Presenting the work from the major units in the final year of the Master of Design program, this exhibition aims to bring to the fore outward-looking design skills that course-based assessment tasks cannot provide.
GRDE6002 DesignX
As a precursor to the Design Capstone unit, DesignX is a research-based practice unit that introduces exhibition
design and event management. The creation and installation of the student’s design artefacts are selfdirected and managed with guidance from the unit tutor. The unit aims to shift the role of design from developing object- and service-first solutions to speculative evidence-first-based approaches to complex problems.
Contemporary sociotechnical problems are subject to dynamic change and rely on interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary teams across science, technology, anthropology, history, sociology, psychology, and philosophy. The DesignX thinking-by-doing focus is expedited through experimental design research and studio methods that generate innovative and inclusive sociotechnical solutions that reflect human, societal, ecological and technological needs and rapid change.
The students work to identify design problems and develop practical or speculative solutions to a problem that reflects an understanding of human wants and needs. The design briefs are broad, offering scope to allow students to identify contemporary problems and systems change and allow the application of inter- and
trans-disciplinary knowledge and practices.
GRDE6004 Design Capstone Project and Exhibition
This unit is the culmination of the skills developed in Design X and focuses on design authorship and curation practice. It encourages curiosity-led design practice that is self-directed, rigorous, and challenging.
Design authorship is viewed as multidisciplinary and students are encouraged to examine broad domains of science, technology, anthropology, history, sociology, psychology, and philosophy, as well as contemporary, social, economic, cultural, technological and environmental issues. The Capstone Project is an applied design project that uses practice-based research to demonstrate an understanding of a sociotechnical context, design-led innovation, or design creative practices.
The unit culminates in an exhibition of the students’ practice-based research and design outcomes. The exhibition provides the students an opportunity to showcase their curation practice and understanding of contemporary design. Here, exhibition design and event management are used as a communication tool. The creation and installation of student work is self-directed and managed with guidance from academic supervisors.
Dr John Henry Martin
Lecturer, Design
Master of Design Course Coordinator
