Designers are imagening the future. Usually that future is only a few months or a year or two away, depending on how long it takes until our designs are realized and are ready to enter the market.

Our Design Theory class will focus on a longer future: 20 years… The occasion is the 20 year anniversary of MAID which we will celebrate with a conference in January 2022. This last semester we looked at what dominated the design world in the past 20 years. Meaning: how did we get here. Now we are looking at what might be in 20 years. We will imagine what our workplace as designers will look like, what software and technology will be available, how will future designers be educated, what ideas/concepts and terms will be relevant and what sources and literature will we use to get inspired and to follow a discourse. Meaning: where are we going.

To start we will look at different types of utopias developed in the last 100 years. What did authors, film makers, designers and kids imagine the future to be like? And what really did came true? From there we will develop our own utopias. The sky is the limit or maybe not even that.

Your contributions:

a) analyze examples of past utopias in a term paper (graded 30% of the final grade) based on the videos and texts discussed in class. Term Paper Rules: Your term paper should be at least 1500 words, not counting tables, figures, or references. You can write about one past utopia or several. It you choose to write about several, try to connect them. Ask questions like where did those utopias come from, what were they based on and did they have a chance to come true. If yes, what did reality look like. If not, what prevented the utopia from becoming real?

b) present a utopia according to the fields described above, probably team work (graded 70% of final grade). Choose a medium that best supports the presentation of your utopia and make it look as professional as possible. Pay attention to detail and try to address all relevant questions involved. In the end we will discuss which contributions can be used for our conference in january.

Attendance:

You are expected to show up for class in time. Arriving 15 minutes late will count as an un-attended class. If you have a presentation planned for class, make sure the technical equipment is set up prior to the class. possible equipment can be picked up at the office 207 but must be pre-arranged.

Attendance will be kept. 90% of attendance is required to pass the class. Illness will count as an excuse if communicated right before or right after class. A proof of being ill is recommended. Assignments will have to be done despite possible illness.