Design **

** Only offered as minors.

Note: For details of the four-year Bachelor of Design (Major in Experience Design) program, visit the link:
https://www.flame.edu.in/academics/ug-bdes

The mission of the Design specialization at FLAME University is to build upon the philosophy of liberal education, to develop creative leaders, to provide educational leadership that can help shape the 21st century and to bridge the disciplines of design, business and allied disciplines in order to catalyze innovation. Our program objective is to develop creative leaders who can collaborate to create a strategically sustainable culture of innovation & design in industry.

Design is a broad word covering diverse domains from product, graphic, fashion, interior, game to even the most sought after design thinking. Design is the way to present a message in the most impactful manner and integrates analytical, aesthetic and functional aspects. It has an intrinsic path-finding approach (unlike conventional navigation) which makes the design process interesting as well as challenging. The proposed design minor would progressively build on the learnings and skills of the students creating a focus on one of the domains of design practice. The minor is aimed to be application oriented and leveraging the interdisciplinary potential of liberal education. It would complement many majors offered under Liberal education at FLAME University.

Knowing the design vocabulary, grammar and language is important and so are the basic skills in design. They are essential in order to be able to understand and appreciate various elements, principles and methods of visual communication.

Visual design sensitivity and knowledge is essential for all designers, hence the primary orientation of the revised design minor would be concerning Visual Design. Graphic (Visual) Design is thought to be one of the pathways under the “Design” minor. Second pathway would be in the area of digital technology and could be titled either as User Experience (UX) Design or Design for Digital Experience. This pathway would be catering to the present as well as future needs of technology enabled product and service industry.

SPECIALIZATION AIMS

The Design program intends to:

• Impart basic skills in design and imparting knowledge to support students quickly taking a deep drive into one of the design domains
• Prepare students for higher studies in Design and Design Management in India and Abroad
• Build Design Skills Portfolio – Hand & Visual Skills, Digital Skills and Problem Solving Skills
• Create design sensitive and design aware graduates by instilling design thinking and problem solving methods among FLAME graduates

MINOR OUTCOMES: After successful completion of the Minor, the student will be able to,

• Communicate ideas visually with conviction, creating a greater impact
• Demonstrate understanding of design language and its elements and principles
• Demonstrate knowledge of various materials and methods of construction to quickly present ideas in 3-dimentional form
• Identify, define, ideate, and solve user’s problems with the knowledge of design thinking methods and interdisciplinary knowledge
• Demonstrate enhanced visual, verbal and conceptual presentation skills
• Demonstrate systematic methods of conducting user studies and research to identify user needs and problems
• Demonstrate design skills and knowledge acquired and applied through a design portfolio

COURSES (CORE AND ELECTIVE) **

DESIGN MINOR COURSES

19 MINOR COURSES

* 4th year undergraduate courses

Elements and principles of design

This is a 2 credit foundation course. Students are introduced to the elements and principles of design, encouraged to observe them and try and explain/interpret their direct and indirect interpretations. Gestalt’s principles are also introduced. Based on their interpretations, try and recall how are these used in various forms of design whether product, fashion, architecture or graphic. Further, observe the significance of the elements and principles in various cultures. Readings are from diverse disciplines like Psychology and Marketing with Design to understand the linkages of Design with various disciplines. The course has simple assignments on an exploration and interpretation level.

Design explorations with lines and shades 

This is a 2 credit foundation course. Knowledge and skill of sketching and drawing is the foundation to any design discipline. This course offers training in sketching as one of the means of visual representation. The focus is on structured and decorative lines enabling developing a keen sense of observation, interpretation and representation using various tools, techniques and mediums. The course also helps in experiencing space in terms of perspective; sharpens the ability to analyze and appreciate the visible or hidden structure of things. Readings are from diverse disciplines like Psychology and Marketing with Design to understand the linkages of Design with various disciplines.

Design drawing and visualization

Design Drawing helps in conceptualizing, visualizing and communicating design ideas. Students would explore themes from nature and man-made environment and represent them creatively. The course has a framework of iconic, symbolic and metaphorical representations. Students then would be able to translate the intended ideas for communicating visually.

Introduction to typography and calligraphy

This course focuses on thinking with Typography and creating Calligraphic expressions. The typography component is divided into three sections: the Letter, the Text and the Grid. The practical aspect of the course introduces students to three calligraphic tools. The theoretical framework broadly describes the characteristics of extinct Egyptian hieroglyphs, the Indian script Devanagari and the origin of Roman alphabets. Readings are from diverse disciplines like Sociology, Psychology and Marketing with Design to understand the linkages of typography and calligraphy with various disciplines.

