Theory and Method
Semester 1
Design Research Methods
4 units (ID5352)
To solve wicked problems of the contemporary societies, designers need to make sense of complexities of the situation they are designing for, through immersive explorations into the people, objects, environments, interactions, systems and more. This course will introduce students to a comprehensive range of research methods that they can deploy to develop insights for design and generate new knowledge. Going beyond picking up methods as toolkits, students will learn about essential methodologies and epistemology of various streams of methods to nurture their capabilities to select, modify and create methods informed by project particularities. Key topics include research methods for human-centred design, Research-through-Design and literature and prior art reviews.
Guest Speakers
Nation by Design by Nature: Relational Urbanism and More-than-Human Futures
Singapore’s “Nation by Design” vision embraces creativity and foresight as essential ingredients for shaping a resilient, inclusive future. Yet, in the rush to build efficient “smart cities,” we risk reinforcing anthropocentric logics that sideline nature, non-human species, and interdependent ecologies. This talk invites a rethinking of urban futures through the lens of relational urbanism and more-than-human design. What if cities were co-designed not just for people but with the wider web of life? What role can design play in restoring biodiversity, rewilding cities, enabling multispecies justice, and embracing ecological entanglements?
Drawing from critical case studies and design research from across the world, the presentation explores how digital infrastructures, participatory design, governance reforms, and political advocacy can support nature-inclusive urbanism. Rather than reducing cities to data flows and optimisation targets, it calls for approaches that are place-based, relational, and regenerative. This perspective aligns with Singapore Design Week’s 2025 festival pillar Design Futures. It urges us to ask: What might a future look like where nations are designed by nature, not just by humans?
Speaker's Profile :
Marcus Foth is a Professor of Urban Informatics in the School of Design and a Chief Investigator in the QUT Digital Media Research Centre (DMRC), Faculty of Creative Industries, Education, and Social Justice, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. For more than two decades, Marcus has led ubiquitous computing and interaction design research into interactive digital media, screen, mobile and smart city applications. Marcus founded the Urban Informatics Research Lab in 2006 and the QUT Design Lab in 2016. He was the general conference chair of ACM SIGCHI Designing Interactive Systems (DIS’16) in Brisbane. He is a founding member of the QUT More-than-Human Futures research group. Marcus has published more than 290 peer-reviewed publications. He is a Fellow of the Australian Computer Society and the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Distinguished Member and Distinguished Speaker of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), and currently serves on Australia’s national College of Experts.
Emerging Topics in Design
4 units (ID5951)
As our world becomes increasingly complex, so do the problems designers face. The role of design is shifting, and new mindsets, philosophies, and approaches are crucial to expanding contemporary design practice and responding to the current polycrisis. In this course, students explore emerging topics relevant to design practice, such as Systems Thinking, Value-sensitive Design, Futures Thinking, and Design Justice. Through readings, case studies, group discussions, and hands-on exercises, students will gain insights into each topic and reflect on integrating them into their practice. Active participation is essential for the learning experience and assessment.
Guest Speakers
What does it really mean to design for everyone? In this talk, Julie Schiller takes students behind the scenes of two landmark digital products: the BBC’s iPlayer and Facebook’s image accessibility feature for blind users. Drawing on her experience in product and UX roles, Julie shares how inclusive design was integrated (and sometimes resisted) in large-scale tech environments. Expect real stories, key frameworks, and practical tools for identifying and addressing exclusion in digital experiences.
Speaker’s Profile: Julie is a UX and product strategist who has led award-winning digital experiences at organizations like the BBC, Facebook, and Google. At the BBC, she helped transform iPlayer into one of the most accessible and beloved streaming platforms in the UK. At Facebook, she co-led the design of Automatic Alt Text, an AI-driven accessibility feature for blind users, published in ACM CSCW 2017. Julie now runs Climate UX, a consultancy using inclusive design and research to tackle sustainability challenges in digital products. Her work bridges the boundaries of technology, ethics, and equity in global product ecosystems.
Speaker's Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/uxjulie/
Futures Thinking in Practice
Speaker's Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayamadhusoodan/
Semester 2
Design Strategies and Leadership
4 units (ID5354)
Contemporary organisations are realising the importance of design strategy as a method toward tactical thinking and design leadership as a competitive differentiator. Combined, it affords the ability to create effective products, services, and communication, focused on user needs and business goals. This course will lay a foundation in which these two areas may be applied in a variety of business contexts, delivered through the lens of Design Thinking and Interdisciplinary Collaboration. Students will learn how to tackle complex business problems through design cognition and methods, and how to strategise and operate design projects in a complex real-world context.
Collaborative Design
4 units (ID5355)
As design is recognised as an innovative approach to dealing with today's complex problems, co-creative practices of design that engage users and various stakeholders are increasingly important. Collaborative design as a principle acknowledges everyone as a creative actor that can contribute to the design process, and co-design as a tool facilitates creative collaboration among various stakeholders from different backgrounds. In this course, students will learn about the values and principles of collaborative design and exercise tools and techniques for successful co-design projects and activities. Students will also learn about new landscapes of design that contribute to service systems, circular economy, socio-organisational transformation, etc.
Guest Speaker