What type of activity will I undertake over the semester?

Choose + start-up
Firstly, you will need to unfold the range of briefs the zoo will provide us and make an informed decision on which one you (or your team) want to pursue. This year we will collaborate with both Melbourne Zoo and the Werribee Open Range Zoo and deal with various ‘clients’ (keepers, zoo staff, patrons and orang-utans, hippos, elephants…) and their needs. We will have a list of possible areas to investigate and you will have the option to choose which suits your interests best. Besides personal preferences, your choice will be informed by your capacity to physically go to the location (in the case of Melbourne Zoo by tram but in the case of Werribee a car is ideal, so it’s possibly better if you do this as a team).
Observe, capture + share
Secondly, you will have to spend time at your location, learning about what goes on over there, how people do things and why. This requires you to observe, listen, take notes, document activities in a range of multimodal manners (writing, images, video, sound recording, even cartoons if you find it appropriate). This on-site engagement should equip you with a better understanding of the routines, practices, needs and dreams of your clients, besides generating a great collaborative bonding between you and them. This way of operating is typical of Participatory and User-Centred design activities and it is HIGHLY recommended not to underestimate its value and potential to strongly inform and support your design ideas. This implies that design should follow understanding (hence, avoid designing ‘stuff’ for the sake of it from day 1 as it does not make any sense in these circumstances – this is not a styling-fashion studio!).
Create scenarios + choose
Thirdly, you will have to frame up your understandings in a number of scenarios or propositions for potential products and/or services. These propositions will have to be discussed in class as they emerge and with your clients iteratively. A scenario is a way to describe how people might interact with an idea, system or product – similarly to story boards. The use and development of scenarios help focus your designs on clients’ requirements (versus technical or business requirements) and scenarios are typically developed so that they can be shared with and understood by people without any technical background (for instance, your clients). This way your participatory approach can be properly supported. Scenarios are fundamentally about describing your general ideas and their potential from a user’s perspective. To develop a scenario you need a basic understanding of clients (their needs and contexts of use) and of which tasks you would like your design to support. A scenario IS NOT a final design or product, but a story about what your potential design could do and how. Scenarios use simple and accessible language and generally avoid technical or knowledge loaded references.
Design
Fourthly, you will have to shape one of your ideas/scenarios into a more substantial product/service proposition and share it in class to refine it and iterate it through engaging with zoo staff.
Refine + present present
Finally, you will have to refine your design to final piece; Prototype your design when necessary; package your work so that it can be shared with others; present to a panel of assessors; submit the lot and then the portfolio.