Exploring Design Intelligence

Language is the primary means of sensemaking and communication among designers, but is often overlooked. With recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI), language has become a dominant way in which designers co-perform with AI models such as Large Language Models (LLMs). Understanding language is thus crucial to develop future design practice. Exploring Design Intelligence (EDI) will provide you with a theoretical and practical foundation in the tools and methods with which to analyse design language and conversation. You will use this foundation as the basis for engaging with AI systems to model and generate design conversation, produce AI-enabled design methods that can enhance design thinking capability, and analyse your application of the design method via the tools and methods covered in the class. The course will help you develop technical and research competencies alongside deeper thinking about the process of design.

The study goals of this course will be assessed via a team project resulting in a report (100%)

There will be one main assignment in addition to in-class activity. This will be a project involving the use of Large Language Model or related tools to a particular design scenario, and the analysis of their students' own design process through computational linguistic techniques that are covered in the class.

Formative Assessment: Using the above learning activities as a basis, students will investigate and verify their data using the provided reading material, the provided manual/computational tools and techniques, and their own literature review. Their progress will be assessed by the coaches through team meetings, and feedback given to the students.

Summative Assessment: The main outcome from the assignment is a report of their investigation along with the outcome of the investigation (e.g. a method, approach, and/or insight).