Curriculum

Course Descriptions listed below pertain to the 2011-12 academic year.

Curriculum Requirements

Summer Intensive (3 units)

• Studio 0 (3 units)

First Year (30 units)

• Design Research (6 units)
• Design Writing (3 units)
• Form Studio (3 units)
• Skills Studio (3 units)
• Design History (3 units)
• Topic Studios (transdisciplinary) (6 units)
• Business of Design (3 units)
• Elective (3 units)

Second Year (30 units)

• Advanced Topic Studios (transdisciplinary) (6 units)
• Thesis Research & Development (6 units)
• Thesis: Presentation (3 units)
• Thesis: Studio (6 units)
• Thesis: Writing (3 units)
• Electives (6 units)

Electives

• Sketch to 4D
• Extra(ordinary) Materials
• Advanced Design Research
• Experimental Type
• Interaction Theory
• Sound, Music & Technology
• Spontaneous Cinema
• Building Narratives: Installations for transitional space

For current course offerings and descriptions see fall and spring courses or visit Webadvisor.

Summer Intensive Required Course

Studio 0

This intensive summer studio is specifically designed for incoming CCA MFA Design students to introduce them to issues, ideas, and methods of making and thinking that will be pursued throughout their studies at CCA and beyond. Studio 0 explores design through an immersive approach. All students participate in the transdisciplinary seminar (TDS) component. The educational objective of this seminar is to help students gain a grounding in the profession, including methodology, collaboration and leadership. In addition to the seminar, students choose two out of three studios in interaction (IX), 2D, and 3D design. Immersion studio days focus on lecture, discussion and critique in the morning and on making work in the afternoon. The educational goals of the immersion studios are to present high-level concepts in the given design area, reinforced through examples (both presented by the instructor and curated by the students), some readings, lecture, and discussion, and - most importantly - by explorations through making.

First-Semester Required Courses

Design Research (practicum)

First in the research and strategy track, this course introduces students to the theory and practice of various types of design research including human-centered qualitative and ethnographic methods as well as formal and analytical techniques. The course will explore human-centered research methods with the goal of creating new affordances for health and wellness in our community. Students will also design imaginative tools to expand understanding of a group of people and/or situated context. Representational methods such as scenario-building and structural analysis function to help students see and articulate patterns in qualitative data to inform design. The goal is to provide students with research-based skills and resources to strengthen strategic design practice. The other component of this course is the studio companion to Design Research. Students will design and build imaginative tools for use in ethnographic research, to expand understanding of a group of people and/or situated context. In this studio, students will learn visual techniques for representing information and data so as to find patterns and meaning that will lead to new insights. Mock-ups and prototypes will be created in order to evaluate and iteratively develop design concepts that arise from the research.

Writing (seminar)

The goal of this writing course is to narrow the gap between what we aspire to create as designers and how we discuss our work, and the work of others, in writing - as well as in class discussion. The course will emphasize writing praxis. Students will keep a semester-long design notebook, where they will work through a series of weekly exercises, registering specific ideas about both design and the critical study of design, while also mastering key skills for effective written communication. Students will explore and experiment with key forms for the profession: How designers use writing in both the academic and the professional worlds - from critical essays to project proposals, classic to contemporary.

Form Studio

Form Studio is the introductory studio class in the Graduate Program in Design. This class offers students a strong foundation in the making, assessing, and critiquing of visual materials and begins a discussion that will reverberate through the rest of their studies. Students learn the use and structure of materials and media and the development of a rigorous and disciplined process through which they can create and analyze what they create. Much is made of the relationship between intention and reaction and the sharpening of an awareness of physiological sensation as an integral part of design development. Successful students ultimately develop the necessary skills of experimentation, articulate criticism. and constructive questioning necessary to generate remarkable work.

Skills Studios

There are three Skills Studios to choose from. The courses focus on specific skills to supplement or refresh the incoming students' skill sets.

Typography

A studio in typography for those who need a refresher or introductory typography skills. Whether exploring or reviewing the basics, this studio is for you.

3D Modeling:

Rhino is a 3D modeling software tool that is used by the graduate design program, in product, industrial and other 3D design.

Programming for Interaction

The Graduate Program in Design uses the Processing language in interaction design projects. Processing is especially useful in that it is an on-ramp to Java programming and is extremely useful for making and programming interactive devices and systems.

Second-Semester Required Courses

Design History (seminar)

Design is less about giving form than giving meaning; from buildings to newspapers, from surgical instruments to satellites, design creates meaning on multiple levels that shift over time. This course considers design history as the cumulative process of communicating ideas, values, and social practices across a variety of media. We look at design within the larger landscapes of culture and technology and against the situated contexts of the personal and particular.

Business of Design (seminar)

Designers should understand the fundamentals of business strategies and economic models to engage their profession in a muscular way. This course introduces students to business models for both for-profit and nonprofit constructions as well as individual entrepreneurship. The position of ethics and social responsibility is studied through case studies and discourse. The rapidly changing landscape of intellectual property—from patent and copyright to open source—is examined. Students create speculative business models focused on how they may manifest their professional design goals. Prerequisites: Design Research, Writing.

