ETTÜ71015 Design Studio 1: Personal

The course Design Studio 1: Personal offers a stage for playing through a "problem based human-centric design led development project". It is a general approximation of possible creative development project students could be leading in their future workplace. Studio offers a hands-on experience to work with people and users, it is run parallelly to Human-Centred Design course offering theoretical framework, research skills and knowledge. As the "Human-Centred Design" (EMD0010) is a prerequisite course (but takes place at the same time) these courses should be taken together.

The emphasis of this project is on the close interaction of people-object systems in our everyday life, from areas like medicine, work or education. The task is set as a complex challenge, so you first have do define the problem before starting to generate solution. The aim of the design studio is to work towards design innovations, opportunities offered by emerging technologies and new product categories or use contexts. 

The focus is on the front end of product development, to synthesise, generate and validate innovative product concepts. 


The project starts with an intensive two-day workshop offering a glimpse of the mindset of the program. The main goal of the event is to create a fluent team and introduce the main principles of the course. 

Project classes are held twice a week, but the main share of the work is expected to be done outside contact hours. Long day is for themes development when suitable methods for particular Project phase are discussed and practiced. Short day is for team consultation and feedback. Project is divided into three phases: Research, Concept, Development. Each phase ends with a presentation where partners and guests are invited to review the process. 

Students develop the work independently. It is critical they involve users and other stakeholders and carry out their research and development work in real use contexts and environments. Users are engaged through interviews and observations in order to gain immediate and first-hand understanding of user experience, understanding real problem statements, notice latent needs, expectations, possibilities and limitations. 

Project ends with a public presentation.