The Narrative of Design in Modern Culture (H1037)

15 credits, Level 4

Spring teaching

This module explores the relationship between what we design and how we live. We go back to the beginning of professional designing and look at how we imagine futures. In doing so, it introduces key concepts and approaches to design research and will develop your critical skills.

Content will be based round exercises, presentations and case studies. You will be expected to produce a critique of a chosen design or design theme and, as a more theoretical topic, you can expect to evaluate arguments and produce your own, considering different ethical and political positions. The module explores the relationship between design and culture to give context to and underpin more practical work in the rest of the course.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 22 hours of contact time and about 128 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2024/25. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum. We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.

Courses

This module is offered on the following courses:

• Product Design (with an industrial placement year) BA
• Product Design (with an industrial placement year) BSc
• Product Design BA
• Product Design BSc