Frugal design

Learning outcomes

After completion of the course the student should be able to:

• Work in multidisciplinary teams and collaborate in teams with different compositions,
• Orally and in writing explain and discuss information, problems, methods, design/development processes and solutions,
• Explain the concept of Frugal design/engineering and demonstrate how it can be applied in ideation and prototyping processes.
• Apply Frugal design in practice: Manage an ideation and prototyping process to address a predefined task, leveraging frugal design principles to create resource-efficient and innovative solutions.
• Critically assess both the ideation and prototyping process, as well as the resulting outcomes, with a focus on alignment with frugal design objectives and overall effectiveness.

Content

This project-based course, in the form of a Blended Intensive Program (BIP), focuses on physical prototyping as a shared foundation for collaborative design, emphasizing a frugal approach, i.e., achieving more with less. The course combines online lectures and workshops with hands-on, on-site prototyping sessions and project work in mixed teams.

The workshops are centered around a single design object (a predefined everyday item) but explore various materials, like textile, metal, 3D-printed parts etc. Prototyping activities will take place in designated labs and workshops within the Chalmers Fuse area.

The course highlights the design process, encouraging the iterative development and exploration of ideas through sequential physical prototyping. Frugal design principles serves as an inspiration for the design as well as a perspective in the discussions of choices, evaluation of prototypes and possible ways forward. Participating in this course offers inspiration and offers an opportunity to learn and experience methods of ideation and design development within cross-cultural teams.

Organization

The course is run by an interdisciplinary teaching team with teachers from higher education institutions in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The practical on-site activities are situated at Chalmers in the workshops in the Fuse lab for approximately two weeks. The project task is solved in mixed student teams. The course format consists of on-line teaching and learning as well as self-study of the competences and skills necessary for the project task prior to the on-site activities. The project teams will have one university examiner and one or a pool of university supervisors and one or a pole of external co-supervisors if applicable.

The course runs from mid-June to late August and is structured in three periods:

• June: Online lectures, assignments and start of the design process within the teams.
• July: The teams organize their own studies/project work.
• August: Approx 2 weeks prototyping on site at Chalmers Fuse ending with project presentation.

Literature

Literature will consist of online articles, reports, etc. The Literatur will be announced 8 weeks before the course starts. 

Examination including compulsory elements

• Active participation in lectures, teamwork, supervision, prototyping activities and presentation.
• Assignments.
• Final submission of team project (documentation of design/prototyping process and solution).

Eligibility

General entry requirements for bachelor's level (first cycle).

Specific entry requirements

Applicants needs to have 90 ECTS at the time for application.
English 6/B.  
Applicants enrolled in a maters’ programme at Chalmers are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above