEAR FOUR 2009 4.00
4:30
5.00
GRAP2304-2306-1048 DESIGN ELECTIVES 49.01.A (Gossard) 87.5.04 & 87.5.06 4.00-6.00pm
5.30
6.00
6.30
7.00
GRAP2304-2306-1048 DESIGN ELECTIVES 87.5.11 8.7.48 computer lab 6.30-8.30pm
GRAP2304-2306-1048 8.7.153 comp lab 3.30-5.30 GRAP2304-2306-1048 DESIGN ELECTIVES 8.7.71 AV suite - 4.30-7.30pm
tues
SELF DIRECTED STUDY TIME
thurs
wed
SELF DIRECTED STUDY TIME
GRAP2290 PRE MAJOR PROJECT 87.5.03 87.5.04 1.30am-5.30pm
GRAP2290 PRE MAJOR PROJECT 87.5.03 87.5.04 9.00am-1.00pm
frid
GRAP2290 PRE MAJOR PROJECT 87.5.11 2.30am-6.30pm
GRAP1045
GRAP1045
GRAP1045
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE 1
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
PROFESSIONAL
LECTURE 87.4.18 10.00-12.00pm
GUEST LECTURES 12.30-1.30pm 12.8.02
PRACTICE
exhition tutorials 87.4.18 2.30.-3.30pm
7.30
8.00
8.30
Calendar 4th year schedule/ Version of 18th March 2009
Tutor: Soumitri Varadarajan Week Briefing CRIT Capability 1 Statement 2
3 4 5 Technology 6 7 8 Design strategy 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 End PM Start Major Week Briefing Design 1 Development 2 3 4 5 6 Design Testing 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Writing Project Submission Tutes
Capability Statement
T1
Method (research Plan)
T2 T3
Technology
T4 T5
Design strategy
T6 T7 T8 T9 T10
Method (research Plan) + Approval of project (C+M)
Technology
Design strategy
Research Outcomes PMM Presentation
Full Document
CRIT
Writing Project Submission Tutes
T1 T2 T3 Design Development Design Development T4 Design Testing Outcomes Design Testing T5 T6
Final Design Final Design
T7 Full document Submission Major Project Prez (TBC)
Exhibition (TBC)
The timelines and events are indicative. The collective can deliberate and modify the calendar. All submissions will be posted to BB as Assignments. All briefing sessions will have two parts - a talk and a group session. This calendar has to be read alongside the 'design process' mind map.
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Assignments
Survey
Announcements
Lectures
Staff Info
Content Area Bibliography
Course Documents Videos
Blackboard
Research Documents Writing tools
Discussion Board
MyGrades
Books
Govt docs/links
Rubric Title: Self Assessment for PreMajor Project - Semester 1 (Year 4) Student Name: Student Number: Mode
Area
Wt Fail (F) %
Bushfire Bunker
Basic concept and drawings Basic effort at topic selection and formulation
Num Description Commendable concept 50 and drawings
Disctinction (D) Num Description
High Distinction (HD) Num Description
Commendable effort and acceptable topic
Highly accomplished concept and drawings Highly accomplished effort at topic selection and formulation
Exemplary topic selection and formulation
Project Plan
Commendable planning and visualization of design process
Highly accomplished planning and visualization of design process
Exemplary planning and visualization of design process
Capability Statement
Inadequate reflection of abilities showing inadequate understanding of 5 design practice
Basic reflection of abilities showing basic understanding of design practice
Commendable reflection of abilities showing good understanding of design practice
Highly accomplished reflection of abilities showing robust understanding of design practice
Learning Contract
Inadequate articulation of goals 5 and deliverables
Basic articulation of goals and deliverables
Commendable articulation of goals and deliverables
Highly accomplished articulation of goals and deliverables
Exemplary reflection of abilities showing unique and insightful understanding of design practice. Exemplary clarity of description and detailed articulation of goals and deliverables
Assessment Rubric
Inadequate participation and 2 engagement
Basic participation and engagement
Commendable participation and engagement
Commendable research plan showing a choice of research strategies
Highly involved participation and engagement Highly accomplished research plan showing good choice of research strategies appropriate to the project and context of work
Commendable approach to technology Commendable construction of approach showing understanding of design practice
Highly accomplished approach showing good approach to technology Highly accomplished construction of approach showing good understanding of design practice
Technology Approach
Design Approach
PreMajor Document plan TOTAL Marks
Inadequate 10 research plan Inadequate approach to 5 technology
Inadequate construction of 10 approach
Basic research plan
Basic approach to technology
Basic construction of approach
Score Num
Exemplary concept and drawings
Basic planning and visualization of design process
Research Plan
Assignments (50%)
Inadequate concept 3 and drawings
Num Description
Credit (CR)
Inadequate thought 2 and effort Inadequate planning and visualization of 5 design process
Project Topic
Self Assessment (on completion)
Description
Pass (P)
Exemplary participation and engagement. Demonstrated leadership. Exemplary research plan showing innovative choice of research strategies appropriate to the project and context of work Exemplary construction of approach showing innovative approach to technology options Exemplary construction of approach showing innovative understanding of design practice
Inadequate Highly accomplished Exemplary aesthetics application of Basic application of Commendable aesthetics demonstrating demonstrating innovative graphic design graphic design application of graphic good application of graphic application of graphic 3 abilities abilities design abilities design abilities design abilities 50 Tutor Comments: (Additional mark of 5% for completion of all assignments, punctuality of submissions and consistency of performace through the semester)
1.5
Rubric Title: Panel assessment for PreMajor Project - Semester 1 (Year 4) Student Name: Student Number: Assessor Name: Mode
Area
Wt Fail (F) %
PreMajor Document
Technology Approach Presentation (50%)
Penel Assessment (week 15)
Research
TOTAL Marks
Design Approach
Presentation
Description Inadequate application of graphic design 5 abilities
Inadequate 20 research Inadequate approach to 5 technology
Inadequate construction of 10 approach
Pass (P) Num Description
Credit (CR) Num Description
Disctinction (D) Num Description
High Distinction (HD) Num Description
Commendable application of graphic design abilities
Highly accomplished aesthetics demonstrating good application of graphic design abilities
Exemplary aesthetics demonstrating innovative application of graphic design abilities
Commendable research showing outcomes
