Co-design (Spring 2025)

Abstract

The main outcome of the course is that students are equipped with an understanding of core theories, concepts and methods in co-design and participatory design approaches, and their historical grounding and development. Students will also have experience from applying co-design methods in a live project with real stakeholders, and reflecting on the process and results.

Description

The course is important because there is an increasing awareness of, and need for, co-design approaches and methods in industry, and in society at large. The scope of application has developed from addressing issues of democracy in the workplace to developing new ways for citizens to engage in societal development on many arenas, ranging from public service design to driving political change.

The students will gain a solid theoretical and methodological foundation in co-design. Further, by applying theories and methods in a live project, students gain first-hand experience from doing co-design, using state-of-the-art methods in a real setting. The live project is conducted in a semi-protected environment with real stakeholders and real issues, but with scaffolding from intense supervision, creating a productive learning experience.

In this course the students will be introduced to and trained in a repertoire of co-design methods for understanding professional and/or everyday contexts and for engaging participants in co-design of products and services. In particular the focus is on how to develop an understanding of the situation and practices, and how to transform this understanding into relevant products and services through co-design encounters.

Formal prerequisites

Intended learning outcomes

After the course, the student should be able to:

• define participatory approaches in their historical and societal context, and their relation to other design approaches
• plan and conduct co-design projects including understanding a specific context, engaging people in this context, and suggest 2-3 product or service concepts grounded in an understanding of the specific context
• select, motivate, combine, and apply relevant theories and methods for explorative co-design projects
• reflect on practical and theoretical aspects of explorative co-design processes based on experience from the specific co-design project
• communicate relevant aspects of co-design processes in oral and written form including use of physical co-design materials, video and other media

Ordinary exam

Exam type:
D: Submission of written work with following oral, External (7-point scale)
Exam variation:
D2G: Submission for groups with following oral exam supplemented by the submission. Shared responsibility for the report.