DGN3203 · Design for culture and heritage

Overview

This unit is concerned with the radically changing relationships between cultural material and the communication of knowledge, meaning and social memory. Galleries, libraries, archives and museums are time-honoured institutions that we entrust to collect, care for and communicate our cultural history. In this unit you will undertake creative projects that apply design creatively, critically and speculatively towards the investigation, interrogation and imaginative exploration of the relationships found within these cultural complexes. Using design thinking, investigative processes and creative technologies, you will be challenged to prototype, visualise and present innovative design solutions that relate to the presentation, preservation, promotion and engagement with culture and heritage. You will understand the value of collaborative, ethical and responsible processes involved in the creation, curation and communication of cultural and heritage experiences. The interdisciplinary and holistic approach to museums, media and communication includes, but is not limited to, experience design, curatorial design, exhibition design, interpretive media design, user-centred and participatory design, communication design, service and product design.

Offerings

Assessment

The Handbook does not list a final examination among the assessment items. That is not a guarantee there is none.

100% in-semester assessment

Assessment details may change. Please refer to the assessment information in Moodle closer to the start of the teaching period.

Requisites

Learning outcomes

1. Identify ways design contributes critically, ethically and responsibly to the preservation and promotion of culture and heritage in the Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM) sector;
2. Identify, conceive and create design solutions for communicating tangible and intangible cultural heritage, with consideration to collaboration and inter-disciplinary processes;
3. Apply investigative methods and conceptual, visualisation and prototyping skills as part of the design process involved in culture and heritage interpretation;
4. Produce design prototypes or other creative outcomes in response to directed briefs related to museum work, exhibition-making and cultural heritage practices.

Workload

12 hours per week including 3 contact hours plus 9 hours of independent study.

Student experience, not official rules. Nothing here changes what the Handbook says.