Highly accomplished research showing good outcomes appropriate to the project and context of work
Exemplary research showing innovative outcomes appropriate to the project and context of work
Basic approach to technology
Commendable approach to technology
Highly accomplished approach showing good approach to technology
Exemplary construction of approach showing innovative approach to technology options
Basic construction of approach
Commendable construction of approach showing understanding of design practice
Highly accomplished construction of approach showing good understanding of design practice
Exemplary construction of approach showing innovative understanding of design practice
Highly accomplished
Exemplary
Basic application of graphic design abilities
Basic research
10 Inadequate Basic Commendable 50 Panel Comments: (Additional mark of 5% for special mention)
Score Num
Notes 1 The course is learner centered. All submissions are self evaluated by students. Evaluations with complted scores are to be discussed with tutor for concurrence. Tutor plays supporting role to help students achieve goals - and does not sit on judgement. Students are allowed many attempts to review, repeat and improve their submissions through the semester. The self assessment carries a weightage of 50%. 2 The students present their work in week 15. The work shown in the presentation is panel-assessed and carries a weightage of 50%. 3 The numerical values of grades to be entered into the chart are as folows: F-Fail (0%), P-Pass (50%), CR-Credit( 65%), D-Distinction (75%), HD-High Distinction(85%). Multiplied by the weightings they
Key Learning Objectives: to refine your ability to conceive, plan and execute a self directed project & to explore an individual way of constructing design practice.
The Learning Contract Š Soumitri Varadarajan, 2009
On learner centeredness and fourth year You are expected to undertake your final year is a competent, mature and professional fashion. Of particular significance will be issues of – etiquette both in class and online, discipline in work and delivery commitments, engagement with the group, respect for the subjects you study and for the people you interact with. Learner centeredness is the principle of giving over to you responsibility for your performance and outcomes. The other individuals in your tute – your tutor and fellow students - are for you to engage with in a mature fashion to help and seek help from to improve your delivery of the project. The fourth year is a liminal period, a transition period, that marks the point at which you stopped going into the space of others to learn their ways and focus upon delivering a project using all that you have learnt, skills and knowledge, through the three years. For three years the project and the way it was to be done was set by the tutor – as in the lower and upper pool studios. Some of you may even have done studio projects in other disciplines and in universities overseas. You have thus a breadth of exposure to both the meaning of design and to the way design projects are done. You are therefore at a place where you need space and time to construct what will be both your way of constructing the meaning of design and developing your practice, which is your way of doing a design project.
You will be looking to the world beyond university to be strategic about the final project – for this project can potentially be your calling card as you go about seeking work opportunities and professional alliances. You may even mount your own individual exhibition or set up you website to advertise your practice. In countries like India, where companies come to campus to do recruitment and where pay packets are high for designers, this project is what allows graduating students entry into specific industry sectors. In Australia we have a slightly different situation – here you may need to construct your practice and drive work to it in a variety of different ways. In this situation two things become crucial: one, is how easily people looking for an expert like you can find you, and two, your ability to project yourself as an assured and competent practitioner. For example in the cloud – say Wordpress blog – it is crucial for your voice to communicate an assurance and wisdom in discussing issues. On the other hand on Blip TV, which is where artists put up their works, you will need to appear creative and interesting. Your fourth year and your studios thus become a sort of dressing room where you clean up your act and prepare to deliver a masterful performance. In all this your tutor has a specific role to play – in one sense his task is to bring (educe) something out of you, something to the fore, something that he can see but you may not be able to see all that easily. He will say be honest with yourself – and conflate your dreams with your project. He will say you can do more and offer other such words of encouragement. He will also ask you to behave responsibly. You make his work easier by being there, and doing your thing in an open and engaged fashion.
On contracts Typically the learning contract has to simulate a proposal of work that you may submit to a design consultancy or agency who may contract you to do a project for them. Through the development of the learning contract you will learn to develop a key component of design practice. This is the planning and communication of work involved in realizing a blue-sky project. A contract of this kind differs from a document that is developed when piecemeal work is subcontracted to you as in the instance of your having to do a CAD model of a rendering that is given to you. The reason for the difference is that blue-sky projects are projects where a problem has to be solved through the development of a design scenario involving visual depictions and three dimensional demonstration. In blue sky projects the quest for the significant (wow) solution is a risky and often engrossing journey where time lines and outcomes can easily be way of the mark. The risk in doing contracted blue sky projects is here - when the client refuses to pay you because he/she is dissatisfied with the result. A way to deal with this economic risk is to keep channels of communication open and get sign-offs at defined stages. In short the solution is to do your project in the glass-box way, where like in an aquarium the others can see your work as it evolves and participate in it. This is the way of design these days and it is, more importantly, at the core of open source practice.
