BASIC DESIGN STUDIO (Partizione B)
Academic year and teacher
If you can't find the course description that you're looking for in the above list,
please see the following instructions >>
- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2020/2021
- Teacher
- THEO ZAFFAGNINI
- Credits
- 13
- Didactic period
- Secondo Semestre
Training objectives
- The Basic Design Studio B provides students with the basic tools for designing functional industrial products and following the strict connection between requirement and performance.
The Studio is made of a main discipline (Product Design) and an in-depth Module (Materials and Production). The synergy of both Modules aims to provide students with the fundamental tools to shape the production of everyday objects. Through a scientific approach, made of lessons and immediate experimental interim exercises, students will be guided to an aware design of products.
In the learning process, it will be a key point to be able to trace and manage the information sources for deepening concepts, tools, production methods and materials, knowing how to analyse, evaluate and include in the design setting and then to develop critical thinking and the ability to synthesize.
As part of the Laboratory, students will have to acquire the ability to describe the design specifications of what they have conceived, taking into account the needs of a potential customer, and to configure its shape accordingly.
In addition to the graphic and representation skills of the project, in the scales and with the appropriate methods, students will deepen their knowledge of the fundamental performance of the materials.
The final design must therefore be soundly conceived and represented, starting from an initial concept up to its final form.
The Basic Design Studio A and B have the same learning objectives, even if carried out with different teaching methods. In any case, common events will be planned, in the form of workshops and seminars, in order to investigate the conceptual bases of design and help to deepen the topic of the final exam. Prerequisites
- Master the essential tools of drawing in general and orthogonal projections in particular.
Course programme
- Planar design will be explored as one of the main features of contemporary design, managing the transition from two to three dimensional projects.
Through lessons and exercises the student will learn how to:
- hierarchize one's thoughts to shape the project
- check the sign, its definition and its composition in space
- study the visual weight of the composition and check the connection between the features of its elements
- analyse, choose and control the colour
- produce visual interest, through the composition and repetition of complex outlines (patterns)
- transfer the acquired knowledge from two-dimensional to a three-dimensional project
- analyse the relationship between the requirements chosen for your artefact, its production and the necessary performance.
To support these skills, it will be offered a set of meetings with experts and companies.
Module of Product Design:
- The tools of communication
- Qualifying subjects for contemporary design
- Tools and methods: measure, sort, orient
- The sign and its variations
- Repetitions, modules, patterns and textures
- The three-dimensional product
- Applications: the project for the company and the interpretation of requests and needs
- Drawing to produce
Module of Materials and Production:
- introduction to materials, their characteristics and classification
- use and transformation of materials
- sustainability of materials
- bend the materials to the needs of the design
- relationship between requirements and performances
- sensory and technical features
- in-depth study of the main materials for the industrial product design, traditional and innovative, and their production methods. Didactic methods
- The learning program will be developed through the following activities:
a) Theoretical lessons
b) Practical exercises, carried out individually and in small groups
c) Common workshops
d) Seminars and reviews with external experts
e) Final design exercise.
SPECIFIC CHANCES FOR FOREIGN STUDENTS
In the case of foreign students (Erasmus, Atlas, etc.), it is possible to manage with teachers a bibliography in English and to carry out the design review in English; it will remain as compulsory the participation to all lessons and exercises.
Foreign students will have to carry out group exercises together with Italian students.
Students participating in international exchanges may attend to both or just one of the Modules of the Basic Design Studio. In this case it’s foreseen the delivery of the intermediate exercises of the chosen Module and of the final exercise in a "reduced" version in the minimum contents required (only those relating to the module attended). If attending to a single Module, the final grade will be a weighted average of the intermediate evaluations and of the final project by the teacher responsible for that Module.
LEARNING VERIFICATION
The Basic Design exam takes place in the form of an interview with the student, who must present the final design exercise and the results of the interim exercises of both Modules (DP + MEP), in proportion to their complexity. .
The final delivery will be in digital format and it will be the application to a real case of the researches made by the student during the term.
The experimental activities foreseen by the Studio will be communicated well in advance. Learning assessment procedures
- Both Modules foresee mandatory INTERIM EXERCISES, useful to achieve the compulsory frequency to pass the Course. These exercises will be assigned by the teacher to single students or to groups, according to their specific content and typology.
All the exercises must be delivered, whether they are sent in time by the student or if he decides to deliver them only before the final exam. If the interim exercises will be provided at the end of the course, they have to be pre-assessed by the teachers, in order to admit the student to the exam session.
Please note that the study plan requires each Course to be complemented by a noticeable number of hours of personal study at home.
In evaluating the interim exercises, the compliance of the result with the given objectives will be taken into account, as well as the delivery methods and times which, if not observed, will decrease the judgment. When the project delivery takes place within the prescribed time frame, the teacher will provide a synthetic assessment of the result, relating to critical or particularly positive aspects. The student will be entitled to integrate and / or modify the delivered exercise to improve the outcome, following the instructions received and notifying the teacher.
The evaluation of the interim exercises will be based on these criteria:
- compliance with the project brief;
- quality of representation;
- quality of the concept,
- timekeeping of the delivery.
The judgements given to the interim exercises will use a semaphore code or parametric however, supplemented by notes; their value in the final judgement will thus be calculated not in a merely arithmetic way, in order to promote the student's commitment in improving exercises (if not good) and taking into account his/her personal progression (from the beginning to the end of the course).
FINAL EXERCISE
The final exercise will be carried out in a group, to enhance the student's ability to collaborate as a team, with aggregations of 2 or 3 students; the arrangement of the group will be freely made by the students.
The development of the final project will begin about halfway through the course and will be coordinated by both teachers of the Studio, who will also carry out joint reviews with the students in order to provide information as coordinated as possible, albeit specialized. The students will also be assisted by teachers and collaborators who will participate in the activities of workshops and seminars.The content of the final project will be discussed during the exam and its evaluation will be carried out according to the following criteria:
- proper planning framework;
- quality of the concept;
- compliance of the project with the identified objectives;
- quality of the graphic representation;
- compliance of the proposed materials to the project requirements;
- completeness of the required documents.
FINAL EVALUATION
All the interim exercises will give to the student three synthetic judgements:
1. delivery of intermediate Product Design exercises (low, medium, high range);
2. delivery of intermediate exercises in Materials and Production (low, medium, high range);
3. delivery of the exercises developed in Workshops and Seminars (low, medium, high range);
The grade assigned to the final exercise will be placed in four judging bands: insufficient (repeat); 18/22; 23/26; 27/30..
The final mark assigned to the student will therefore match to the final exercise score, weighted taking into account the three synthetic judgements obtained in the interim exercises.
The honours will be awarded unanimously by the teachers and only to students who have demonstrated particular innovation skills and will have delivered all the interim exercises. Reference texts
- MODULE OF PRODUCT DESIGN
- Bruno Munari, Da cosa nasce cosa, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 1981.
- Donald Norman, Emotional Design, Basic Books, 2005
Further specific texts will be suggested during the lessons.
At the end of each lesson, the projected slides will be available online in the Course file.
MATERIALS AND PRODUCTION MODULE
- Thompson R., Manufacturing Processes for Design Professionals, Thames & Hudson2007.
- Thompson R., Thompson M., The materials Sourcebook for Design Professionals, Thames & Hudson, 2017
At the end of each lecture the slides will be made available online.
Further specific documents will be recommended during the learning activities, mainly chosen within books and e-books available at the Department library, free access files in pdf or video, downloadable from the course website or linked from the web.
