Undergraduate - UnitTAD3214 - Contemporary discourse in design

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2013 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

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Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture
Organisational Unit	Department of Design
Offered	Caulfield First semester 2013 (Day) Caulfield Second semester 2013 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Ms Narelle Pittard

Synopsis

This unit will investigate contemporary issues in the interface of design with society and the environment. Design discourse centered on the moral dichotomies of judgement in design, such as practicality/impracticality, social use/private folly, labour-saving/unneccessary consumption, luxury/environmental nuisance will be critically investigated. The impact of this discourse on the students' areas of specialisation will be specifically addressed in the seminar program.

The Semester 1 program covers material suited to Industrial Design and Interior Architecture, and the Semester 2 program focuses on Visual Communication and Multimedia.

Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will:

approach existing designs with a critical sense of their deeper social and aesthetic values as well as the popular connotations of their styles
discern symbolic associations in design and express links with a historical vocabulary of images and metaphors which operate in traditional interpretations
support their intuitive opinions either in favour of a design or against certain designs with reasoned argument and engage the language of criticism in debating the sense or the vanity of certain spaces and objects
be able to engage in the imaginative task of analysing design in ways which reveal its strengths and weaknesses
project discriminating judgements with a sense of critical rigour which explores and challenges the existence of the principles of design
feel comfortable with iconoclastic views of design classics wherever a coherent or poetic reason for disapproval seems justified.

Assessment

Written assignment (2000 words): 30%; Essay (3000 words): 60%; Short class presentation, attendance and participation: 10%

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Bradley Haylock

Contact hours

12 hours per week including, 3 hours lectures and seminars and 9 hours independent study weekly, or equivalent.

Prerequisites

TAD2214 or ARC2401

Prohibitions

TAD3209, TAD3211, TAD3792