Learning Contract Cloud Computing
Innovation is the key ability people look for in a designer. Innovation comes from a capacity for intellectual fearlessness where the ridiculous - both as humour and neglected ways - offers up potential for insights and innovations. In their turn the frontiers of design practice are characterized by designers exploiting opportunities such as the cloud for adding a spirit of aggression to practice. Writing is crucial tool for designers as is a complete familiarity with social and online media. In fact when ideas are aired they become open to comment and poor ideas get treated badly. The cloud has other benefits to offer such as giving voice to your practice and making you both reflective and bold. Performance in the cloud is a crucial requirement in studios and tutes I run.
Blackboard
You will treat Blackboard as both a Collaborative space and a place for submissions. Your work may need to be kept under wraps - while it is in process, and at this stage it is good for you to see the work of your colleagues and for you to show them your work. When I upload your documents for others in the tute group to see - blackboard becomes a collaborative space in the best traditions of co-design. All your work is to be submitted electronically to simulate current trans-national practice in design, and all your feedback will similarly come to you electronically from me - simulating the role of your client. Your performance in BB is a crucial component of your project.
Research
At the core of design is the person. A good design project is one which demonstrates a keen understanding of the person who will acquire, use and treasure the design. An understanding such as this is a search and hunt for insights into the way of people. A very large number of research tools and methods have been appropriated by design over the years and new methods are being tried out by designers as we speak. Your task will be to visualize the approach and research method for your project and to execute the research in a well-documented and analyzed fashion.
Design Process
There are three things you have to do in your project - do innovative research to come up with an insight, undertake design development resulting in a unique solution, and construct a communication package explaining the project in detail. For your clarification your can ask for information about the quantitative expectations for each of these work units. It is recommended that you complete your research for submission by May 2009.
You are required to deliver a learning contract in week three. The learning contract is to be carefully drawn up and is a document that sets out in detail the work you will undertake over the course of the year as part of your studio project - which will be done in the PreMajor and Major studio courses. Below you find the guidelines to help you draw up this document.
Outcomes
A designed outcome has first got to be poetic. The engineering of a design and its manufacturability, the simulation of the design in 3D and CAD, the illustration of the idea in a well drawn sketch or illustration are all necessary. However these aspects of design are in a sense peripheral to the project - in some countries like China and India there is an industry that can be subcontracted to do all this work. Design is therefore those timeless attributes - the form, the meaning of design and its impact on society. Your project will progress in a stage wise manner with periodic submission events . You will have to develop this with due consideration to the semester calendar and the collective course schedule. In your schedule you will need to describe what each submission will contain as this is of relevance to the next item. Focussing upon the goals of your project – impact of your design or the awarding of prize in a competition is recommended.
Penalty Clause
Contracts are a necessary part of a collective undertaking such as a project. They are drawn up to make the project run smoothly and to ensure that the collective team is not impacted by the performance of individuals. Most contracts have a clause where the failure to deliver on contractual obligations is discussed. In this section you will need to specify an automatic or negotiated penalty that you will incur each time you fail to deliver on the contracted work.
Grade and level of work
Most work may have rival bidders for the contract. The decision on awarding contract takes into consideration capability (track record), and level of engagement. Needless to say the work plan of the bidders will vary and this will impact upon the economic valuation of their bid. Often the lowest bidder fails to receive the contract – and this is due to the value-add in design that the winner demonstrates through their proposal. Therefore the level of work delivered is based upon individual capacity and approach. In this simulation of the project you are required to write down an alphabetical grade that you wish to aim for. This aim has to be reflected in the work-plan you draw up. You are allowed to renegotiate your grade at specific instances through the period of your project. An independent panel of peers reviewing your work at the end of the semesters will go through a process of validating your grade. You will be allowed to discuss with the panel and your tutor the final grade that will be awarded.
On the method in car Design but also all things design I taught design in India before moving to Australia. From 1994 to 2003 the majority of my students, especially those doing their final project with me, joined vehicle manufacturers. At that time in India, as also now, the vehicle manufacturing sector paid the highest salaries often about double what the product manufacturing companies paid. From following the careers of my students over the years both in India and as they moved overseas working for the auto majors I have a good understanding of the demands that were placed upon them and more importantly for me I could understand what it was that made some of them stay as skill in the workplace and others move up to engage with senior management.
saw them working with him for ten years at least. He would start them as he always did with young design employees, with the design of decals and over the years they would move up to more important things like accessories and then finally many years later work as his assistant on the design of a new model. Vehicle styling was for him a craft, just like traditional Japanese lacquer work or calligraphy, and only the most highly skilled were admitted into the styling studios. So like the crafts the work in styling was all about the eye and the heart (kimochi).
It was easy to get jobs in auto companies in those days - and probably still is. There were many jobs and when the companies came for campus interviews they vied with each other to come early, to pick up the top students in the batch, and competed with each other to offer the best salary packages. I was for some time looking after placements and was responsible for the placement interviews calendar. I still remember the time Honda motorcycle came in on a Saturday because Suzuki, the cars division, was coming in on Monday.
All manner of people aspire to work in the design studios of auto companies. Among the students who left these jobs soon after joining were some of my best students. They gave up big salaries and it was a big decision to leave so they often talked to me before making this decision. This dialogue with former students is common in India for I was their sensei after all and in a traditional society that is very important for their identity as they claim to be so and so’s student through their lives. I learnt that the job in styling can be quite un-challenging for one looking to design with their head and not their eyes. Styling is a silent undertaking and has no room for intellectual discussion and dialogue.
