Equipping future software engineers with the tools and techniques to combine technological innovation with human-centred design.
Overview
The result of a longstanding partnership between the RCA Service Design MA and Imperial College London, Designing for Real People is a six-week short course for Imperial’s second year Computer Science (BEng/MEng) students: 2 weeks of workshops and lectures and a 1-month project. The course combines the principles of agile software development and human-centred design principles and techniques.
Course structure
Students are challenged in groups to design and develop web or mobile applications, “digital touchpoints’’, that are design to address common issues faced by people in their daily lives. With free reign to decide what issue to tackle and how to address it, a wide variety of project types are produced, such as reminiSense, a memory scrapbook app to support carers of those with dementia.
The RCA service design academics and tutors provide regular mentoring sessions to help guide students through their projects; weekly progress reviews; a one-day workshop helping students to apply design methods to design briefs; and a series of lectures on topics including human centred design principles and practice, service systems, user experience, storytelling, testing Ideas and digital prototyping.
Outcomes
By the end of the course, students develop a more human-centred, empathetic and socially and culturally aware approach to innovation. Students prototype or simulate their digital touchpoint, evaluating the effectiveness and desirability for users and stakeholders as well as its technical feasibility. The best project is awarded the 2nd Year Project Prize with some projects developed for real-world publication or use.
“It’s inspiring to see what students can achieve in just 4 weeks of project work, designing highly creative, engaging digital touchpoints that can and sometimes are developed into value propositions that transform the experiences of people in their lives.”
Project Manager and Tutor, RCA Service Design
“The evolution of this course, from WebApps and human-centred design being separate entities to a single joined up experience, has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my educational career so far. This has only been possible due to a very open collaboration between the Imperial College Department of Computing and the RCA…The end result of all of this hard work is a high-quality and deeply practical (and applicable) educational experience. It's cross-curricular in all the right ways!”
Principal Teaching Fellow, Imperial College London
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Custom Executive Education
Custom Executive Education Masterclasses and Workshops
Through our portfolio of innovation masterclasses and workshops, the RCA provides senior-level professionals and business leaders with critical business skills. We deliver courses for businesses, organisations and universities on design thinking, service design, creative leadership, disruptive innovation, entrepreneurship, human-centred design, artificial Intelligence and healthcare design.
We can tailor the curriculum for a day, a week, or several weeks over the course of a year with interrelated projects. Courses can be delivered online, on-campus, hybrid or at partner organisations. Previous courses have been delivered in Dubai, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Germany and Mexico.
Find out more here.
Please get in contact with us if you would like to discuss developing a custom programme:
- Peter Christian, Head of Executive Education
- Hattie Allen, Executive Education Manager