GSMD 600: Grad Design Studio III

Students will focus on their independent thesis project as the primary focus of the semester. Applying primary research conducted over the summer, students will develop their design, realized as some form of prototype/model for user testing. Outcomes include a public presentation of the thesis project early in the semester, and a substantially completed project by the end of the semester. Thesis projects may be experimental, research-oriented, educational or pragmatic, but remain directly relevant to the discipline of a design practice. The thesis project is an opportunity to demonstrate at an advanced level the integration of knowledge represented by the discipline of designing. The thesis project may exist as a designed artifact, service or system, environmental intervention, meaningful communication, media presentation, or any interactive adaption of the above. The thesis project is comprised of a production in some medium as well as a written component that progressively situates the production in and reflects on context. These two components - an innovation through media and the written contextualization of such a process, comprise the thesis project.