In this Week you will be able to:

  • tackle problems experiencing all the design phases/processes, reflecting on them, and organizing activities;
  • shift from a basic problem solving attitude to problem setting and problem finding in order to structure the pre-project research;

  • recognize and balance opportunities and constraints as contextual conditions to frame and structure the project;

  • discuss different levels of users' needs and related design opportunities;

  • outline preliminary knowledge for the development of the design concept, selecting between different research methods and tools;

  • recognize desk research and its sources and field research and its methods;

  • interpret the systems of needs and constraints a designer needs to take care of: the firm the designer works for, the user, and the whole competition landscape intended as market structure, value chain and strategies of competitors;

  • describe the basics theoretical elements of trend research as practice to read and interpret signs of change in the contemporary culture that will be the inspirational bases for a new project;

  • compare the professionals that carry-out trend research deepening their approaches, tools and outcomes;

  • understand the roots of scenario building and its different applications in the design field;

  • distinguish some practical tools used to generate and communicate scenarios;

  • evaluate the affinity of a given selection of artifacts defining the traits that makes such artifacts a family.