• Soft Skills

The objective of the treatment is to supply students with the instruments needed to return and present the design project of a product-service system and the research at its basis. Visualization and Prototyping, through the analysis of practices and the critical presentation of different research and planning techniques, leads students to experiment innovative project representation instruments, visualising and prototyping projects, using different technologies, style models and narrative approaches.

Students:
- know and understand the visual language, representation and prototyping techniques of product-service systems and scenarios;
- can communicate the project procedure followed, and develop new visualisation methods;
- can use, in an original and autonomous manner, visualisation instruments and techniques, through articulate narrations.

This course aims to provide tools for visualizing and prototyping a product service system and the complementary analysis and research activities. In particular, the course proposes storytelling techniques, the audiovisual language and genres as further tools for developing, represent and simulate the experience proposed by the project developed.

We will refer to multimedia and audiovisual communication techniques such as storytelling, storyboarding, animation, shooting, editing and we will use different visual representation tools (i.e. moodboard, visual atlas, storyboard, sketches, etc). The students will work in groups.

This course integrates contributions from different areas of design (Communication Design, Movie Design, Media Design), the arts and filmmaking in order to provide participants with many different suggestions for communicating a service.

The learning process develops through lectures and presentations, practical exercises and reflective activities, both in big teams and small teams, leaving the room to individual contributions to the collective dialogue. Seminars by guests from both the academic and professional fields will take place.

Along the course the students will elaborate a presentation of a product service system idea, using the tools provided and experimenting techniques. In order to elaborate the final presentation they will integrate prototyping techniques (role playing, mockup, etc.) with storytelling and multimedia contents (slides, videos, sounds, still images, etc). 

The final exam will consist in a simulated pitching session where the groups will present their product service system idea to possible clients/stakeholders. Pitching the project helps students develop their soft skills and aims at simulating the relationship with a possible client.

There are no pre-requisites for attendance.

Evaluation criteria and final exam

Designing and performing the final pitch will make students use and practice all the competences gained along the course. Therefore, the final evaluation will coincide with the evaluation of the final pitch, according to the following criteria: 

• the general congruence, consistency and strength of the concept and the representation (up to 10);
• multimedia contents and possible other supports as slides. Evaluated: creativity and output realized (up to 10);
• the performance as speech, setting and actions. Evaluated: creativity and output realized (up to 10). 

The student's capability to get into the topic, to generate, to develop and present ideas, following and interpreting the process suggested by the instructors; a good capability of team working and a pro-active participation to the course will be also considered very positively.

Course’s rules 

Attendance is mandatory: only a maximum of 2 absences will be allowed. Participation to the collective presentations are mandatory.

Assignments cannot be delivered or presented in dates different than those scheduled in the course’s calendar.

Sufficient marks are equal or major than 18/30.