Honda came to the interviews with sheets of drawing paper - and Kamata-san was keen to pick up the ones who could draw the best. The rest, how to design motorcycles, was not important. For as the sensei he would teach them in his own way - for he
If I were to essentialize just two capabilities to highlight in the area of vehicle design I would choose to go with; (a) An understanding of what people want and an ability to go and find what people want, & (b) An ability to work with form
What People want
Design is dominated by two main approaches; one, is looking at the project from the perspective of the manufacturer. This is the way some designers think. These are designers who work inside companies, and consultancies that work closely with manufacturers or have their own brand. In this perspective the designer usually spends a lot of time studying the ‘market’ and is expected to know the ‘manufacturing constraints’. Working in a styling studio of a big automobile manufacturer gives designers the feeling of being part of a team and they share the language and terminologies used in that company. This perspective is good for you to get and is a way that is learned best in the first few years after joining a company as a trainee. The company takes responsibility in bringing trainees up to speed on the way of the company. Now there is a problem with the company perspective, and this is especially true these days when the automobile companies have been admitting freely that they ‘got it wrong’. Two, is when the designer aligns himself with the consumer, or people. This is what I train my students for. I hold that the human is at the center of a design project. So the task of the designer is to go into society and find out everything about the way people go about their lives. You can see this same perspective echoed by Chris Bangle in the video where he sent off a team to go and study people. This is also the theme of the film ‘What women want’, do see it. So the idea or the form comes later, and the study comes first.
An ability to work with form
The ability to draw, do CAD and render are key physical skills in being able to undertake a vehicle design project. The skill of the mind is the ability to work with form. The role of a designer in a large company is very specific. A big multinational firm is made up of a very highly educated and experienced team of professionals. The designer in this community is the artist and is required to be the person who defines the form of the skin of the car. His involvement is also only required to be skin deep! People trained in product design find this, their role as form givers, very difficult to accept. In India and Japan (see at the end of this text for suggestions to start reading on aesthetics) culture and poetry easily move in design. The dominant culture in Australia is very different in that there is a cultural cringe with the non technical in design. This is understandable in a context where there is no mass manufacturing, for in the context of small firms designers have to be engineers too. However this view, of design as a kind
of engineering, is totally incompatible with the culture of vehicle design in the context of large companies. In fact the focus upon engineering issues leaves very little space and time for a focus upon form and ways of developing and appreciating form. This is a good time to ask yourself how many form development methods and strategies you have, and if you find you cannot even cite one method then it is time for you to do something about it. I taught form for years, and a course in Advanced form too, to build capability in my students in what I consider the core of design practice. In addition to strategies for form development, I taught them aesthetics and an appreciation of the arts for I believe the sustaining inspiration to design beautiful things comes from sharing in the project of making beautiful. The project is made up of people writing music, doing drama, and basically engaged in transforming the quality of peoples engagement with visual, audio and tactile phenomena. It is quite possible the three years in design school have taught you much, but there is a danger too in the culture where you freely choose the projects and courses you want to do. The danger is both in begin conservative in choice, where you end up doing more of the stuff you already are capable in, and in being adventurous, where you do things that you cannot integrate back into your practice at all. You may easily end up in year 4 of the program with absolutely no exposure to writings on design but with a deep knowledge of sustainability and a passion for changing the world. Such passions are good but it is important that you work out a way to integrate this knowledge into your design practice. The challenge for you is to foreground design and push to the background the things that will make your design have that extra depth. You may find that when you foreground design it makes you uncomfortable as the value system you constructed over the past three years is being questioned. This questioning is important and is a point of new learning and realignments of old knowledge. You may be faced with the question so what is design then? For your answer I would recommend that you go to the masters, the great and good designers of the past, and to all wise people. In some respects people and their deep emotions haven’t changed at all. You, as an agency engaged in a profession that is about visual culture on this planet, need to come home. To that place where things are first beautiful. So do read and be open. Follow up: See Wikipedia for ‘Aesthetic’s and ‘Japanese Aesthetics’.
Writing Project Stage 1: Write your description
Satge 2: Review and categorize the description
Stage 3: Insert pictures, and descriptions of the images
This is the first stage of the writing project. Look upon this as an exercise in writing a description - like you would write about a journey for a travel guide. A good way to start is by making a mind map - to stake out the territory or to mark the places you have been - which sets out the things you are going to talk about. So for example in your capability statement you want to give an account of your abilities - and you will embroider your account with stories from the projects and courses you have done. Say one of the ‘places’ in your story is about your sketching skills; you may want to talk about instances where your sketching ability made a big difference, and you may want to show pictures as examples substantiating your story. The next thing to do - after you mark out the territory - is to do a budget; this is a word count for each item on your mind map. Now if you are starting from 1500 words and you have 5 points you wish to talk about - that gives you a rough per item budget of 300 words. Writing about any part of your ability in 300 words is easy - but writing a focussed account that has an impact requires just that little extra effort.
Once you have your text written up you need to take it to the next level. In the first instance I will do this task for you; I will read your text and analyze it for what you are trying to say. I will then see if I can make my own mind map of that is going on in your text piece. I would be looking for a balanced account of abilities, or a breadth of abilities making a case by showing examples of robustness. Often when we write we may forget the audience the text is meant for - and we may fail to see what they would in turn be looking for in the text. So I will be watching out for any slant or over emphasis in your writing. All this would constitute a review of your text - and I would be able to suggest a set of categories for you to organize your text into.
Once you have a working text ticking along merrily, it is time to bring in the pictures. We are designers and we talk best when we can do a show and tell. So being in the pictures and insert them into the text. Be careful in your choice of pictures, select those that show off your abilities and add to the text. Each text has to be accompanied by a minimum of 100 words of description. Make sure to add to the 100 words a cryptic notation grounding it in a context - this is the year the work was done, the name of the project and any other little detail such as ‘done in Foshan or Ahmedabad’. This last detail adds to the texture of the account. If you feel confident you can also introduce images of work in progress; sometimes an image of you at work may be appropriate, and certainly a sequence of progression of work (such as Edwin and/or Ryan’s prototype time lapse progress photos) is much appreciated.