2d 3d design constructions

This course enables students to appreciate the hidden geometrical order in natural forms that involves concept formation and translation of the same into tangible representations. This domain also provides a framework for manipulation and generation of form and a vocabulary for analysis, and description of regular forms, patterns, structure and their relationships. It takes one a step forward in experimenting and implementing the basic principles of form into tangible representations through various materials.

Colors and creative compositions

This course introduces concepts of Color, Visual Composition, use of Typefaces and Layout. Color is considered to be the soul of design. A good design pulsates with life if done well with colors. They help in generating emotions and ideas, express messages, keep the viewer engaged and have a lasting impact. Composition and layout will focus on arranging visual elements in a systematic and coherent way to achieve desired visual impact and to communicate. Students will also be introduced to the concept presenting information and graphical elements in a structured way using grid. Knowledge and skill of typefaces are essential to endow a durable visual form to any visual communication.

Basic graphic design

The course introduces students with basic orientation of the field of graphic design. Students will learn the skills and fundamentals of designing logos, symbols, stationary design/ brand identity, and a single page layout through graphical and allied media.

Materials and processes for design

This course will give students an opportunity to explore properties of different materials; materials from the natural world as well as man-made world. Students will have hands-on experience of interaction with some of those materials. It will also enable the students to understand the basic nature of tools and material relationship.

Design thinking and processes

The course equips students with the necessary methodologies and processes to the identification and analysis of different issues and concerns related to design and to the initiation, expression, and communication of concepts.

Introduction to information design

This course will give students exposure to the history of visualization practices across disciplines and in relation to technology developments. This course will explore the theories and practices of information design through studio projects. Students will be required to research visual systems and information structures such as maps, timelines, charts, and diagrams. Students will understand the creative process of organizing, visualizing, and communicating data by seeking to make complex information easier to understand and use. The course will include a mini project as an end term component.

Introduction to interaction design

Interaction Design course aims to expose students to influence of everyday behavior of products, services, environments, and systems. This course structure will involve teams of students working together on the research, planning, concept ideation, iterative refinement, prototyping, evaluation, and communication of novel solutions. These design solutions will strive to enhance the quality of people’s lives while acknowledging that the environment is the greater context for all design. The course will include a mini project as an end term component.

Design for media

This course builds on the discipline of graphic design by engaging in creating larger application based assignments. Application of graphic design to conceptualize and create diverse print media, like brochures, posters, magazines, and book covers etc. enabling students to build confidence of practicing in this application based discipline.

Demystifying world around you

The things happening around us stop making sense beyond a particular point. Why suddenly things start to fall apart? Why are things not going the way they should? Be it office, personal life or the life around us in general. What if you can decode it? Make sense of what is happening and why it is happening? If yes, what will you do? This thought in itself is empowering. Ability to see, understand and maneuver what is happening around us may be one of the most powerful things. This is the power of System Thinking.

Currently, System Thinking is offered as a complicated course in a few Design and Management Schools, revolving around definitions, theories, jargon and tools. From creating predictive models to improving the existing systems these tools, theories and jargon find a wide range of applications. However, they are not as complicated as they seem. Once we demystify system thinking we realize that these tools are the building blocks of any organization, culture and society. We realize that we all have been interacting with systems from the day we were conceived and will continue to do so till the day we die. And in this interaction we have been using these tools effectively. This is what this program aims to do.

Designing conversations

This is an advanced course focusing on meaningful persuasive interactions on the web or social media. The students will learn how to understand users, their intentions, motivations and relevant usability concerns for providing meaningful responses. The course may touch upon the strategies based upon the undated IT paradigm. It's a synthesis of several design disciplines, including voice user interface design, interaction design, visual design, motion design, audio design, and UX Design.

New media immersive design

New Media is a digital convergence of all the existing and possible media. Leveraging upon the advanced technological tools it is possible to create an immersive experience for the users. The students will understand and learn how to develop such an experience for the users.

Green design

Green design focuses on the use of recycled materials, renewable energies and reduced waste of energy and materials. The students will be sensitized for the ecological concerns and sustainable design concepts. The course will focus on providing design solutions that are environmentally friendly.