Topic Studios (choose one of three)

Media Matters (seminar and studio)

"Information" has become the new code word for what is largely an overload of fast-paced images and sound bites, infotainment, and infomercials. Countries, ideologies, religions, artists, preachers, youth, celebrities, and politicians alike are branded and sold to audiences as if consumer products. Our analytical goal is to sift through this clutter of logos, slogans, and hidden persuasion in order to unravel some of the contradictions that result from the mediamakers' access to power, knowledge, and financial resources. In the associated studio course, students explore the ideas presented in the seminar context through making. For example, analysis and insights are put to use in the design and making of antidotes, parodies, and other alternative constructions. Likewise, students are called upon to use methods of communication and persuasion in formmaking for socially positive ends. Prerequisites: Form Studio, Design Research.

Dislocation/Relocation

This topic studio explores opportunities for design intervention around those persons who are dislocated from their homes due to natural disaster, climate change, or other causes. How can design support those who are dislocated? How can design support rebuilding efforts? How can design help when living in an area is no longer sustainable and people must relocate to a new home? Prerequisites: Form Studio, Design Research.

Faraway, So Close

This topic studio explores how we can design and mediate distance relations, including private and public, mobile and fixed environments. It includes examinations of experience design, enabling technologies, and established as well as emergent social behaviors. Prerequisites: Form Studio, Design Research.

Third-Semester Required Courses

Transdisciplinary Topic Studios (choose one of three)

Advanced Topic Studio: Comings & Goings

This studio will focus on how the things in our lives can sense and communicate to adapt and identify opportunities. We will initially focus on the home, but this won't necessarily be the sole site of our investigations and interventions. We will be looking a few years down the road, and doing "what if" design about how the myriad technologies of our lives might behave differently if they are aware of themselves, where they are, which other devices are nearby, their capabilities and liabilities, as well as communicating that information amongst themselves. Our technologies might act on our behalf, make decisions with various amounts of interaction with their owners, and present us with opportunities and discoveries. Who knows, they might even play games (like Jeopardy) with us! We'll do our best at fleshing out our designs with today's technology, using sheer determination, sleight-of-hand, and cutting-edge treachery. This studio is likely to be sponsored by an industry partner.

Advanced Topic Studio: Human://Nature

This studio explores objects and interactions within our ecosystem, and the role they play to both reflect and mediate cultural ideals. Students will critically examine contemporary environmental issues to design and create a physical embodiment as response. As part of the design process, we will use rapid visualization strategies, develop iterative mock-ups, and build sensing and reactive objects. The prototypes we create will utilize open-source and easily-accessible technology, and students will learn hands-on skills to explore and challenge current environmental politics.

Advanced Topic Studio: Design Looks at Nature

This studio will explore our complicated relationship with nature in two investigations. The first surveys the evolving relationship between nature and humans through text and image. Whether it is an attempt to simulate, classify or simply describe, the language we use necessarily changes our experience of the natural. How does text and image construct a narrative? And how does our very human need for narrative impact our understanding of - and navigation through - the natural world? If, in our increasingly hermetic and urbanized life, our only encounters with wild nature are separated by bars, screens, text and photographs, how can design better mediate the connection? The second investigation is the intrusion of the natural back into the realm of design. How does the natural asserts itself into our design efforts once they are deployed in the world? How might we plan for and take advantage of the dents, dings, mold, failure, patina, and degradation to strengthen the performance of our productions and instigate emotionally resonant interactions? Similarly, how might our work intersect and respond to natural forces of growth, birth, and habitat?

Thesis Research & Development (practicum)

This course guides students through the formative stages of their thesis development. After proposing respective areas of thesis concentration, students spend the semester investigating the ways research and formmaking processes can serve as tools for articulating and investigating their primary thesis questions. Through seminars, students examine various discursive traditions, author functions, and interpretive strategies (both objective and subjective). Through project work, students test various methods for formulating their inquiry within material culture. At the end of the semester, each student formally presents a thesis prospectus to the faculty that positions their inquiry within the design intellectual field and identifies methods, tools, and milestones for the thesis project. Prerequisites: Design Research; Business of Design.

Students must successfully complete all third-semester required courses to enroll in fourth-semester courses.

Fourth-Semester Required Courses

Note: the overarching idea of these courses is to assure that every aspect of the thesis work is guided and facilitated by qualified faculty. We want to support students in every dimension of the thesis process.

Thesis: Presentation

This course prepares students to present their ideas to an audience. While focused on the thesis presentation, the skills learned in this course generalize to help students gain leadership skills through more effective in verbal and visual communication of ideas in public, academic, and professional contexts.

Thesis: Studio

This studio offers regular, individual advising and engagement and small-group critique with faculty, students, and visiting artists as the thesis project is developed.

Thesis: Writing

As part of the comprehensive thesis term, this course helps students delineate the range and objectives of their thesis writing, using research, language, and graphical representation to frame and explain their thesis process and artifacts in a written thesis document.

