Author Archives: Lakin
Poster Printing and Sustainability Festival
Hi everyone,
Here's a roundup of some key info from our last workshop:
POSTERS. Submit your A1 sized posters tomorrow morning, so we can send them for printing tomorrow afternoon. Please try to keep the file size low enough to send by email (under 20MB) and if you can't, let us know soon and we will try to solve it.
YOUR POSTER DISPLAY. You will need to be at your poster/display table from 10-12:30. Arrive at around 9:30 to give yourselves time to set up the table and posters, etc. We will visit you every table with Prof. Tuula Eriksson btw 10-11:30 and discuss your design project, ask questions about decisions you made. Everyone in your Design Group needs to be present for this visit, and at least two of you need to be with your poster the whole time. This day, along with your submitted Design Project Portfolio and Individual Insight short paper, form last of the assessment in the course.
THE REST OF THE FESTIVAL. Check out the schedule online at http://www.csduppsala.uu.se/2015/cemuse-sustainability-festival
or on the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/events/368335716624291/
All the best,
Alejandro & Lakin
Final Class This Week: Workshop 3 including course evaluation and final discussion
Hi everyone,
This week is our final class together. It's been quite a trip so far! As you know it's not quite over - we'll finish with a great day on Thursday the 28th.
This Wednesday during regular class time we be working on your poster design, and showing some examples of various poster designs, including some student work from last year. We will also take part in a final course evaluation including both an active and written evaluation which is really important to the course and gives us all a closing to our work together.
PLEASE BRING YOUR COMPUTER IF POSSIBLE.
This is the first and only time in this whole course we use this word explicitly but it's important you know that... this workshop is compulsory (mandatory, non-skippable, must-be-there, your life depends on it)! 🙂
See you there,Alejandro & Lakin
Peer Review 2
Hi everyone,
Peer Review 2 happens tomorrow during regular class time. Peer Review 2 will take a different and more exciting form to Peer Review 1, with the whole class involved.
All Design Groups will be present for the whole session (as opposed to last time groups had specific meeting times a time booked). Instructions are on the course portal under 'The Design Space' tab.
Remember to send your Peer Review 2 preparations to your peer group! (Same peer group as last time).
See you there,
Alejandro & Lakin
What to Bring to Peer Review 2 + Update Meeting with Prof. Tuula Eriksson
Hi everyone,
We are in the middle of the phase of the course when we meet less often, but shortly we will start to meet again every week in the lead up to your final designs and presentations at the festival on May 28. Below is some information about the Design Project, and instructions for Peer Review 2.
In Peer Review 1, we focused on your design problem and your first steps in the project. Peer Review 2 is next Wednesday, 6th May (Peer Review 2 was scheduled for 13th May but has been changed due to availability issues with our examiner Tuula Eriksson. Instead, the Update Meeting is now 13th May). You will still be sharing directly with the same groups as you did in Peer Review 1, but we will radically change the setup of the room, so expect a new format in which all Design Groups in the course will be present and participating. For this you will need to again be ready to talk about what you have done so far, but with important differences. Make sure all your Design Group members are present.
In the Design Project description you are asked to submit a Portfolio containing several components, (which closely mirror the steps we ran through during the weekend workshop) as listed below. Different groups are at different points in their process which is to be expected. But it's worth checking to see where you are, considering how much time we have left. If you are still on your problem definition, you'll want to get moving or ask for help (please do!).
-1 page problem definition
-Introduction
-Research
-Design requirements (design needs)
-Idea generation
-Idea selection
-Concept development
-Final design
-Written summary of final design
-Reference list
You are also asked in the project description to record and document your activities throughout your design process (interviews, photos, behaviour observation, pages showing idea generation, basic prototypes, etc.). For Peer Review 2, we will focus on these activities. In preparation for the peer review, answer the questions below briefly and email them to us in a Word Doc or PDF at sdesign@csduppsala.uu.se, and to your Peer Design Group (the same group you were paired with in Peer Review 1) by Tuesday, 5th May at 13:00. Make sure you're on time so your peers can be prepared for the discussion.
-How have you been going about your design process?
-What methods/actions have you tried?
-How have you conducted research and talked to people?
-If you have started idea generation or prototyping, how have you done it?
-What are your next steps?
There is no 'right answer' to these questions, as Design Projects vary greatly, however, you need to be ready to share and discuss. If you think it useful for the discussion, bring with you some documentation of what you have done, for example photos, paper from idea generation sessions, etc.
The following Wednesday we will have an update meeting with Professor Tuula Eriksson, who is also the examiner for the course, in which you will present your work so far and get some feedback and advice from her. Check the course portal again next week for mor detailed instructions on this.
Have a Happy Valborg,
Alejandro & Lakin
Make Up Tasks for Seminar 2 and Workshop 2 now available
Hi everyone,
Thanks for a generally productive session on Wednesday. Those who came seemed to make progress, and for the most part a good vibe for the projects is in the air.
If you missed either Seminar 2 or Workshop 2, Make Up Tasks for both are now on the course portal under 'assignments and instructions'. Any questions, email us on sdesign@csduppsala.uu.se
Alejandro & Lakin
Location and Schedule Change this Wednesday, 8th April
Hi everyone, and Happy Easter!
