Create Options for Change

Course summary

Create Options for Change is an applied professional module for public designers who need to generate, assess and prioritise possible responses to public problems.

Public designers use evidence as a basis for exploring different possibilities. They create new ideas, adapt existing patterns and compare options against the problem, the intended outcome and the needs of people and systems.

The module develops the professional judgement needed to involve others in idea generation and to assess options for public value, inclusion, ethics and compliance.

Students apply the practice to a work-based challenge and produce design hypotheses that provide a clear basis for subsequent prototyping, testing and adaptation.

Who this course is for

This module is designed for existing and aspiring public designers who need to generate and compare possible responses to public problems.

It is relevant to people designing public policies, services, interactions, communications, operational systems or spaces.

Students must complete Introduction to Public Design before taking this module.

They should also have access to a suitable work-based challenge through which they can apply the practice independently.

What you will learn

How the course works

This is an applied professional module combining classroom learning with independent workplace practice. Students learn through a structured sequence:

• teaching of the concepts, methods and frameworks that underpin the practice;
• public-sector case studies that show how the practice is used;
• short practical exercises using individual tools and methods;
• group application through a realistic scenario developed across the module;
• reflection on learning and planning for workplace application.

Following the classroom component, students complete a two-day independent work-based project in which they apply the skills to a real challenge. They then spend a further day preparing their portfolio entry, completing their project reflection and taking part in a design crit.

Assessment and accreditation

This module is formally assessed. Students submit a portfolio entry demonstrating how they have applied all the skills associated with the practice in a real work environment. The expected professional artefact is a set of design hypotheses, supported by evidence of how ideas were generated, connected to evidence and intent, assessed, prioritised and evaluated for public value.

The portfolio must also demonstrate how the student enabled others to contribute to idea generation and considered whether options were inclusive, ethical and compliant.

Students also complete a project reflection and present their work at a design crit.

A teacher from the Government School of Design assesses the portfolio evidence against the Public Design Capability Framework. Students are assessed on their deployment of the required skills, rather than the novelty of their ideas or the overall success of the project.

Students who successfully complete the module receive professional certification jointly badged by the Government School of Design and the Chartered Society of Designers.

Each completed module contributes to the student’s professional portfolio. Students who successfully complete all seven Universal Public Design Practice modules will be assessed for chartered status through the Chartered Society of Designers.