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Managing Design

Unit code: HDC006HK

Credit points12.5 Credit Points
Duration
1 Semester
Contact hours36 Hours per Semester
CampusExternal Venue
Prerequisites
Nil

Related course(s)

A unit of study in the Design Management Advanced Minor sequence taught at City U, Hong Kong.

Aims and objectives

This unit aims to introduce students to professional practice in the design industry. The unit emphasises the importance of managing design projects and introduces elements of project and team management, emphasising real-world scenarios and using multi-disciplinary teams that compete through a project tender process. The project explores alternative ways to articulate the values and benefits of design. Teams are expected to conceptualise, develop and produce a design proposal that fulfils a distinctive brief with financial, business, cultural and social constraints. 
At the completion of this unit students should be able to:
  • Work in a multi-disciplinary team and apply principles of effective leadership and teamwork;
  • Utilise fundamental project management practices reflecting the professional practice of design;
  • Utilise real-world and conceptual investigations to underpin concept development for a large-scale project;
  • Articulate the relationship between design, business and innovation through proposal documentation;
  • Develop a persuasive and professional quality design proposal that realistically addresses budget and legal considerations; 
  • Organise and undertake succinct, well-structured and persuasive visual and verbal group presentation.

Teaching methods

This unit is project-based, supported through lectures and classes that provide valuable direction and activities related to the assignments. Projects will be undertaken in inter-disciplinary groups.

Assessment

Note: Percentage weightings are indicative. See Unit Briefs for full assessment details.

Major Project (100%)
Assessment of this unit is based upon the satisfactory completion of a major project delivered in four stages, in order to facilitate feedback and progress. There will also be submission requirements and activities related to team and project management that will receive feedback but are not assessed. Peer evaluations of competence in key areas of team working practices that contribute to the final grade.

Stage 1: Documentation of research and solution proposal

Stage 2: 5-minute pitch of proposal

Stage 3: Draft proposal document

Stage 4: Final proposal and presentations

Important: Peer Evaluations
Students are also required to complete an evaluation of team members (peer evaluation). The peer evaluation also offers students to reflect upon their own performance within the team. Students will be marked on quantity and quality of work, communication skills, initiative, efficiency, personal relations, attendance, attitude and enthusiasm, effort and dependability. As a result of this assessment, individual marks may vary from the group assessment mark.

Generic skills outcomes

Swinburne University works to produce higher education graduates who are capable in their chosen profession.  Learners bring to Swinburne a diverse wealth of experiences and graduate with individual understandings, abilities and attitudes.
Within this context, HDC006HK Managing Design aims to provide students with the following attributes:
  • Are capable in their chosen professional, vocational or study areas;
  • Are entrepreneurial in contributing to innovation and development within their business, workplace or community;
  • Operate effectively and ethically in work and community situations;
  • Are adaptable and manage change.

Content

This unit aims to introduce students to the principals of project management in the context of developing a written proposal in response to a brief. Topics discussed may include:
  • The Design Process;
  • The Design Brief;
  • Writing a design proposal;
  • Design and corporate strategy;
  • Project planning and management;
  • Teamwork;
  • Time management;
  • Budgeting and financial management;
  • Managing creativity;
  • Intellectual property;
  • Presentation skills

Reading materials

Borja De Mozota, B 2003, Design Management: using design to build brand value and corporate innovation, New York, Allworth Press.
Boyle, G 2003, Design project management, Ashgate.
Bruce, M 2002, Design in Business – strategic innovation through design, UK, Pearson.
Design Management Institute, Design Management Journal (Quarterly journal), Boston.
Foote, C 2001, The Creative business – Guide to running a graphic design business, New York, W.W. Norton.
Goslett, D, 1971, The professional practice of design, UK, Batsford.
Press, M, Cooper, R 2003, The design experience: the role of design and designers in the twenty-first century, UK, Ashgate.
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