University of Applied Arts Vienna
Stefan Zinell
Design Investigations is a course that that uses critical thinking, investigative research, material prototyping and conceptual speculation to design objects, experiences, stories and systems. Students explore the designer’s role in dealing with real-world challenges, probing the limits of our current reality while addressing the future of design and its role within society, culture, politics and the environment.
The aim is to provide complex base of questions to students that are not to be answered by simplifying. It encourages diverse teams that challenge and energize individuals and pick up beginners. Teams are stimulated to venture into very different directions and always accompany research with making. This requires trust in the process. We show how things that feels like a fail can be turned around by change of scope and good documentation of the process.
