Formerly coded as EG2201A, this course focuses on user needs, bringing together their perspectives along with those of various stakeholders, to deliver solutions in a collaborative manner. The key element in this course is the process that students go through to frame design problems, define a hypothesis for testing, and to build low fidelity prototypes for feedback and validation. Through an open-ended team project, students work collaboratively in a studio environment to create a shared understanding of the problem statement. Students go on to develop concept solutions which can be prototyped and tested.

After completing this course, students should be able to:

• Frame design problems and design opportunities with respect to users' needs.
• Conduct fieldworks and define users’ needs from the fieldworks.
• Generate ideas using a creative matrix based on the POEMS framework.
• Evaluate ideas and formulate design concepts.
• Develop prototypes and conduct user testing effectively.
• Apply methods and tools taught in the course to design solutions for a design problem.

Workload: 4 units

(NOTE: Students from the College of Design and Engineering and College of Humanities and Sciences in Cohort AY2021/2022 onward should complete DTK1234 Design Thinking prior to CDE2300.)

Empathise and Define

Empathise is the first stage of design. Designers observe users and their behaviour in the context of their lives and engage them through interviews. Empathise allows designers to move to the next stage, Define, where designers come up with an actionable problem definition. In this project, the students interviewed and observed 49 working adults to empathise with their problems when commuting.