© Soumitri Varadarajan, 2009
Stage 4: Lay it all out in Indesign over 20 pages The next stage is laying it all out. I have suggested you use Indesign CS3 or 4 as the appropriate medium for this. First you make 20 blank pages. You then need to make master pages which have the guides and page numbers, header and footers. It may be a good idea to sketch out a rough idea of what your layouts are going to look like. You then need to select a font - suggest a font that disappears and makes the text block look like a grey sheet is the best. My favourite is Helvetica for this. Remember you want your images to get prominence and there is no point making fonts and images compete. Another rule in using fonts is keep the number of fonts you use to a minimum - just one will serve you perfectly. Alongside this is font sizes - you should keep these to a minimum too. Again you can use just one size and play with spaces to make your headings stand out. One you have your font scheme worked out - you need to set these up as character styles. With your master pages done and your character styles set up you are ready to fly. You are now ready to pull text and images into these 20 pages. Once you have all the material on the pages - you can move them about and do individual pages. But remember to stick to the guides - that is important. In laying out pages big doses of discipline is good.
On the method in car Design but also all things design I taught design in India before moving to Australia. From 1994 to 2003 the majority of my students, especially those doing their final project with me, joined vehicle manufacturers. At that time in India, as also now, the vehicle manufacturing sector paid the highest salaries often about double what the product manufacturing companies paid. From following the careers of my students over the years both in India and as they moved overseas working for the auto majors I have a good understanding of the demands that were placed upon them and more importantly for me I could understand what it was that made some of them stay as skill in the workplace and others move up to engage with senior management. It was easy to get jobs in auto companies in those days - and probably still is. There were many jobs and when the companies came for campus interviews they vied with each other to come early, to pick up the top students in the batch, and competed with each other to offer the best salary packages. I was for some time looking after placements and was responsible for the placement interviews calendar. I still remember the time Honda motorcycle came in on a Saturday because Suzuki, the cars division, was coming in on Monday. Honda came to the interviews with sheets of drawing paper - and Kamata-san was keen to pick up the ones who could draw the best. The rest, how to design motorcycles, was not important. For as the sensei he would teach them in his own way - for he saw them working with him for ten years at least. He would start them as he always did with young design employees, with the design of decals and over the years they would move up to more important things like accessories and then finally many years later work as his assistant on the design of a new model. Vehicle styling was for him a craft, just like traditional Japanese lacquer work or calligraphy, and only the most highly skilled were admitted into the styling studios. So like the crafts the work in styling was all about the eye and the heart (kimochi). All manner of people aspire to work in the design studios of auto companies. Among the students who left these jobs soon after joining were some of my best students. They gave up big salaries and it was a big decision to leave so they often talked to me before making this decision. This dialogue with former students is common in India for I was their sensei after all and in a traditional society that is very important for their identity as they claim to be so and so's student through their lives. I learnt that the job in styling can be quite un-challenging for one looking to design with their head and not their eyes. Styling is a silent undertaking and has no room for intellectual discussion and dialogue. If I were to essentialize just two capabilities to highlight in the area of vehicle design I would choose to go with; (a) An understanding of what people want and an ability to go and find what people want, & (b) An ability to work with form
What People want Design is dominated by two main approaches; one, is looking at the project from the perspective of the manufacturer. This is the way some designers think. These are designers who work inside companies, and consultancies that work closely with manufacturers or have their own brand. In this perspective the designer usually spends a lot of time studying the 'market' and is expected to know the 'manufacturing constraints'. Working in a styling studio of a big automobile manufacturer gives designers the feeling of being part of a team and they
share the language and terminologies used in that company. This perspective is good for you to get and is a way that is learned best in the first few years after joining a company as a trainee. The company takes responsibility in bringing trainees up to speed on the way of the company. Now there is a problem with the company perspective, and this is especially true these days when the automobile companies have been admitting freely that they 'got it wrong'. Two, is when the designer aligns himself with the consumer, or people. This is what I train my students for. I hold that the human is at the center of a design project. So the task of the designer is to go into society and find out everything about the way people go about their lives. You can see this same perspective echoed by Chris Bangle in the video where he sent off a team to go and study people. This is also the theme of the film 'What women want', do see it. So the idea or the form comes later, and the study comes first.
An ability to work with form The ability to draw, do CAD and render are key physical skills in being able to undertake a vehicle design project. The skill of the mind is the ability to work with form. The role of a designer in a large company is very specific. A big multinational firm is made up of a very highly educated and experienced team of professionals. The designer in this community is the artist and is required to be the person who defines the form of the skin of the car. His involvement is also only required to be skin deep! People trained in product design find this, their role as form givers, very difficult to accept. In India and Japan (see at the end of this text for suggestions to start reading on aesthetics) culture and poetry easily move in design. The dominant culture in Australia is very different in that there is a cultural cringe with the non technical in design. This is understandable in a context where there is no mass manufacturing, for in the context of small firms designers have to be engineers too. However this view, of design as a kind of engineering, is totally incompatible with the culture of vehicle design in the context of large companies. In fact the focus upon engineering issues leaves very little space and time for a focus upon form and ways of developing and appreciating form. This is a good time to ask yourself how many form development methods and strategies you have, and if you find you cannot even cite one method then it is time for you to do something about it. I taught form for years, and a course in Advanced form too, to build capability in my students in what I consider the core of design practice. In addition to strategies for form development, I taught them aesthetics and an appreciation of the arts for I believe the sustaining inspiration to design beautiful things comes from sharing in the project of making beautiful. The project is made up of people writing music, doing drama, and basically engaged in transforming the quality of peoples engagement with visual, audio and tactile phenomena. It is quite possible the three years in design school have taught you much, but there is a danger too in the culture where you freely choose the projects and courses you want to do. The danger is both in begin conservative in choice, where you end up doing more of the stuff you already are capable in, and in being adventurous, where you do things that you cannot integrate back into your practice at all. You may easily end up in year 4 of the program with absolutely no exposure to writings on design but with a deep knowledge of sustainability and a passion for changing the world. Such passions are good but it is important that you work out a way to integrate this knowledge into your design practice. The challenge for you is to
foreground design and push to the background the things that will make your design have that extra depth. You may find that when you foreground design it makes you uncomfortable as the value system you constructed over the past three years is being questioned. This questioning is important and is a point of new learning and realignments of old knowledge. You may be faced with the question - so what is design then? For your answer I would recommend that you go to the masters, the great and good designers of the past, and to all wise people. In some respects people and their deep emotions haven't changed at all. You, as an agency engaged in a profession that is about visual culture on this planet, need to come home. To that place where things are first beautiful. So do read and be open. Follow up: See Wikipedia for 'Aesthetic's and 'Japanese Aesthetics'.
