Design that Understands Us

We find ourselves in an age of rapidly evolving technology, where the world we inhabit, increasingly, is the world we make. At Stanford, you will find many courses that ask you to make things¿everything from algorithms, products, policies, to artworks. What is rarer is to be given the space to stop and really think about why¿for what and for whom¿we design these things, and whether we should continue to design in ways demanded by commercial and political actors. This critical thinking course examines the nature, purpose, and meaning of design in human life, and asks the fundamental questions of ¿what is design?¿, ¿why do we do it?¿, and ¿how do design, technology, and society shape one another?¿. We will explore design as a series of choices and the ways in which we make these choices. This course will consider different models of design in our world today: from need-based design (as we are often taught) to the fashioning of tools that help us flourish as human beings. You will learn about various aesthetic and ethical frameworks and a fundamental language of design, so that you can begin to critically analyze everyday examples of media, tools, toys, and games¿and apply such lenses to designing conscientiously. You will learn to think about the design of social networks, artificial intelligence, musical instruments, games, virtual reality, and other examples¿in terms of needs and values, ethics and aesthetics. In short, through this course, you will learn to more clearly and critically view our technology-drenched human world¿and to exercise your ethical and artful imagination to reimagine better worlds.