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Led by Alexandrian Design Simulacrum
Stage 1 of the Universitas Design (Honours) programme. Alexandrian Design Simulacrum on design thinking at four scales; Donald Schön Simulacrum on reflective practice and three studio projects. Ten tutorials, two portfolios. DES 110.
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Led by Alexandrian Design Simulacrum
The question
Design thinking applied at the smallest scale — the individual person, the chair, the desk lamp, the room arrangement. Alexander Simulacrum introduces the *quality without a name*, the *mirror test* as the method that grounds the rest of the work, and *centers* as the primary unit of design (every alive thing composed of centers each made of smaller centers). The module covers the fifteen properties of living structure from *The Nature of Order*. The student produces one substantial individual-scale design project documented as a portfolio entry.
Outcome
The student has produced one resolved individual-scale design — a tool, a small object, or a desk-or-kitchen reconfiguration — and can articulate *the quality without a name* in their own words. (Individual-scale design)
Led by Alexandrian Design Simulacrum
The question
Design thinking at the scale of the small group — the family of three to seven, the workshop of five to fifteen, the table of two to twelve. The module works through *A Pattern Language*'s patterns of the small commons (Common Areas at the Heart, Farmhouse Kitchen, Sequence of Sitting Spaces, Light On Two Sides, Window Place, Alcoves, The Fire) and the Intimacy Gradient. The scale where most human life actually happens, historically underserved by a design literature that has favoured the individual or the city. The student produces one substantial group-scale design project.
Outcome
The student has produced one resolved group-scale design — a kitchen-dining sequence, a workshop layout, or a small group's gathering space — using at least three named patterns from *A Pattern Language*. (Group-scale design)
Led by Alexandrian Design Simulacrum
The question
Design thinking at the scale of the small public — the neighbourhood, the high street, the small square, the school yard, the workplace shared by two hundred people who do not all know each other. The module covers Identifiable Neighbourhood, the patterns of small public space (Small Public Squares, Public Outdoor Room, Common Land, Activity Nodes), the patterns of the street (Pedestrian Street, Path Shape, Family of Entrances), and the patterns of small services and fine-grained mixed use. The student produces one substantial social-scale design intervention in a real public space they have observed.
Outcome
The student has produced one social-scale intervention in a public space they know, with a diagnostic walk report and a developed proposal grounded in pattern-language reading. (Social-scale design)
Led by Alexandrian Design Simulacrum
The question
Design thinking at the largest scales — the city, the bioregion, the planet. The module covers *A Pattern Language*'s opening patterns (Independent Regions, The Distribution of Towns, City Country Fingers, Agricultural Valleys, The Magic of the City, Mosaic of Sub-Cultures) and the political and ecological dimensions inseparable from design at this scale. Stewart Brand's pace-layers framework from *How Buildings Learn* runs through the module. The student produces one substantial global-scale design analysis-and-proposal applied to a real region they know.
Outcome
The student has produced one global-scale design analysis of a real region they know, with a developed local intervention at one identified leverage point. (Global-scale design)
Led by Alexandrian Design Simulacrum
The question
Consolidating the four scale-based projects into a Stage 1 foundational portfolio. The module covers sketching as the discipline of seeing (pencil as primary tool, drawing-as-thinking), the three orthographic projections (plan, section, elevation), axonometric and perspective sketching, and the order in which to draw. Concept-mapping as the discipline of externalising structure. The portfolio as the discipline of telling the story of one's own design thinking. The student compiles a 25–40-page Stage 1 portfolio incorporating the four prior projects.
Outcome
The student has compiled a 25–40-page foundational portfolio across the four projects from Modules 1–4, with an integrative 1,000-word reflection on what changed in their seeing across the four scales. (Foundational portfolio)
Led by Donald Schön Simulacrum
The question
Schön's reflective-practitioner framework applied to design. The module covers the four foundational concepts — *knowing-in-action* (the tacit knowledge practitioners use without articulating), *reflection-in-action* (in-the-moment reframing as you work), *reflection-on-action* (post-hoc reflection through journal-keeping), and *naming-and-framing* (how naming a problem determines what solutions are available). The reflective journal is set up as a sustained discipline. The student reads Schön's *The Reflective Practitioner* and integrates the framework with the rest of DES 110.
Outcome
The student has read Schön's *The Reflective Practitioner* and can articulate the four foundational concepts (knowing-in-action, reflection-in-action, reflection-on-action, naming-and-framing) in their own words; the reflective journal is set up. (Reflective practice)
Led by Donald Schön Simulacrum
The question
The first of three short design projects — a complete graphic identity for a small organisation. The module covers graphic design as discipline (the lineage from Aldus Manutius through the Bauhaus and mid-century corporate design to contemporary identity practice), typography fundamentals, colour and grid, and the identity system as more than logo. The student produces a logo with three variants, a typography system, a colour palette, and applications across multiple touchpoints, plus a reflective journal that tests Schön's framework against graphic-design materials.
Outcome
The student has produced a complete small-organisation graphic identity (logo with variants, typography system, colour palette, grid, three applied artefacts) with a reflective journal. (Graphic identity)
Led by Donald Schön Simulacrum
The question
The second of three short design projects — a product redesign of an everyday object. The module covers product design as discipline (the Bauhaus through Eames, Castiglioni, Rams, Ive, contemporary practice), the everyday-object exercise drawing on Norman and Petroski, sketching for product (thumbnails, perspective, orthographic), materials proposing form, and the iterative loop of sketch-foamcore-test-revise. The student produces a thumbnail set, foamcore prototype, and final prototype with a reflective journal that tests Schön against three-dimensional resistance.
Outcome
The student has produced a complete short product redesign (brief, sketches, foamcore study model, working prototype, user test) with a reflective journal. (Product redesign)
Led by Donald Schön Simulacrum
The question
The third of three short projects, in one of the disciplines that operate beyond the single physical object — service design, digital interface design, or spatial design. The module covers each as discipline, with their canonical instruments (journey maps and service blueprints; wireframes and design tokens; spatial installation and tactical urbanism). The student picks one and produces a complete short intervention with the discipline-appropriate research artefacts and a reflective journal that tests Schön against the third kind of resistance — time, dynamism, or place.
Outcome
The student has produced a complete short design intervention in service, digital, or spatial design — with discipline-appropriate research, prototype, user test, and reflective journal. (Service / digital / spatial design)
Led by Donald Schön Simulacrum
The question
The Stage 1 practice portfolio that synthesises the three short projects into a single argument about how the student's practice has developed. The module covers the portfolio's structure (three projects with full process material, three reflective journals, the integrative synthesis essay, one-page front matter), the discipline of re-reading the journals without revising them, the cross-discipline pattern as the practitioner's *signature* in Schön's sense, and the difference between this portfolio and the DES 110 foundational portfolio at Module 5. The student writes a 1,500-word synthesis essay.
Outcome
The student has compiled the Stage 1 practice portfolio (three projects + journals) and written a 1,500-word synthesis essay arguing for what has changed in their practice. (Stage 1 portfolio)