Design and Prototyping for Digital Products

Design and prototyping of digital products is a practical design group project centered around prototyping of digital products and services. The students work in small groups with concept development of a case, from idea to "high fidelity" prototype. Based on acquired knowledge about users in the target group, and during an iterative design process, different prototypes are developed to test different parts of the concept. Students become better acquainted with user-centered methods of insight work, user testing and product design; become acquainted with digital surface prototyping techniques and tools; as well as ethical challenges related to prototyping and design.

Students should be able to understand the needs and characteristics of a target group and utilize these in a concept development process. Through analyzing and challenging case assignments, the student acquires knowledge during the course about:

• Design of interfaces for digital surfaces (eg voice and touch)
• Various tools for prototyping from low to high fidelity
• Techniques for evaluating whether concepts are suitable for further development
• Ethical challenges and consequences of developing digital products
• Experience with iterative development of prototypes
• User participation in the form of user testing
• Design's role in product development

After completing the course, the student has a good starting point for being able to develop and design user-friendly and creative digital products as a professional designer. In addition, the use of established industry tools is internalized through repetitive exercises.

• Lectures
• Group project
• Tutorials on a regular basis
• Sketches, the work process, and the end result must be documented