On Capability Statements I have read through all the submissions and made notes on the back of your submissions. I have also highlighted the key phrases I could find in your text. The highlighting is to mark out bits of text that can be some of the key capabilities you wish to amplify. The task of writing up your capability is one of curating your abilities in this process you find the gems and showcase them. There is more text below which is general feedback that will benefit all of you. I will post this text to BB so you can refer to it later.
1. Did you understand the task? The task of writing you capability statement required you to reflect upon your abilities and take stock before you embark upon your final and in many senses your definitive project in design school. For a student of music this would be a composition - a work of art - into which you would put the best effort, and which would serve as a vehicle of your passions. Reflection as a regular practice is itself said to build a stronger design practice - in this case you can see what your strengths are and what your way of designing is. When you look at the statements of others you get to locate yourself and your design practice even more precisely.
2. How clear is your text? After spending time with each of your texts I have a fair idea of each of your capabilities. However I am a sympathetic reader and quite willing to keep reading till I can get the information I want. I can how each of you has tried to make your text talk to an imagined reader and I feel you need to reflect a bit on this aspect of your writing. For example you may be pushing skills or ideology or your commercial savvy all of which is eminently worth talking about. However you may send this material to different places and in each context will have a specific kind of reader who will be looking to see particular kinds of things. Imagine sending our skills statement to a poetic designer, your ideology statement to a commercial entity or your commercial savvy statement to a voluntary agency - it would be disaster wouldn't it? So in effect there is an issue of the form and aesthetics of the written product too just like with objects. You need to nuance and make your text sound just right and precise; tight but not cryptic, passionate but not obsessive, efficient but not egotistical, complex but not shallow and so on. You need to go back to your text - which is at a sketch stage - and redesign it. You can pull out the key points you are making and put that into a mind map. Then look at the mind map to work out what the best way to tackle the text for that category or key point would be. Once you have this sense you can go back in and change your text massage it a bit. When you have finished with another iteration of your text - you would be able to look at it and ask yourself - 'how clear is my text?' In this way you will be able to transfer your way of working with design to a way of writing up your work. You will be in a position to work out for yourself what 'voice' you want your text to have. Often an elegant text transcends the boundaries of context - and can for example talk simultaneously to the young student and to the greying professor.
3. What can you do with your Capability Statement? In simple terms there are two outlets for this kind of activity; one, in my briefing I mentioned the fact that you could write up your statement as something you could send to a prospective employer, though 1500 words is a bit big for this purpose. You will need to cut it down and make different versions for different audiences. Two, this piece of text is the first part of your project documentation and can feed the sections of 'background' and 'introduction'.
4. What is Design? The collective body of work - all your texts put together tell a story of the meaning of design. But then this is what you have got from you various experiences in being a student at RMIT. Just on the other side of the city there are others at another academy with a slightly different construction of design. My way to be comfortable at differing contexts and the changing meaning of design - for it is very important for me to be sensitive to the nuances in meaning - is to separate the content ad method of design. When I read your texts I did this separating too and it gave me a clear insight into what you have done these three years as you went about building your capability as a designer. I suggest you do this exercise for yourself, separate content and method, and raise your understanding of design a bit so that you are in a position to share in the common core of design. For me the shared common core is the poetic centre. Its a focus upon the aesthetic. As you move outwards you rearrange many other aspects and factors to achieve what is a visual and tactile experience. Ecology and sustainability sits for me in the realm of trust - society trusts design to deliver the right thing. This is how a theoretical meaning of design is constructed. Ultimately as a social fact design is what designers do. And there is tremendous diversity to be seen when we want to see differences, but when we want to see the common shared meaning it is just one - singular.
5. Who is the Designer? Your claims of skills when taken together convey a sense of the skills and abilities that ought to constitute the set of capabilities of a designer. These skills sets are relevant in a contextual fashion - that is the significance of your skill set is to be defined by the context of practice. If Bayley design privileges engineering, then Catalyst privileges brand and market, while on the other side Sunbeam has an enterprise focus on the design practice. Vehicle design can be pure form, so can any other project of design. One way of looking at a designer is to see her as moving effortlessly from one context to another, while another is to see a designer's practice as something more visceral and primal that is constructed through a negotiated settlement with their personalities. Either way the central issues probably are integrity and strength with both being required in maintaining a practice.
