Designing the Future
Learn contemporary design approaches that you can use to work through problems in the world around you.
Duration
5 weeksWeekly study
2 hours
Designing the Future
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Design can offer new and interesting ways to think about and work through complex issues and situations. That’s why large organisations are now calling on designers to help understand customer relations, and why many designers are now working in communities to find ways to solve local problems.
This course will give you an introduction to different design approaches, and how you can apply them in your day to day life, using expertise from world leaders in the field.
Explore different design approaches
Drawing on concepts and approaches from the RMIT Master of Design Futures, we will work with human-centered, participatory and design thinking principles. We will explore the practice of design through four lenses:
- strategic design
- service design
- transdisciplinary design
- transition design
The course will also introduce practical techniques – such as sketchnoting, ideation and prototyping, and critique – that you can use to engage with problems, and the people affected by them.
Learn how to apply design thinking to modern problems
Design, when used effectively and creatively, can help solve day to day problems - or think about them in a new way. Through the course we will use design thinking practices to propose new ways to address issues faced in the world today, and give you tools and techniques you can apply to your own environment and life.
Be part of the RMIT Design Studio
At RMIT we use a studio model that’s not a fixed physical space, but runs over time, with multiple people, often from different disciplines. It can include stakeholders and users and has a culture of critique. It’s about building a space for inquiry.
It’s also a place for testing ideas; anticipating and working with success and failure; participating in critical discussion without bias; and co-creating with others in a flat network of participants, leads and external experts. Through the studio, participants explore and create new ways of thinking with a view to their practical implications in the worlds of business, media and the community.
Through the course you have a chance to be part of this supportive and creative studio, and make a contribution not just to the world of design, but to the world as a whole.
What topics will you cover?
How design operates in contemporary society, and can be used to develop innovative approaches and solutions to a range of issues
Current industry trends, technological developments and their effect upon design
Communication skills to present experience centred design projects
Four design lenses and their associated techniques:
- Strategic design, which situates design within a broad context of policy, regulation, culture and economy
- Service design, which is used by designers to deal with complexity within an organisation or community
- Transdisciplinary design, which brings together people from diverse disciplines in order to create solutions that have technical, aesthetic and social elements
- Transition design, which addresses the need for multi-level, multi-stage change
Learning on this course
On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...
- Critically discuss how design operates in contemporary society.
- Demonstrate how design can be used to develop innovative approaches and solutions.
- Apply a range of communication skills to present human-centred design projects.
- Reflect upon current industry trends, technological developments and their effect upon design.
Who is the course for?
The course is suitable for both designers and non-designers. You don’t need previous experience in design to be able see how design is used to shape the world, but a strong interest in exploring design thinking will be useful.
Who will you learn with?
I am Program Manager for the RMIT Master of Design Futures.
The Masters is an ongoing investigation into new & emerging design practices and theories based in Design Thinking and Human Centred Design
Who developed the course?
RMIT University
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) is a global university, with over 80,000 students, specialising in technology, design and enterprise.
Established
1887Location
Melbourne, AustraliaWorld ranking
Top 210Source: QS World University Rankings 2022
Learning on FutureLearn
Your learning, your rules
- Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
- Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
- Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores
Join a global classroom
- Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
- Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
- Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others
Map your progress
- As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
- Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
- Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate
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