Programme Aims

The Programme attempts to expand the scope of design beyond the current commercialised and compartmentalised professional practices by orienting towards the “social dimension of design”, with emphasis on civic participation, social engagement and collaborative design practices. Dedicated to the promotion of social and cultural sustainability, the programme focuses on the realisation of social innovations and civic goals through the framework of design thinking and solution prototyping. The programme aims to:

• Augment students’ (empathic) understanding of social needs/changes from real-life perspectives
• Introduce students to methods for social observation, ethnographic design research and co-designing practices
• Engage students with outside partners to address social issues and develop design resolutions
• Inaugurate designerly thinking into the professional practices of non-design disciplines
• Prototype and realise design solutions for sustainable and positive social change

Characteristics

The programme provides students with multiple learning environments. It encourages creative thinking and independent learning.

It also stresses interdisciplinary teamwork and experimentation through the processes of creative and contextual research, and social design prototyping. Students are further provided with the opportunity to participate in local or international collaborative projects and to engage in work-integrated projects with input from clients, users and necessary stakeholders.

In short, the programme equips students with social and cultural literacy, skills in systems thinking and the ability to question existing design paradigms. It nurtures creative change-makers for a better society.