Closing notes I have meandered a bit – just to establish the point that there is a lot going on in your text when you write about your capabilities. Were you to become aware of these things that are going on your reflection would have served its purpose not just to give you a body of work, but to infact build your ability to take risks. Years ago reading
Further reading 1. The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think In Action (Paperback) by Donald A. Schon 2. Professionals who rely on intuition and reflect on their work only episodically risk accumulating unintegrated clusters of habitual practice. They may develop to a level of competence but not beyond. How can you move beyond competence to achieve true professional mastery. (http://www.reflectivepractitioner.com/)
Student defined goals Student defined process
Tight Course Plan
Student defined assessment
Teacher Centered Explicit content
Student centered project formulation
Sessions for delivery
research
Key Dates Studio
Presentations
analysis solution seeking
Lecture Lecture with discussion
reaching conclusions
Content delivery Concepts
Didactic Teaching vs Constructivist LCP
Teacher Role
constructing solution stands behind
Terminologies
Facilitator-coach
Teacher role
Case studies
Focus upon method
History
Content is arbitrary Tests Assignments Quizzes Tasks completion Quantitative
Panel assessment-jury
Assessment Assessment
Overall performance Growth Solution-innovation delivered
Object Design
Engine
Service Re-Design Furniture DEsign Interaction Design Service Design
IDEO
Inclusive Design Product Design Blue Sky FROG Companies
System Design
Interaction Design
Catalyst
Typology of Design Practice
Train/ Tram Holden
Vehicle Design Car Design
Ford
Ways of doing people studies Maping people types
Writing the Explanation
Questionnaire study defining the niche
6. Doing a show and tell illustrating the description Interviews Mking posters
1. Researching peoples Practices
What people say about thir objects
Extracting key issues Photo-documentation of objects in context
Taking it back to the people
Video study of activities
5. Testing the design Putting the object/s in context
6 stage design process Choosing materials 2. Working out manufacturing approach Choosing processes
Drawing objects The form part
Renderings
The usability part
Doing digital design (digital sketch/CAD) 4. Designing the object/s
3. Working out a design approach The function (how it works) part
Making models The sustainability/environmental part Making Prototypes Working out the significance/ innovation
Major (4-6)
PreMajor (1-3)
PRA Facebook
Vis Sociology Literature CoDesign
Linked in
People
Social Media
Project Case studies
MySpace
Participant Observation
Gmail
Designer Case studies
User Studies
Plaxo
Video_task analysis material Culture
Google Docs
DarkCopy
Effective change management
Google Sites
Style and trends
Manufacturing processes
Google Suite
Potential and possibilities Readings
Technology
Picasa
Social Theory NetNewsWire
Experimentation
Google Reader
Research Art
NewsGator Product Design
Wordpress
Solid Works
Branding
Apple Mail Method
Rhino
Market
Design
Blog
Joomla
CAD Wiki WebDesign
Modo
Segmentation
Sketching New Node
Economics
Method
Ning
Dreamweaver
Blip
Flash
Video
Form study
Youtube
Adobe CS4
Product Experimentation
Chance
Scribefire
Visualizing Firefox
Doing-Making
GTD Managing Concurrent engg
Compendium MindMaps Personal Brain
Mind Node
VodPod
Delicious
Play
FreeMind
JAlbum
The Cloud
Drawing Rendering
Value Analysis
iWeb
Movable Type
Interaction Design
Product Analysis
Google Reader
RSS Readers
Product Placement
Positioning
Blogger
Environment
Materials Exploration
OmniFocus
Fora TV
Cover Inside cover
Conclusion
Table of contents
Bibliography 4. Ending section Appendices
1. Starting section
List of images Acknowledgements
Closing quote or image Quote or other frontispiece
Background Introduction
Typical Reports and Folios
Autobiographical notes Learning contract
Outcomes
Evidence
Capability Statement
3. Middle section 2: Telling the story of research
2. Middle section 1: Working out the Project Title and description Project summary Project description and rationale
Realizations Research Approach and Method Technology
Design
Background Introduction
Conclusion
The project
Design achievements - reflection
Front End
Back End Final Design Explained
Method The Document
Design journey Back Middle Model Making
Writing up the Project
Prototyping
User Research
Experiments
Trials
Front Middle Middle
Manufacturing Research
Design Approach Priliminary Design Exploration
W 12 Final Design Story Capability Statement W1
Method (Research Plan) W3 W 9 Design Testing
Assignments Engagement with Technology W6
W 6 Design Development
Design Strategy W9
Prime mover Mechanicals Automotive engineering
Bodywork Systems
How things work
Electronics Product engineering
Painting
Mechanicals
Plating Finishing
Overall tech
CAD Rapid Prototyping
Car model
Material
Bulk pre-Formed
Moulding Fabrication
How things are made
Hi Tech
CNC Processes
Craft
Cutting Fabrication
Moulding
Joining Casting
Model Making
Materials
Development and Making
Fabrication
Metal
Forming Joining
Fabrication Silicone
Object Plastic
Technology Process
One off/ Prototyping
Moulding
Casting efunda
layup Mixed Materials Glass/ Ceramics
Visualization
Wood Misc Fabric
Resources
Digital tech
Hands on tech
Books
Preparation for Job
Local Culture-Context
Background
3 year course
Skill Focus
Manifesto-Ideology Stage and rationale
Thesis
Approach
Preparation for Research Honours year Innovation Focus
Method
Opportunity-Field
Competitions
The study
Pull-back: Premajor
Car of the Future Car Design
Archery analogy
The design journey
Provocation
Delivery: major Artefact 1 The solution
Bunkers
Unique Project The GRC Model Design as text
Posters
1 Litre per Day
Project Stream
3D Model-Prototype
Digital Model
No Bottled Water
Fourth Year
Product Design
Campaign Streams
Anti-Object
Object
Food ways
Exhibition
Closed System
Video
Foretelling
Competition Entry Web
Artefact 2 Cumulus
Practice
Social Design Research Stream
Following
Conference Paper
Health Social Innovation
International
Visible Project-universal
Service Design
Local-Global Silent Practice Meaning Verbal Practice
Metal Dough Construction and processes