Tomorrow's lecture 'Why Sustainability Needs Fiction: Design Fiction and The Future' will be pushed forwards in the schedule to the end of April/start of May (Date TBA). This is so you can all focus on starting immediately with your Design Group on your project work after the Easter break.
Tomorrow in class time (17:00-19:30) we will instead have a co-working session with your Design Groups at the CEMUS Library/Lab/Lounge. In this session you can together continue to work on the four steps from Workshop 2 (5W+H, "how might we....?", group assumptions, who could we talk to?), and to otherwise plan. Material from Workshop 2 is now on the course portal. Course coordinators will be available for any discussion, questions or help with this you may need (email us beforehand if you want to book a meeting at a specific time, otherwise we will be free). Attendance is up to you, however this will likely be a good time to meet with your group, as you all have this time in your schedules.
Also a reminder, you must submit a document which shows the problem your Design group will work on and the progress on the above-listed four steps by Friday 10th April. It is OK if this is not perfect or a 'work in progress', but you need to submit the progress you have made. Also include the title of the second course book book your Design Group has chosen from the provided list, or selected yourselves.
See you then, and apologies for late posting of this message,
Alejandro & Lakin
Video to watch before weekend workshop
This video below is included the links and short articles in the Course Reader for the Weekend Workshop. Take at least 30 minutes look over those before you come, and you'll get more out of the workshop.
This video is a little taste of the essence of what we will do in the Weekend Workshop. It's meant as a fun intro, and we will do many different things in our workshop (with better fashion and no voice-over). See you there.
Alejandro and Lakin
Confirmed Details of Field Trip (Check the times!)
Hi everyone,
Here are the details of our trip and guided tour to Varsalongen at Lilljevalchs, Stockholm. The tour has been booked and paid for all people who signed up, and we will also cover any entry fees.
MEET IN UPPSALA
Meet at 11:50 on Saturday 28th March inside the main building of Uppsala Central Station, through the glass doors at the top of the escalators (train leaves at 12:10, and we need time for all to meet and then get tickets.)
ARRIVE STOCKHOLM
12:50 and then we walk across the city to Lilljevalchs, and we stop for quick coffee on the way.
TOUR BEGINS
14:00 Sharp. It is the last weekend of the exhibition, so the venue will be a little full, which will hopefully just add to the vibe. Those who live in Stockholm who will meet us at Lilljevalchs be there at 13:45.
TOUR ENDS
15:00. We will then walk to get some food and drinks and chat more (Alejandro and I have some suggestions on where we can go), and people can suggest other things to do/ head off on your own.
RETURN TO UPPSALA
There are trains leaving often, but we imagine taking the 18:10 train, depending on what we do. You are of course free to go back when you choose!
CONTACT
Lakin's phone number: 07 6090 58 52
Alejandro's phone number: 07 2873 15 78
Any questions let us know!
Alejandro & Lakin
Sign up for trip to Liljevalchs, Stockholm
Hi everyone,
This is where it's proposed we go for a class trip:
http://www.liljevalchs.se/utstallningar/varsalongen-2015
Last class some people signed up, but many may have missed the sign-up sheet or weren't there. We need at around 20 people to make the guided tour worth it! even if you already wrote your name down, Please confirm again all the days you could attend on the Doodle link below (English option at bottom of page):
http://doodle.com/mwqpx7pz6qqbaw7f
DETAILS: We will meet at 12:45 front the central station, then take the train to Stockholm. We then walk across Stockholm (in the sun of course) to the venue which is by the water, and we can have some coffee on the way. We will arrange a guided tour in English which will begin around 15:00 and finish 16:00, and then we can go for some food/drinks outside, or you can head back to Uppsala, this is open to what people want to do.
Important Course Updates & Anna Maria’s task to complete before biomimicry class
Hi everyone,
Important Course Updates
1. The course book "Design for the Real World" by Victor Papanek needs to be completed before Seminar II. We will post a literature review task related to the book next week, which is to be completed before the seminar.
2. During Seminar II we will decide on your design project topics and form design teams for Part 2 of the course, in which we begin our larger focus on the activity of designing. You will need to choose a topic or issue or problem which you are interested in and propose it at the seminar. We will go through an open process in which you decide what area you will work on. It is OK at Seminar II to have a broad topic, problem or issue in mind, as we will narrow down problems later.
3. The Weekend Workshop is approaching, and is scheduled for the 29th March. In the weekend workshop we will, over 5 hours, go through established design techniques and idea generation methods, and go from the problem phase through many steps all the way to prototyping in a 'design studio' atmosphere under time constraints and pressure. It will be valuable in the the larger design work coming up later in the course, and possibly well after the course is over.
4. Remember that the submission requirements in the instructions for Assignment 2 - Analysis of Design were updated a week ago. Check them again to be sure you have the updated copy.
Biomimicry Task To Do Before March 18
1. In preparation for the Biomimicry class next week March 18, our guest Anna Maria Orru has requested you start an activity before you arrive. Complete Step 1 and look a little into step 2 in this biomimicry challenge we will work through on the day. Step 1 requires choosing an area or problem you want to design a solution for, and then considering what you want the design to do (read Step 1). This will be used only for this activity in this lecture but could also kick start thinking about what you will work on later in the course.
2. Also, remember to bring your computer. We will use some online tools in the class.
See you on Wednesday!
Lakin & Alejandro