Ideas for Humanity - a Cookbook for Planetary Health

This year the Global Design Studio continues to address non-trivial issues that connect participants in different parts of the world through a concern for planetary health and more than simply survival. We will look at the documented risks to our interconnected ecologies and collectively offer more than preventative measures - instead looking to positive futures made possible through knowledge sharing and design as a means of action.

Keypoints:

-Collaboration with students and staff at UAL London College of Communication.
-The studio starts 22 February, a week before other courses begin.
-The first assignment is a two-week intensive.
-Exhibit outcomes at the 2021 Melbourne Design week in late March.
-The studio will end in week seven of the semester.

We will be collaborating with students and staff from the Interaction Design Arts and User Experience Design courses at the University of the Arts London (UAL), Design School.

Structurally you will work in cross-institutional teams using speculative and critical design methods to propose seriously playful provocative outcomes in relation to major global challenges, bringing your local knowledge and field research into play with your global teams.

You will be developing knowledge in:

-Designing a healthy world.
-Global collaborative design projects.
-Distributed communication strategies.
-Presenting propositions within constraints.
-Synchronous and asynchronous design practices.

Grounded in design thinking, this is a design-led studio focussing on developing design responses to non-trivial world issues using speculative and critical design methods.

We will be exploring remote, distributed design practices developing collaboration and communication skill-sets across a globally distributed team.

We will be comparing and contrasting team and individual work practices.

The Global Design Studio is fully online with synchronous and asynchronous components. As a design-led studio, the artefacts you will produce will be informed by the ideas generated.

The studio starts on 22 February in collaboration with our UK partners, a week before other courses begin.

The first assignment is a two-week intensive, meeting and working in cross-institutional teams with our UK partners in the evenings five days a week. Week three onwards will continue with normally timetabled online classes.

The second assignment is an individual response, leveraging the work already produced you will select an idea to develop as an individual project. The collaborative and individual propositions coming out of this studio will be exhibited as part of the Melbourne Design Week (subject to approval).

Embedded in the studio is the notion that 'We don't learn by doing, we learn by reflecting on what we do' (John Dewey). This is evidenced in the third assignment, a Studio Knowledge Object, a designed report that asks you to reflect on your experience and learning outcomes for the studio.

Having started with an intensive use of your time, the studio will end in week seven of the semester.

Your Collaborative Design Proposition and Individual Design Proposition outcomes will be guided by the collaborative process of the studio. Your outcomes for this studio will therefore be appropriate to the insights you generate; you might create speculative branding outcomes, packaging, motion graphics, interface designs, etc. The outcomes are open and should be driven through you and your teams design process and response.

There are three assessment tasks for this studio (as outlined on activities above):

-Assignment one 40% - Collaborative Design Proposition (a two week intensive).
-Assignment two 30% - Individual Design Proposition.
-Assignment three 30% - Studio Knowledge Object.

Cosmos: Possible Worlds - Neil deGrasse Tyson ponders the fate of planet Earth
https://www.space.com/cosmos-possible-worlds-finale-recap.html

The article discusses Neil deGrasse Tyson's finale episode of the series Cosmos, titled 'Possible Worlds.' The episode examines the impact that forward-looking programs like the New York World's Fair can have during times of political or economic tension.

Planetary Glitch - Curated by Mary Maggic
https://schloss-post.com/category/web-residents/planetary-glitch/

Against the background of climate change, rising sea-levels and the chemical alteration and industrialization of the planet, this call asked for new open-source strategies for undoing the trap of this planetary shift.

University of the Arts London - Design School

London College of Communication - Interaction Design & Visual Communication

Interaction Design Arts Course & User Experience Design Course

Designing Experiences, Designing for Social Change