Design Lab
Teaching Archive from the two core modules of MA Experience Design, University of Plymouth
At the University of Plymouth (2023-present) I lead the MA in Experience Design. The programme asks students to create bespoke experiences for audiences of their choosing that can allow them to engage with real-world issues.
The two core modules of the course, Design Lab 1 and Design Lab 2 focus on theory and practical workshops connected to storytelling, immersion, interaction and using experimental research methods to bring a deep connection with these three areas to the intended audience.
Here is an archive of how these four areas have evolved in MA Experience Design students’ work.
2024
Dada & Broodiest Flunkey/ Brandon Barnard
During Design Lab 1, Brandon focused on Dada and how this art movement might also relate to current issues. In response to this, Brandon created a series of tools to motivate others to draw on the Dada movement in their own artistic practice, such as creating an animated video to showcase a variety of Dada techniques and informing the audience of the meanings behind these.
Brandon undertook a great deal of practical experimentation that included a production of an animatic, the use of social media to distribute glimpses of his work in order to build up a sense of anticipation/suspense, an online interactive exhibition, and combining Unity software with hand-drawings to create a multifaceted experience by which the audience could engage with Dadaism in a contemporary context.
Image: Storyboard by Brandon Barnard
Brandon drew on some of the research methods studied in class, such as Cultural Probes and Performance Ethnography to inform his work.
Taking a Cultural Probe approach, he handed out prints of the Mona Lisa to his peers and asked them to try to contradict what they saw in the image. He stated that he was influenced by one of the participants ripping the piece up, mirroring Arp’s (1920) work. Then, he noted the themes that arose from everyone’s alteration of the Mona Lisa which included femininity v. masculinity; value communication; art importance and preservation; contemporary/digital; perceived social status/class; emotions visible in the piece; and beauty. He went on to explore these concepts as he continued to develop his own experience design work.
Image: Cultural Probe by Brandon Barnard
Image: Mindmap connecting aspects of learning during Design Lab 1 & 2 to the prodution of Broodiest Flunkey by Brandon Barnard
Throughout both Design Lab modules, Tu maintained a focus on exploring ways of engaging the audience in understanding the perspectives of single parent families, specifically the mother and daughter dynamic. She did this through the creation of an interactive digital comic.
The comic is designed to allow the user to experience the story through the two different but connected perspectives of the mother and daughter. In order to avoid making assumptions about the experiences of single parent families, Tu undertook secondary research looking at how they are portrayed in other media. She also undertook primary research in the form of a survey and regular user testing. The findings were used to develop the branching narrative for the comic design.
Image: branching narrative design by Tu JiananIn the image above, the yellow box represents the plot development of the story, the pink box- all the options that the player may encounter in the comics, the green box-the impact on the plot after the player selects the option, and the purple box represents the impact of the choice on the daughter in the story.