Graduate Electives (GELCTs) offered through the Graduate Program in Design

Sketch to 4D

The course is intended for students who want to experiment and develop new repertoires for visualizing their project ideas and concepts. It introduces students to the possibilities and creative potential of working in time and space through the exploration of 4D methodologies. With an emphasis on developing an interdisciplinary and fluid approach across media, the course will investigate 4D practices including sound art, digital video, performance and interactive/web media.

Extra(ordinary) Materials

This course is about thinking and experimenting with materials that have extraordinary properties around ordinary practices as an entry point for identifying new affordances in form-giving work. From piezoresistive fabrics to leather and wood, we will look at material as both raw stuff and skilled undertakings, engaging ideas of mutability, reproduction, age and belonging. To what degree do materials trace and redefine our environments? How do they wear, grow and recombine? What do they stabilize or set off balance, make strange or familiar, highlight or obscure? By diving into a particular set of materials through both theoretical and hands-on work, we will think through new design opportunities in the domain of 2D, 3D and interaction design.

Advanced Design Research

Games are a universal part of the human experience. The Advanced Design Research elective course explores the use of games as design research methods. Through hands-on play, observation and behavioral analysis, students will learn how key elements of games, including goals, rules, challenges, and interactions, work together to create an engaging experience for players. We will also examine how human emotions and instincts affect the mechanics and dynamics of game play. These findings will become a part of each student's research kit to help further define his/her research for the graduate thesis.

Experimental Type

This class is about defamiliarizing typography - about reaching under the surface play of codes, rules, and expectations that govern typographic convention - to develop a visceral understanding of how the represented word transmits meaning. Projects range in scope from an investigation of the elemental units of typographic meaning - letterforms - to considerations of the synergistic relationship between the semantic, the formal, and the contextual in the construction of meaning. The ultimate goal is to expand student's abilities - intellectually, intuitively and technically - in the creation of provocative forms of visible language.

Interaction Theory

Theory of Interaction Design will provide students with a foundational understanding of what Interaction Design is, ways to approach interactive design challenges, and how to evaluate and discuss interactive solutions. The course will combine theoretical readings and discussions with practical hands-on exercises that illustrate course topics. Topics will include history of interaction, interactive modalities, human perception, cognitive and social psychology, emotion and brand, interaction for entertainment, interaction for productivity, and interaction for personal behavior change.

Sound, Music & Technology

Students gain a general understanding of the necessary aesthetics, vocabulary, and techniques to record, edit, process, and organize sound using computers for installation work, live performance and composition, soundscape design, and alternative media. The class includes technical, theoretical, and practical hands-on sections. Students are encouraged to experiment and develop unique sound vocabularies and techniques to fit their particular interests. Each student delivers a final project and presentation that uses techniques and software applications covered in class. Instructor: Guillermo Galindo.

Spontaneous Cinema

Observational cinema has an affinity with the designer's aptitude for discerning relationships among phenomena and imparting structures to experience for dwelling in the alternating currents of ambiguity and for making sense through association, combinatorial play, and projective construction. This video production course invites you to experiment with moviemaking as a process of design research. Our approach comes to grips with the paradoxical nature of cinema that cinema operates at once as both a record and a language. Can you walk without watching your step? Do you mean what you see? Given that the cinema of observation involves a manner of revealing more than a language of telling, how can we define its rules of practice, codes of representation, principles of structure, and elements of style? While using your eyes and ears to respond to emerging patterns in the situation, and moving the point of view to account for dynamic conditions, this exploration involves not only the subject of your observation and the act of observing but also it is systematically guided by the language of cinematic construction. We might say that it exercises your sensory-motor and narrative systems of intelligence simultaneously.

Building Narratives: Installations for transitional space

What role, beyond aesthetic applications, can artists and designers serve in the resurrection of an abandoned space and the long forgotten narratives embedded within it? What value do these narratives add to the process of revitalization? What mediums, materials and tactics can designers and artists deploy to engage a community in conversation about the possibilities for the space and ways it might serve their current and future goals? These and other questions will be explored as we partner with architect Maria McVarish and the New Season Community Development Corporation in Esparto, CA to design a series of installations in and around the historic Esparto Train Station.

The station was originally part of the Vaca Valley and Clear Lake railroad and transported passengers, as well as agricultural goods. The line connected towns throughout the Valley until 1957 when the last train left the Esparto station. In the 1970s, a library was located in the waiting room area of the station. Today, the building stands in disrepair, boarded up since 1994, its history and role within the community faded into the background. Inside remain some remnants of the activity that once took place; a large, cast iron floor scale and a small, bright apartment where the station agent lived. Outside, fragmented sections of train tracks scatter the landscape. In 2011, the building was purchased by Maria McVarish and is now scheduled for redevelopment in 2012.

By reintroducing latent narratives, we illuminate various frames in which to view the space and reconnect to the building and its site. As a starting point, students will conduct a series of ethnographic type interviews with Esparto residents, representatives of the Capay Valley farming community and other community stakeholders to gain understanding of their relationship with the station and their visions for its revitalization. Analyzing these stories, students will glean insights and perspectives concerning the site and use this information to inform the design and implementation of a considered, site-specific installation. Collectively, these interventions provide a series of context-specific moves that serve as a catalyst for continued dialog towards larger community awareness for the train station's planned future.