Sheets Pour Wood
Shapes Patterns
Primitives Geometry
Nature
Propositions Colors Shibui
Constructed experiments Material Experimentation On Minimalism
Paper exercises
Wabi sabi Fabric exercises Yugen
Form Development strategies
Nets Sand
Geido Plasticene - clay Iki
Addition Shards of glass Subtraction
Sculpted Form
Chance processes Mess painting
Gestures
Point of view
points of view
Make Unfamiliar Language
Magnification
Visual aesthetics Aesthetic approach
Feelings
Functional strategy Communication thru form Language and analogy Themes
Hide Function Make apparent
Mathemtical modeling Locus
Casting
Geometry Proposition
Sheet folding
Chance Proceses Linear elements Nature Mechanical Press Production Process
Addition
Forming
Vacuum
Fabrication Sculpting Subtraction
Bulk Moulding
Form Development methods
Moulding
Construction
Extrusion Division
Bending
Pultrusion
Primitives Redesign
Layups Exoskeleton
Spirit of form Structure Scheme Cuboid form
Endoskeleton Orthogonal
Scheme of lines Skeleton+skin
Drawing Scheme
Geometrical scheme Structure 2 Scultping
Curves
Sketching
Tension Compression
Integral
Campaign Projects Individual Projects Group
Campaign Projects Develop a self directed project Major Project, 36 Credits, July 2009 Lecturer: Soumitri Varadarajan (soumitri.varadarajan@rmit.edu.au) Contact Hours / Duration: 4 hours per week over 12 weeks. [48 hours contact] Non-Contact / Self Directed Hours: 20 hours per week over 12 weeks [240 hours expected] Location: Building 87 [rooms TBC, levels 4 & 5] Time: TBC Introduction My practice is in the area of sustainability – which I articulate as the development of projects that look at material and systemic sustainability in Industrial Design Projects. A lot of these projects are speculative and propositional so located in the future. I work with a set of defined methods and strategies to think through the projects and develop the solutions. In recent years I have seen the amplification of the social dimension in my projects – and I have also seen the outcomes of the projects as social innovations. Often I have seen the projects become new, viable and self sustaining business ventures – which are social entrepreneurship ventures. I campaign for a dematerialised world and therefore privilege service design – which in recent days has seen me move towards interaction design which is needed in the development of and delivery of services. Now that is my practice – what is yours? You are required to answer this question through your project.
What is your Campaign Looking upon design projects as campaigns gives them agency and an energy that can use a lot of idealism. In campaigns you are not working for a client or profit is not the only motive. So you learn not to be subservient, or focus upon your capabilities as skills for hire. I would like to hear you position your projects as campaigns. I would like a good dose of idealism in your work. Key Learning objectives Your key learning objectives are; •
to refine your ability to conceive, plan and execute a self directed project.
•
to explore an individual way of constructing design practice.
Additionally … Content The main content of the course will be your learnings from the project area(about the subject area) you choose. In addition you will be required to deploy all the skills and knowledge you have acquired about design practice through the three years in the program. This last will constitute a revalidation of your abilities – and your realization will be arrived at through a process of reflective writing.
Online Presence You are required to use the cloud and keep a robust online presence of your work. This is a continuation of the requirement from last semester. Your online presence is your voice – take a look at redjotter on Facebook and follow her to her blog. Redjotter is the blog of a masters student from Durham and she has a loud and very clear voice as she speaks of service design. You can be similarly ambitious about putting your thoughts out there.
Developing your practice The Individual Projects Stream is a construct that facilitates students who wish to use the final year of their time in Design School to develop their practice. RMIT Industrial Design/ Premajor-Soumitri Varadarajan 2009/2
Methods Sketch design, research, propositional design, prototyping Online Resources Your online resources are: The blog of my practice http://campaignprojects.wordpress.com/ and Blackboard. Activities There are three things you have to do in this course: 1. SWOT review: This is a warm up exercise and is for you to review your past semesters performance. In this exercise you have to open up and discuss your self evaluation from semester 1. You will also be required to reflect upon your performance, develop your learning contract for the semester and collaborate on developing an assessment rubric for your group. 2. Develop a detailed project: You have to develop your project with enthusiasm and vigour. 3. Exhibition/presentation: You will present your project at the mid semester review and at the end of the semester. Schedule Calendar - Week 3 (end research), week 6 (at risk check) and week 8 for closure (presentation of digital finals), week 8 to 15 is for execution/ making. You will work collectively with your tutor to develop your project time line in your project. Additionally you will have to participate in the presentations scheduled with the other tutorial groups. Deliverables What you deliver at the end of the project – Digital, Report/ Folio, Model/ Prototype – will be proposed by you and discussed with the tutor. Format All papers have to be submitted in a format to be agreed upon with your tutor. Evaluation The course will adhere to the spirit of ‘grades at the beginning of the course’ – and so you will indicate your grade aspiration (as a letter grade). Your grade will be validated at the end of the semester through a peer review process. Readings and References You will develop a detailed endnote bibliography of your readings.
RMIT Industrial Design/ Premajor-Soumitri Varadarajan 2009/3
melbourne city local small
our common future
no sewage pipe
1 litre per person per day
no garbage bins
no energy bills
no private vehicles
home farms
stop charity
Charity Cofffee Chocolate Carbon Trading
say NO!