Course Info:
Course Title & Number: Design Perspectives in IMM, IMM 280-02
Professor: Mark Thompson
Office Address: Art and Multimedia 312
Email Address: thompsom@tcnj.edu
Office Hours: Wednesdays, 11am-1:30pm or by appointment
Class Meets: Thursdays, 9:30 – 12:20
Room: AIMM 223
Course Description:
This class is interdisciplinary, bringing together the various bodies of knowledge that inform the field of interactive design, including content design, interface design, technical design, usability and project management. The class provides an overview of concepts necessary both to create and evaluate interactive multimedia projects. You’ll apply these ideas to a series of individual writing and production assignments, and ultimately to a collaborative project addressing a real-world design problem — a project that spans most of the semester.
To the extent possible, we’ll develop this semester’s projects in consultation with government, community organizations and businesses in Trenton, considering ways in which interactive and digital media applications might empower them and the people they serve. Our collaborations will be coordinated with the help of the TCNJ Bonner Center.
Course Materials:
Food Systems
- Industrial & Local Food Systems
- 4 Dimensions of Food Systems
- Food System Tiers
- Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission Planning Tool
- DVRPC Food System Webinar
Food Security
Food Tech
Trenton Food System
- Food Assets in Trenton, NJ
- Food Issues (NJ Partnership for Healthy Kids – Trenton)
- Food Security in Trenton
- Trenton Food Trucks
- NJ SNAP
- End Hunger NJ
- NJ Helps (Food & Nutrition)
- Trenton Community Farmers Markets
Trenton Demographics
Partner Resources
Amman Seehra – seehra@gmail.com (USDA)
Whitney Hendrickson – whendrickson@trentonymca.org
Brandon Ritter – britter@isles.org
Paulash Banerjee – paulashb@trentonsoupkitchen.org
Changing Behavior
Course Requirements:
Design Notebook – 10%
Project Concept Presentation – 10%
Midterm Paper – 20%
Project Deliverables – 30%
- User Personas & User Stories – 2.5% + 2.5%
- Design Brief – 5%
- Content Map/Wireframes 5%
- Paper Prototype 5%
- User Testing Plan & User Testing Report 2.5% + 2.5%
- Style Guide & Admin/User Guide 2.5% + 2.5%
Final Project – 30%
- Functional Prototype
- Final Presentation
- Project Recap
Course Purpose & Learning Goals:
Students will:
- Learn to effectively present and promote their ideas for an interactive media project, as well as reflect on their process of developing that project, both face-to-face and in writing;
- Get acquainted with the variety of roles, processes and technical tools involved in producing an interactive multimedia project;
- Explore techniques for managing long-term collaborative projects and adapt those techniques to their own project;
- Consider the implications of their own work and trends in the field within the context of everyday contemporary culture, and also draw connections between current trends and historical advances in media and technology.
Course Schedule:
January 28 – Intros & Syllabus
February 4 – Hacking the Food System
February 11 – Discussion with Partner Organizations
February 18 – Define Project Concepts
February 25 – Present Project Concepts, User Personas, User Stories & Job Stories
March 3 – Diagrams and Content Maps
March 10 – Flows & Paper Prototypes, Midterm Papers Due
March 17 – Spring Break
March 24 – User Testing, Midterm Papers Due
March 31 – User Testing, Revise Prototypes
April 7 – Project Implementation Documentation
April 14 – Project Design Documentation
April 21 – Functional Prototypes – User Testing Redux
April 28 – Prepare for Final Presentations
May 5 – Prepare for Final Presentations
May 13 @ 11:00am – Final Presentations
Grading:
Grades with be determined according to the following formula:
- 30% Final Project
- 15% Midterm Paper
- 30% Project Deliverables
- 10% Project Proposal Presentation
- 15% Design Notebook
Note: Details of how each of the above will be scored will be provided at the time of assignment.
TCNJ Policies
The College of New Jersey Policy Prohibiting Discrimination in the Workplace/Educational Environment governs the college’s commitment to and expectations of having an environment that respects the diversity of all members of the campus community. The link to this policy is: http://policies.tcnj.edu/policies/digest.php?docId=9122. Under this policy, forms of discrimination or harassment based upon specific protected categories are prohibited and will not be tolerated. If you wish to report a concern, please contact Kerri Thompson Tillett, Chief Diversity Officer, at 771-3139, or via email at thompsok@tcnj.edu.