The main vehicle for learning is a design project carried out in groups. Along the project students receive lectures and exercises in the three main subject areas of the course – digital design, digital culture and academic work – as support for their design work. It is a live project, meaning that it is done in collaboration with a company, providing a realistic problem for the students to work on. It starts with a broad preliminary brief (cold brief) formulated in dialogue with the company. Based on design research and field studies, each student group then frames a relevant design problem to work on, and develop a detailed brief (warm brief) for the problem, under supervision. The task for the students is then to apply relevant research-based knowledge to solve the design problem, based on course contents and result from their field work, design research and literature studies. The remaining part of the project is divided into three broad phases: (1) Design research, with literature study and field work; (2) Concept development, with idea generation and video storyboarding of promising ideas; and (3) Iteration and evaluation, with elaboration and detailing of the chosen design based on evaluation results, in a number of iterations. The final design is presented at an open exhibition. The student group then writes a reflective report, covering initial research, design process, and reflections, as final delivery and base for examination.
The students work in groups of 3-5 students with a design project, and write a reflective report from the project that is handed in for examination. The report size is 20 pages + 4 additional pages per group member (also counting the first member). The examination time is 20 mins per student. The re-exam follows the same type of assessment.